by Jason Cheek
“Wow, that’s all you got after all that work?” Sarka asked with a shake of her head.
“Seriously, are you a sadist?” Yun looked at me shaking his head. “If you want to do some manual labor, I have a hole that needs to be dug in my backyard.”
“I don’t know; I like to see a sweaty man all worked up.” Unalia chimed in with a grin.
“Laugh all you want Sarka, but this is something that you might actually want to learn,” I said shaking my head as I stuffed the raw copper ore into my backpack. Holding up the Pickaxe of Earth to the group, I continued. “I looted this special pickaxe off of Vuri Rockcrusher. It gives a +2 to mining. Anyone mind if I take it?”
“I don’t want it,” Tinyr said with a laugh as his wife chipped in. “Naw that’s all you.” Both Yun and Sarka were cool with me taking the drop, but as I was strapping the pickaxe onto my backpack, Sarka sidled up to me.
“So why would I want to learn mining?” Sarka cautiously asked.
“It’s the main skill needed for gathering the materials needed for smithing, aka crafting metal armor and weapons,” I replied giving her a shrug. “You can probably buy the materials later on from players if you don’t want to learn mining but I’m sure it’ll cost a pretty penny. Especially since it takes so much work in this game to gather.”
“Hmm, maybe next time in town I’ll pick up the skill,” Sarka said thoughtfully.
“You can always learn on your own without hitting up the trainer, especially using this beauty,” I said slowly stroking the pickaxe in my hand. “It gives you a +2 to mining.” Seeing her raised eyebrow, I clapped her on the shoulder. “You can give it a try with the next lode we run across. It only took about 15 swings to get the crafting skill.”
“Not to interrupt your crafting discussion, but … How are we going to take on this next group?” Tinyr asked staring down the tunnel and the group of Kobolds.
“I don’t know how good the intelligence is on these AI mobs, but from my limited experience with the NPCs I’d say we’d want to pull the first group of Kobolds to us on this side of the tunnel, maybe even all the way around the bend. Once they charge, we can position ourselves to stop any runners from getting past us to call the other group.” I said thoughtfully. “Then we can take the Taskmaster alone or with the second group depending upon how the Goblin reacts to his missing slaves.”
“Why not just pull the Goblin with the first group of Kobolds?” Tinyr asked. “It would be quicker to take them down together.”
“Yea, it would be quicker, but if he calls that second group of Kobolds to him at the beginning of the fight, then we’re fucked,” I said readying my axe and shield.
“Yea, that would suck,” Yun said as Tinyr grimaced at the thought.
“Okay, everyone back around the bend just out of sight. Yun, you’re with me.” I said getting everyone moving.
“Why Yun?” Tinyr asked slightly put out.
“It’s nothing personal. I just told Yun I’d teach him how to pull.” I said with a shrug. “Once he gets it down, we can trade out with everyone in the team who doesn’t know how to pull mobs.” Yun followed me back around the bend of the tunnel, so we had a direct line of sight to the group of Kobolds. “Okay, we’re just going to wait until the Goblin is out of range of the first group but still approaching the second group of Kobolds before you Frost Blast the nearest miner.”
“Okay, that sounds easy enough,” Yun said nervously.
“Dude, relax. It’ll be pretty easy. Spacing it out this way gives us the maximum time to burn down the first group before the possibility of more adds. Normally, on a pull like this, I’d have you blast the mob you’re targeting as long as possible before breaking contact, but those little bastards move too freaking fast for that. You’re going to fire once and then we are going to run back to the rest of the group.” I said confidently.
“What if they catch up with us before we reach the group?” Yun nervously asked looking back over his shoulder as if he could see his wife through the rock.
“Then you Frost Nova and keep on running. That’s one of the good reasons to have someone else besides the tank pulling.” I said giving him a shoulder pat.
“Dude, I don’t have Frost Nova yet.”
“But I do, so we’re good to go.”
That seemed to calm Yun down as we waited for the elite Goblin’s patrol to make it back towards the second group of miners. As soon as the Goblin reached the outside of the group, I gave Yun the go-ahead, and he blasted the closest Kobold.
The response was instantaneous. The whole group of twenty Kobolds turned as one and rushed us. I slapped Yun on the back for him to run as I watched the mobs response. At first, I was concerned the yipping shrieks would alert the second group, but a moment later I breathed a sigh of relief seeing them oblivious to the attack. Quickly, I blasted the same Kobold Yun had with an Ice Lance killing the mob instantly, before turning around and sprinting for our waiting group.
Say what you will about Kobolds being shrimpy, little fighters but the fuckers were fast as hell. I’d just reached Sarka who was only about twenty feet around the bend when the yipping red wave reached us. They’d cleared 40 yards faster than an Olympic sprinter. With a thought, I blasted out Frost Nova and turned around to blast the closest Kobold with an Ice Lance as Sarka stepped forward.
All that it took was one hit from the team after my icy blast and the Kobold was down. Without stopping, I continued blasting the Kobolds one after another. In the eight seconds, it took for the frozen effect of the spell to wear off; eight mobs lay dead on the ground. As the remaining 11 Kobolds charge after us, Sarka and I closed ranks with our shields creating a wall across the tunnel as Tinyr slipped around behind the enraged humanoids.
This time it took about two melee hits from the team to take down a Kobold. Yun kept peppering the mobs with his Frost Blasts which helped us burn down the mobs that much quicker. Just wait until he got Ice Lance and Frost Nova. We wouldn’t take any damage then. Just as my Frost Nova came back up to cast, we were taking down the last Kobold. As the last mob fell, we all looked at each other as Tinyr swore in amazement.
“That was almost too freaking easy!”
“Why aren’t your pulling the next group already?” Sarka said with an excited grin to her man. “You’re wasting time here.” Sarka blinked at the golden glow that suddenly surrounded her as my healing spell topped off her Hit Points. “What in the hell was that for. I’d have healed up before the next pull?”
“He’s just skilling up his healing ability,” Yun answered for me since I was still flapping my hands around chanting my healing spell’s 10-second cast. As the golden glow of my second healing spell cast surrounded me, Yun began heading around the bend in the tunnel forcing me to jog after him if I wanted to catch up in time for the next pull.
“Bastard, you could have just pulled the next group on your own,” I called out in mock anger.
“Yea … yea … yea. This squishy caster isn’t pulling Jack shit until you show him the ropes a little bit more.” Yun said grinning excitedly.
As soon as we walked into view of the remaining mobs, I saw the elite Goblin Taskmaster standing where the last group of Kobolds had been mining looking around bewildered. I hissed urgently. “Quick shoot him now!” Yun jumped in surprise but didn’t waste any time. With a quick nod to me, he began casting Frost Blast as I watched the mob’s reaction intently. This was going to tell me a lot about how the AI’s algorithms worked for combat. The spell’s icy blast hit the Taskmaster in the face two seconds later.
Immediately the elite Goblin’s hate-filled eyes focused on us as it began bellowing in its harsh language as it ran back in slow motion for the second group of Kobolds. Before it managed to reach the second group of miners, Yun and I finished it off with our icy bolts. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Yun said pumping his fist as the body hit the ground. Looking at me with a shit-eating grin, he nodded with his chin behind us. “Think we sh
ould call everyone up to us for this last part.”
“Sounds like the right call. I’ll wait here.” I said with a smirk leaning against the tunnel. Rolling his eyes, Yun went back for the team as I kept an eye on the tunnel. As soon as everyone came around the bend, we went back to work.
This time the battle with the Kobolds went even quicker since Unalia and Tinyr were using their bows. It was only a few extra hits before the small horde of mobs made it to us down the tunnel, but every little bit helped. In short order, we killed the group of mobs not even breaking a sweat as everyone but me gained another level. As I waited for the team to set their attribute points, I did two more heals as Sarka tried her hand at mining on a node.
I was going to give her a hard time as the pickaxe skipped off the stone for her first few hits, but a sharp shake of Yun’s head made me swallow my unspoken words. Sarka angrily bitched the entire time until the first copper ore fell to the ground and her interface informed her she’d learned mining. After that, she happily chortled as she ripped into the node with a purpose. By the time she’d finished, I saw that familiar gleam in her eyes as she looked around for the next copper node to mine.
“Hold up there Dig Dug, don’t forget we’re sharing the nodes,” I said with a grin as I saw Sarka shake herself out of her gathering trance blushing in embarrassment. Red-faced she gave me back the Pickaxe of Earth giving me a snarky grin. “Now I regret not making you roll for that pickaxe.”
“Hey, if it’s a problem we can-“ I started to apologize, but Sarka just waved my concern away, cutting me off midsentence.
“Don’t be such a dork; I’m just ribbing you,” Sarka said laughing at my discomfort. “You more than deserve the magic pickaxe for everything you’ve done for us today.” Looking over at Unalia and Tinyr, she modified her words. “For all of us.”
“Thanks,” I said with a nod of thanks. As soon as I’d strapped the pickaxe back in place, we headed off down the tunnel. This time the next bend we came to split into two tunnels. From both sides, we heard the sounds of pickaxes striking stone. Seeing everyone’s questioning looks, I shrugged my shoulders.
“Might as well head down the right side. That’s the way most people map out tunnels. Probably the best direction to head if we don’t want to get lost in the maze.” Seeing everyone’s indifferent nods, I headed down the right tunnel with Yun at my side.
The tunnel emptied out into a large cavern. As we crept up to the tunnel’s exit, I heard Yun’s sharp intake of breath as we looked out into the immense room. Small groups of Kobolds were scattered around the edges of the cavern mining in clumps. From what we could see from our hiding place, there had to be at least sixty of the scaly little bastards.
Patrolling in a circle near the center of the massive room was a group of three elite Goblin Taskmasters joking and laughing together as they checked on the working Kobolds in a leisurely patrol. The ringing noise in the cavern was so loud that I could only partially hear the Goblins’ guttural speech as they approached the entrance to our tunnel. As the patrol slowly made their way past, I looked around for Yun suddenly realizing that he was nowhere nearby. Frowning, I thoughtfully studied the Kobolds and Goblins before making my way back to the group. As I came close, I heard Yun’s excited voice speaking in near panic levels.
“I can understand now why the groups are going in three teams strong. There’s no way we can go further without dying like rats.” I could see the looks of concerns on everyone’s faces as Yun looked back at me still waving his hands around excitedly. “Tell them, Ironwolf.”
“Dude, chill out for a moment. It’s not as bad as you think.” I said confidently gripping his shoulder reassuringly. “I think I have a plan that will work to get us through the cavern.”
“What, having one of us run through the cavern as a distraction while the team makes a run for it and then resurrecting the sorry sucker once the mobs go back to mining?” Yun asked, his hands still waving around excitedly.
“Actually, that’s not a half bad strategy,” I said somewhat surprised. Wouldn’t be the first time we used a strategy like that to get through a tough area, but honestly, I don’t think that’s needed here. Seeing Yun’s bulging eyes, I held up my hands to stop his outburst speaking quickly.
“Trust me, man. We can do this much easier than you think with no deaths if everyone follows my plan exactly. Just give me a second to explain.” Shaking his head still looking at me like I was a madman, Yun waved his hand for me to continue as the rest of the team looked back and forth between us confused by our drama. Picking up a rock, I waved everyone over to me as I began scraping out a rough diagram of the cavern floor.
“Okay, so there are multiple groups of Kobolds mining throughout the massive cavern at the end of this tunnel. Near the center is a group of three elite Goblin Taskmasters making a slow patrol between the various groups. Each Kobold grouping will aggro about five mobs at a time. Worst case scenario would be that we aggro ten or twenty depending where we are.”
“Worst case scenario is we aggro like a hundred,” Yun said sourly but stopped as soon as I held up my hand.
“Worst case scenario is we aggro twenty as long as we are following my plan. If we play smart and keep to the plan, then we should only have five mobs to take on at a time.” I said, ignoring Yun’s incredulous look.
“How can it be both five and a hundred?” Sarka said looking between her husband and me questioningly.
“Because if we don’t follow the plan precisely, we can aggro the entire room,” I said with a grin.
“Exactly, that’s where the hundred comes from!” Yun said looking at me like I was crazy.
“It’s more like sixty. Eighty tops.” I said rolling my eyes as everyone’s head snapped around to look at me in shock.
“Eighty?” Unalia squeaked nervously.
“What’s your plan then?” Tinyr asked watching me closely.
“Okay, so I’ve done this in other games, and I believe it will work here too. When we knocked out that last group I was checking out aggro radiuses and how the AI for the mobs reacts to attacks.” Seeing that I had everyone’s attention, I quickly laid out the plan. As I finished going through the details, I studied everyone’s faces. Yun was somewhat calmed down but still scared shitless by what he’d seen in the cavern. Sarka and Tinyr looked excited to give the plan a shot, while Unalia thoughtfully leaned back against the tunnel’s wall.
Seeing my raised eyebrows, I slowly got everyone’s nod of agreement to give the plan a try. Yun went with the group’s decision, even though he eyed me like I was insane whenever I wasn’t looking. Tinyr wanted to take a look around for himself before we attacked, but Yun talked him out of it saying it was just best to focus on the plan and not be thinking about what we were up against. Still, even after all of Yun’s death and doom talk, our group was in high spirits.
Minutes later we were all in the tunnel together with Tinyr and me in the front by the entrance, while the rest of the group waited farther back for the call to attack. It took about seven minutes for the patrol of Elite Goblins to reach our position. The entire time I kept getting incredulous, wide-eyed looks from Tinyr as he pointedly gazed around the cavern at the odds we faced. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics when he got particularly excitable. Since I didn’t know him all that well, it was hard to say if he was joking or serious, so I mostly ignored his antics.
The worst part of any attack was the waiting before the fight. It was the fear of the unknown. The shot of nervous energy before the storm. All of which would disappear as soon as we entered combat. While I knew both Yun and Tinyr were concerned at the forces arrayed against us, I felt confident that we could do this. Yes, I could be a cocky bastard. Yes, there was a lot of guesstimation on my part. Yes, I could be overconfident in my abilities. Still, even if all that was perfectly true, I knew I was right.
Watching the patrol make their way towards the second group of mining kobolds, I held my hand up as the rest of our group scur
ried up the tunnel to us. The fear was plainly written on the faces’ of my new friends as I glanced over my shoulder to make sure everyone was in position and ready to go. Not letting them stew in their fear, I dropped my hand for the attack to commence.
Without looking behind me to see if the group followed my lead, I wordlessly charged around the corner to the left of the tunnel, silently breathing a sigh of relief as soon as I heard the scrape of boots on the stone behind me as I closed the distance to the nearest group of mining Kobolds. The five mobs barely knew what hit them as I blasted my Frost Nova spell and then tagged each of the scaly beasts with an Ice Lance. As my last bolt freed the remaining Kobold, the rest of the team were cutting down the mobs. I didn’t even get a chance to close into melee range before the last mob fell to Tinyr’s Backstab.
We didn’t loot. We just hugged the cavern’s wall and rushed around the uneven edge to the next group of mining Kobolds. I didn’t have Frost Nova up, so Yun and I split up our attacks tagging each mob with the freezing slowdown effect from our magic. This battle was longer since I didn’t freeze the targets ahead of time to get the double damage effect for my Ice Lance, but due to Yun’s work, the last two Kobolds I blasted were already covered in frost. I went ahead and finished off those same to mobs with Yun’s help and then helped the team take out the remaining to Kobolds since they’d already taken out one of the three by the time we’d finished up our mobs.
As we all lined up to charge the next group, I held my hand up for everyone to stop as I eyed the patrol while casting a heal on Sarka. They were a little bit farther out than I’d have liked, but at this point in time, we weren’t under any threat of being discovered and having the entire cavern swarm us at once. It would only become an issue if the goblins got too far ahead of us.
Keeping my voice low, I called for the team to move out again and took off at a slow jog. The third fight was almost an exact rinse and repeat of the first group’s as I came in and cast Frost Nova, freezing the Kobolds in place and then blasting through them as the rest of the group split up to take down individual mobs. We wiped the group out without slowing down our rush. Lining up for the next charge, I held up a hand for the group to stop as I took a swig from my water bottle and threw it to Yun to follow suit.
