by Jason Cheek
You have successfully Gouged Goblin Raider for 10 seconds.
You have Dual Wield Goblin Raider with Savage Fin Slasher for 12 points of damage.
You have Dual Wield Goblin Raider with Vile Blade for 30 points of damage.
Ah, there was the normal damage reduction I would’ve expected. The extra damage must only be bugged with Sneak Attack. And look at that, I just learned a new attack too. Before I could consider the issue further, my thoughts were abruptly wrenched back into the fight as pain lanced through me as the third Goblin Raider’s sword pierced my side. Spinning around the blade was ripped from my body as I lunged with my sword and slashed with my dagger in a fast dual strike. The sword doubled the Goblin over in pain as the metal pierced its chest, but my dagger missed completely as the Raider jerked away from the blade. Seeing the creature’s leering bloody face as it raised its sword up for a second strike, I kicked the Goblin off my blade with a loud shout.
“Kiiiyyyaaaii!” My kick was perfect as it caught the Goblin mid-chest forcing the Raider windmilling backward into the burning flames of the tents. Pulling my blades back over the prostrated Goblin at my feet, I struck down with both weapons in a double backstab as a familiar window popped up.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 4!
You have 5 Attribute Points Unspent!
You have gained 1 Attribute Point in Stamina.
You have gained 1 Attribute Point in Intelligence.
Whipping my blades up I went after the second Raider I’d partially blinded. Circling behind the screeching mob, I sunk both blades to the hilt into its back. The Goblin instantly twisted around blindly swinging as I knocked its sword wide and sunk my blades into the side of its neck, bearing the Raider to the ground. Within seconds the green bastard laid still beneath me.
The shriek of screaming children spun me around as I saw the fourth Goblin had cornered the group of children. Slipping the dagger into my belt, I formed a Frost Blast and sent it slamming into the Raider’s back. As the Goblin turned around and charged in slow motion howling in rage, I heard another child’s terrified screams as I blasted the Raider again. I found the last Goblin near the edge of the fire wrestling a small Elven girl to the ground as my next Frost Blast slammed into its back. Instead of releasing the child or turning to face me, the Goblin shrugged off the damage as it were nothing as it went about the preparation for its gruesome feast. My second Frost Blast slammed into the Goblin again as it reached for the haft of the hand-axe laying by its side.
I knew what was going to happen next and I was too far away to stop it. Sprinting after the Goblin, I watched in horror as the creature’s gnarly hand lifted the axe head up to its shoulders. It was as if I could feel the chop through my entire body as the axe fell with a meaty thunk. Bile rose in the back of my throat as the Goblin greedily shoved the child’s bloody arm into its toothy maw. As it lifted the axe high again, my body slammed into the back of the Raider blades first as again the double Sneak Attack registered full damage.
Rolling on the ground, we began trading blows. I managed to overpower the green bastard and rolled on top of the Goblins hammering both blades into its chest as the damage meter’s red letters began rolling with each hit when a burning creature jumped on my back. Throwing myself into a dive, I manage to break free of the fiery embrace. I made it back to my feet just in time to be run through by the fourth Goblin who’d caught back up to me. Dropping my dagger, I held onto the sword hand not letting the Goblin remove the blade or its hand as I began hacking the Goblin about the head and shoulders only to be backstabbed by the fifth Goblin.
The flaming monster ended up being the Goblin I’d kicked into the burning inferno which was by now half blind and dead from the terrible burns all over its body. No matter how weak the mob was another blade hacking at my back was the last thing I needed. I focused my attacks first on taking down the fifth Goblin since his health was lowest from my Sneak Attacks.
Unfortunately, I took a beating from fighting three Goblins at once, but I slowly began to realize that, although they hurt me, the Goblins’ weapons didn’t do enough damage to seriously lower my Hit Points before I could slaughter them. As soon as my blades took the fifth Goblin out, I turned to the burning Goblin and quickly gutted the mob before focusing my attacks on the last Raider and splitting it on my blade. As the last Goblin fell, I still had 500 of my now 979 Hit Points.
As soon as I made my way back to the young Elf girl’s side, she began whimpering in fear at my approach. “Hey there, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help.” Speaking soothingly I tried to get the girl to calm down, but she kept on backing away from me in terror clutching at her oozing stump. The look of horror frozen on her face tore at my heart. Afraid she’d back up all the way into the roaring fire behind her; I closed the distance between us in three quick steps as a soulful wail ripped from her lips. Gently as possible, I checked her wound, but there wasn’t much help I could offer. Unlike in the real world, her wound was mostly closed. I bandaged her shoulder the best I could with the Goblin’s rags and carried her back to the elf woman and the other children speaking softly.
“Quiet now; everything’s okay. I’m just taking you back to your friends now.”
Approaching the girl’s bloody Elven protector and the rest of the children huddled around her fearfully, I gently set the little girl down with the rest of the children before carefully helping the Elven woman into a sitting position doing my best to ignore her soft flesh and lush curves. She didn’t seem to be healing as quickly as a player would, but there wasn’t much I could do for her injuries since I had no bandages or any way to heal the bloody gashes from her fight with the Goblins. Instead, I did my best to fasten her clothing over her nakedness and placed her sword across her lap. Seeing her brilliant green eyes watching me intently; I quickly introduced myself with an awkward smile.
“M’lady, my name is Startum Ironwolf. I am a traveler that happened to be passing by when I saw the fire and came to assist.”
“Why would a newfar help us?” The woman brusquely asked as her eyes searched my face.
“Why wouldn’t I help a beautiful Elven warrior protecting a group of children being attack by monsters?”
“Because I’m a halfling from House of Kayden and you are a newfar.” The Elf woman spat the words out watching for a reaction as if she expected I’d assault her and the children myself upon hearing her words.
“Then this chance meeting is doubly fortunate for me, M’lady. I was traveling to BrokenFang Hold to speak with the Clan Leader for House of Kayden when I saw your plight.” Seeing the distrustful look on her face, I hurriedly finished my explanation. “I don’t understand your disdain for travelers, but I was born of House of Kayden and hope to be accepted as part the House. Please, tell me what’s happened so that I might help.”
It was obvious the Elf woman, Halfling or whatever she was didn’t give her trust easily, especially to a traveler or newfar. Whatever that fuck that meant. I could only hope my high charisma and the story I’d made up on the spot would be enough to get this NPC to accept my help. This intro had all the signs of a special quest if I’d ever seen one.
“I am Rayne Nessima, and these are my charges. There is no more-” Rayne’s haunted eyes settled on the children as the tears streamed down her face. “There is no more BrokenFang Hold. There is no more House of Kayden. All that is left of our once great House is a handful of starving refugees that are being slaughtered by Goblin Raiders as we speak.”
Gripping her shoulder urgently, I looked into her eyes. “Then allow me to help, m’lady. Give me the chance to help the survivors of House of Kayden drive away these monsters. Please, Rayne, all that I ask in return is to be introduced to your Clan Leader.”
Quest NPC could be so finicky. I could see the warring emotions in Rayne’s eyes as I silently crossed my fingers for luck. Hopefully, I hadn’t overplayed my hand with the flowery speech, but I was still getting the knack for how to dea
l with The World’s software AI’s. Thankfully pure reasoning and the dire situation won out over Rayne’s innate distrust of strangers. “Help my people, and I will bring you to our leader if she yet lives.” As soon as she said the words a semi-transparent quest window popped open in front of my eyes.
New Quest! Stopping Goblin Raiders!
Goblin Raiders have attacked the refugees of the House of Kayden, save the refugees and drive away the goblins!
Warning! This quest will fail if all the refugees die!
43/60 Refugees Alive.
24/30 Goblins Raiders in Camp.
Objective: Kill or stop the Goblin Raiders and save refugees.
Difficulty: Nightmare.
Reward: Experience and Reputation with House of Kayden.
Accept: Yes / No
Without hesitation, I chose yes. I didn’t know enough of the House of Kayden’s storyline to determine if Rayne’s reaction was being overly paranoid or not, but I had a feeling part of my Nightmare start was being accepted by this Elven woman enough to get this quest. I was interested in the halfling comment she’d made, but I didn’t see an easy way to ask about that without causing offense.
Keeping those thoughts in the back of my mind, I helped Rayne to her feet and followed her as she guided me back to where her people were fighting for their lives. Between the raging fires, billowing smoke and the spread out camp, it took longer than I would have expected to make our way through the burning maze. Although we ended up stopping four different times along the way for me to slaughter lone Goblins feasting on the remains of the dead, nothing was killed quickly.
Still, every time I was able to use my double Sneak Attack, it struck for 600 points of damage, nearly killing the disgusting creatures with my first blows. By the time we were approaching the main battle, I’d thankfully gained another level. A glance at the active quest gave me a quick update to the current situation:
New Quest! Stopping Goblin Raiders!
Goblin Raiders have attacked the refugees of the House of Kayden, save the refugees and drive away the goblins!
Warning! This quest will fail if all the refugees die!
41/60 Refugees Alive.
20/30 Goblins Raiders in Camp.
Objective: Kill or stop the Goblin Raiders and save refugees.
Difficulty: Nightmare.
Reward: Experience and Reputation with House of Kayden.
Dammit, I’d lost another two refugees! I had to end this fast if I was going to pull this Nightmare start off. Unfortunately, as soon as I saw the force of twenty Goblin Raiders pushing into the Elves failing lines, I knew the situation was bad for the House of Kayden’s survivors. Whatever disaster had struck, there were only three actual warriors left alive. The rest were obviously crafters, mostly old women with a few old men and young teens fighting for their lives. Their opponents, on the other hand, were all battle-hardened warriors.
Ducking down behind a pile of supplies that hadn’t been burned yet, I gently lowered the injured Elven woman to the ground and waved for the children to come close. “Rayne, stay here and guard the children. I’ll do what I can to save the rest of our people.”
“Do you want to throw your life away?” Rayne hissed sharply under her breath, giving me a shocked look of disbelief. “Did you not see that Gliogheeq the Gruesome leads these Goblins Raiders against our House?”
Frowning at the Elven woman’s words, I stood up fully to get a better view of the attacking Goblins. It only took me only a moment to find the Goblin she was talking about. Gliogheeq the Gruesome seemed to be single-handedly winning the battle as he blasted through the Elves’ weak defenses like a battering ram with his jagged hand-axe and metal shield. The three Elven warriors that stood before him were being knocked around like ragdolls. Focusing on Gliogheeq’s level, I swore as soon as I saw the yellow crown next to his very red name. A freaking Level 15 elite named boss! His Hit Points were 1,530, double that of a regular Level 15 Goblin. My max Hit Points were only 1,012. Seriously, what the fuck were the developers thinking?
“Today is a good day to die.” I confidently lied. Squatting back down, I tried to hide the worry on my face as I met Rayne’s anxious glare.
“Are you a complete idiot? Our Clan Leader, Rhenalyrr Daeralds, might have stood against a creature like Gliogheeq. What chance does a novice like you have?” Rayne spat. “There is nothing you can do to help us. Just go, leave us to our fate.”
“Any chance is better than just giving up.” I snapped back angrily. Seeing the defeat in her eyes, I stopped before I could say anything more hurtful. Gripping her shoulder firmly, I held her gaze with my eyes. “Trust me; I’m tougher than I look. Now, stay here and keep the children safe.”
Standing up, I let my determination flow through me as I slowly crept up behind the howling line of Goblins. Picking targets that were already in combat, I began blasting the green bastards with my Frost Blasts. With my new levels, I now had enough mana for 31 shots.
White streaks blasted into the back ranks as I spread the Frost Blasts up and down the line of Goblin Raiders. While part of my magic attack was meant to help the defenders by inflicting additional damage to all the Goblins and slowing their attacks by 50%, the other part of my goal was to inflict enough damage to get a little bit of experience from each kill if possible.
I didn’t know how The Game determined experience when battling with NPCs, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of getting extra levels if possible. While thirty-one Frost Blasts sounded like a lot of damage, it took thirteen blasts to take down one Level 10 Goblin. Spreading the shots out between twenty Goblins didn’t do much except put me on the mobs’ damage table. Sixty-two seconds later, with my head spinning, I’d drained my mana down to zero. Shaking the mental lethargy away, I gripped the hilts of both weapons and charged the Goblin’s Raiders all by myself.
“Fuck me; this is going to hurt,” I muttered under my breath as I raced for the biggest, ugliest Goblin on the field. Praying to the gaming gods that my bug hadn’t been discovered yet, I threw myself at the 6-foot tall Elite Goblin Boss blades first watching my damage meter window.
You Sneak Attacked Gliogheeq the Gruesome with Savage Fin Slasher for 270 points of damage.
You Sneak Attacked Gliogheeq the Gruesome with Vile Blade for 320 points of damage.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get the Knock Down or the Stun effect, but beggars couldn’t be choosy. I’d just dropped Gliogheeq’s Hit Points down to 940 with one attack. Before I could get a Backstab attack in, the Elite Boss slammed me to the ground with a Shield Bash that knocked a 100 Hit Points off of my health. Before I could react, his sword stabbed me through the chest and his booted foot slammed against my jaw like a Kicker going for a field goal as my health dropped another 67 points. Near my Hit Point bar, I saw a dripping blood icon appear next to a short bar that read 15 seconds as I received another 5 points of damage.
Swearing, I rolled to my feet and began trading blows with the Boss as the 5 points of damage continued to tick off my health with every second that went by. Gliogheeq rang my bell two more times before I got the hand of dodging away from his Shield Bashes. His axe did nearly double damage to that of my sword, but at least the dual wielding skill I’d acquired helped to bring my average damage up to about 42 points per double strike. Also every third or fourth blow I managed to get a Parry and Riposte off.
Still, Gliogheeq managed to block enough of my attacks with his shield blocks to make up the difference between our Hit Points in short order. By the time my health reached 70, the Goblin Boss’s was still at a 160. I was going to die if I didn’t think of something fast. Looking at my Mana that had regenerated to 60 an idea began forming in my mind. As Gliogheeq leered at me readying his axe for the killing blow, I turned around and ran. I didn’t have enough mana to kite the Boss, but if I did this right, I wouldn’t need to.
The surprise of my ‘run away’ tactic caught the Goblin off guard, and I managed to get a whole fifteen fee
t away before it registered to the dim-witted bastard that I was escaping. By the time he started chasing after me, I was already spinning around to counterattack. Hurriedly I cast Frost Blast. My damage meter window instantly registered the results of 60 points Frost Damage taken by the Boss. As the Goblin slowed down to ½ speed, I had just enough time to cast Frost Blast once again with the last of my mana.
Immediately, Gliogheeq’s Hit Points dropped down to 40 points as agony shot through my chest from the Boss’ counter-attack. Ignoring the pain of the blow and my health plummeting to 20, I thrust my blade into Gliogheeq’s gut for another 33 points of damage dropping the bastard’s health down to 7 points. Meeting Gliogheeq the Gruesome’s hate-filled eyes, I slammed my dagger into the side of his neck for an additional 12 points of damage, killing him instantly just as the bleed effect of the Goblin’s hand-axe dropped my health down to 15 points.
Swearing angrily as my Hit Points dropped to 10 points of health, I noticed that the fighting had stopped all around me as both the Goblins and the House of Kayden’s survivors looked at the dead Goblin Boss in shock. I’d killed the bastard, but it didn’t matter. I was going to die in another two seconds and lose my Nightmare bonus all because of the freaking bleed effect from the weapon was going to kill me, when a familiar semi-transparent window blocked my vision as a golden glow surrounded me.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 6!
You have 5 Attribute Points Unspent!
You have gained 1 Attribute Point in Stamina.
You have gained 1 Attribute Point in Intelligence.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 7!
You have 10 Attribute Points Unspent!
