Mixing It Up (The World Book 2)

by Jason Cheek

  All of these thoughts rushed through my head as I fought with my team. Part of me was thankful we were only dealing with Goblin Slavers. If they’d been all warriors, we would have had a much more difficult melee fight on our hands. Still, four level 26 Slavers were brutal to face in combat. As soon as I joined the fight, I took over tanking from Sarka, while Yun helped out as much as he could between heals with his Frost Blasts to keep the mobs’ attack speed slowed down to reasonable levels as we took down the Goblins one-by-one.

  Sarka and I both keep on looking back towards the corner as we fought, waiting for the horde of Goblins inside to hear the fighting and come pouring out of the room or of being discovered by another Goblin Patrol sent to find their missing meal and being overwhelmed. Thankfully our luck held out throughout the end of the fight. The rest of the team felt our anxiety as they looked at each other questioningly. The nervousness didn’t go away even after Sarka had leveled up twice. When the last Slaver finally went down, Yun came up behind us whispering urgently.

  “What the hell is going on, guys? What was in that room?” I saw Tinyr and Unalia both silently perk up at Yun’s words, but before I could answer my friend’s question, his wife spoke up.

  “The room is freaking full of Goblins.”

  “How full are we talking about?” Tinyr asked taken aback.

  “Give or take at least sixty,” I answered with a sigh. “Not to add to the bad news, but we’re on a time limit now.”

  “What do you mean, time limit?” Yun asked confused.

  “We just stole the main feast,” I said nodding towards the abused prisoners looking up at us warily. “I’m sorry guys, but I couldn’t let them be taken.”

  “What do you mean? They’re the feast?” Unalia exclaimed as my words sunk in.

  “The Halfing speaks the truth.” We all looked around to stare in surprise as the beaten Elf woman spat in disgust. “Goblins, like all of the monstrous humanoids of the north, see us as nothing more than an exotic delicacy to eat.” The Elf’s eyes bore into us as if searching for an answer. “Why did you save us?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” I simply said while kneeling down next to her to check on her wounds. Except for an ugly scar, the amputated arm seemed to have reattached itself without issue. The spell wasn’t supposed to be able to do that, but then again there had been any broken bones or need to regrow the limb to complicate the healing process. It just had to be stuck back in place and healed. As I studied the fingers of her hand, Miya watched me with hooded eyes. Her health bar had stabilized at about 10% of her maximum Hit Points, but for some reason, she wasn’t regenerating her health like normal.

  Looking over at the rest of the prisoners, I saw that they were all in the same boat. Catching my teammates’ eyes, I spoke loud enough to be heard by everyone in the corridor. “Yun, let’s see if we can heal their injuries. Everyone else, try getting some food and water in these people while we work.”

  “Which Slaver has the keys to your chains-urk…” My words came to a choking stop as Miya’s hand from her injured arm wrapped around my throat and squeezed.

  “If you ever touch me like that again I will end your life!” The enraged warrior hissed angrily into my ear.

  “Your welcome. I guess I’ll take that as your thank you for saving your life and your arm. Maybe next time I’ll just let the Goblins Slaver eat your arm first before coming to your rescue.” I irritably snapped back removing her weak grip from around my throat and putting a portion of smoked wolf-meat and a water flask in her hand.

  “Now which of these Goblins have the keys to your chains?” I asked trying not to think about Miya’s lush endowments that I’d briefly manhandled earlier. It wasn’t that I’d wanted to grope her per say, but there hadn’t been any time during the middle of the fight to be gentle, and I’d gotten more than a handful when I’d pulled her into my lap to reattach her arm. At the time, I hadn’t remembered just how beautiful she was, but looking at her now, even covered in blood and muck, she was physically flawless. Self-conscious, I did my best not to ogle her as I checked over the rest of her injuries.

  “Why are you helping us, half-breed?” The Miya’s harsh words brought me up short. “You are obviously this group’s leader. Why would anyone from House of Kayden come to our aid?” I could feel the eyes of the rest of the captives watching us as they waited for my answer to the naked Elf’s question as the rest of my team looked on confused. Miya had warned me that she wouldn’t know who I was when we met, so I had to take this slow. Taking a deep breath, I met the angry woman’s gaze.

  “My name is Startum Ironwolf, a Half-Elf from House of Kayden. The rest of my team are Light Elves from Delonshire: Unalia Nebril, Tinyr Nebril, Yun Dazd and Sarka Dazd.” As I said each teammate’s name, they stepped forward and gave a slight bow or half wave.

  “I know of the High Priest of Amyalneas’ edict that has ostracized any practitioners of Dark magic within the lands of the Light Elves and that it is assumed by most of your people that all of House of Kayden falls under this ban. And yet, as you see from my Light magic, I am not a practitioner of Dark magic.” At least not yet, I silently added. Meeting the prisoners’ eyes, I continued. “Like my friends, I am new to your lands, but, from what I understand, House of Kayden never broke their oath in the Alliance they held with the Light Elves and guarded their borders against the humanoid hordes of the North, and yet when they fell under attack and needed help your people turned their backs on them.” The uncomfortable faces looking back at me during the pause was answer enough as to the truth of what I’d learned from the refugees.

  “This disagreement between House of Kayden and the Light Elves seems to be me more of a political disagreement than one of good versus evil. And yet even with this history, my friends and I are here on a quest from the city of Delonshire to clean out the invaders from the Mine, which is how we came to rescue you here and now. You can accept our help, or you can escape on your own accord. The choice is yours.”

  For a long minute, no one spoke as the Light Elves considered my words. Looking up at me suddenly, I could tell Miya had come to a decision as she lifted her head proudly to look me in the eyes. “I am Sub-Leader Miya Faelwen of the Delonshire Mine’s guards. Please forgive my harsh words. Your actions speak the truth of your honor. My guardsmen and I thank you for your timely rescue. Please help us save the rest of the survivors from the Goblin’s raid and escort us back to the city of Delonshire.” As she spoke, I tried my best not to ogle her massive breasts, but the shoulder back position she’d assumed was nearly too much for me not to stare. Thankfully my vision was immediately blocked by the quest window that popped up at her words.

  New Quest! Rescue the survivors of Delonshire Mine!

  When the Goblins and their allies took over the Delonshire Mine, they kept a number of survivors alive for their victory celebration. Save the survivors and escort them safely back to the city of Delonshire.

  Warning! This quest will fail if all the survivors die!

  35/35 Survivors Alive.

  Objective: Save the survivors and escort them safely back to the city of Delonshire.

  Difficulty: Very Hard.

  Reward: Experience and Reputation with the city of Delonshire.

  Accept: Yes / No

  Without question, I accepted the quest. I’d figured this was similar to the typical rescue quest I’d seen in most other MMORGs. The familiarity made me want to smile, but as soon as I saw the serious look in Miya’s hard eyes, I choked the thought away and made sure to keep my eyes above her neck this time. As soon as I accepted the quest though, the woman’s gaze softened somewhat.

  “Thank you for helping us and agreeing to save the rest of the survivors of the mine. The key to our chains is being held by the Goblin Slave Master at the end of this hall, along with the rest of the survivors of the mine.” Miya said as she leaned forward to climb to her feet. For a moment, I was unsure if I should help the naked woman or not after
her tirade, but seeing her struggling to stand, I finally decided to risk the contact. Gripping her shoulders carefully, I helped her to her feet making sure to not to touch her pendulous breasts as one of the other captured guards spoke up angrily.

  “We’ll just be slaughtered if we go back to save the gnomes!” The guard fearfully exclaimed as he looked around at his comrades.

  “Guardsman Ibohanydd, we are not going to leave the rest of our people behind to be eaten,” Miya told the guard in no uncertain tones.

  “Our people, they’re not even Light Elves. We don’t owe them anything.” Ibohanydd spat clanking his chains anxiously.

  “Watch your mouth when you’re speaking to your superior, soldier.” A gruff older prisoner bellowed at the panicked guard. “Or I’ll close it permanently.”

  “My superior? She’s only our Sub-Leader because of her father’s money. It’s not like she can fight or even knows what she’s doing.” Ignoring the older guard’s words, the soldier kept up his tirade. “How are these Elves going to be any help? Their highest is a level 20 halfling; the rest are level 14s with one 15. What are they going to do against Cralo Gutripper? He’s a level 27 Boss. His six Slave Drivers are level 26. I mean seriously, how did they even make it this far?”

  “You do realize that we’re standing right here, asshole.” Tinyr snapped angrily at the guard.

  “And that we just saved all your asses from six level 26 Slavers while healing your Sub-Leader back to life.” Aneille bitingly chipped in.

  “I said to shut your mouth!” Lurching against his chains, the old Light Elf threw himself towards the younger Elf managing to kick him in the face before the chain that held them altogether pulled tautly.

  “At ease!” Miya snapped coldly at the guards under her command. Several disgruntled faces turned towards her, but the steel in her voice settled everyone down. Meeting the guard’s eyes that had spoken out against her, she continued speaking. “After this crisis is over, we will meet on the training field to see who the better warrior is. Until then, I am your Sub-Leader, and you will follow my orders, or I’ll kill you here and now. Have I made myself clear?”

  “Yes, Sub-Leader.” The guard grudgingly answered as he looked away uncomfortably. The blood still dripping from his lip from where the older Elf had kicked him in the face.

  “Sergeant Traovudd, carry out my order if Guardsman Ibohanydd’s cowardliness rears its ugly head again,” Miya said, looking directly at the older guard that had defended her.

  “As you command, Sub-Leader Faelwen.” The old Elf replied, nodding his head to the Elf woman in deference. As the drama had played out, I noticed that the Hit Points of the captives had risen from the near-death color of red, through the yellow color of medium to severe injury and was now the bright green of nearly full health. My attention was pulled back to the conversation at hand as Miya’s musical voice addressed me.

  “Sir Ironwolf, please forgive my subordinate’s outburst. We have all endured many horrors during our captivity at the hands of these creatures. Please know that all of you have our eternal thanks for your timely rescue.” Miya's voice spoke hauntingly, “but Guardsman Ibohanydd has a point. The dangers of recovering the key from Cralo Gutripper is a real concern.” Looking towards Tinyr and Sarka, she continued speaking.

  “The six Goblin Slave Drivers are much tougher enemies than the Slavers you demolished here and,” Miya paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, “while I believe your skills can obviously handle even their higher levels. Cralo Gutripper, on the other hand, is in a league all of his own. So I asked you again, are you still willing to risk your lives rescuing our people and escorting to the safety of Delonshire?”

  “While we appreciate your concern for our capabilities, we will continue with our quest to rescue the survivors of Delonshire mine and escort them to safety.” I formally said after a quick glance at the team to confirm we were all in agreement. “So, if that is it. I suggest we move out before we are discovered.” Seeing Miya’s nod in agreement, I began heading down the hallway signaling for the team to keep close as I lowered my voice.

  “This is going to be your first boss fight,” I said in a hushed voice as we hurried down the corridor. “Expect Cralo Gutripper to have an insane level of health. Also, he’ll probably have a number of special attacks too so Sarka won’t tank him. I will. Just make sure to fall back when I give the command. Sarka, your job will be tanking the remaining Slave Drivers while the rest of the team wears them down.” Seeing Sarka’s silent gulp of fear, I smiled patting her on the shoulder. “You’ve got this. Just concentrate on defense and holding their focus and you’ll be fine. Remember everyone; this is going to be an endurance run. The goal is to wear the remaining mobs down. As long as we do that, we’ve got this in the bag.” Pulling Yun in close, I spoke softly just for him. “Remember to conserve your Mana as much as possible.”

  Coming to the open archway at the end of the hallway, I pushed Yun ahead of me. “You’re up man.” As Yun stepped into the room, I took one last look down the corridor. The chained NPCs were about twenty feet behind us waiting anxiously. Tinyr and Unalia gave me a quick thumbs up as Sarka stepped up beside me.

  “This is going to hurt,” Sarka said with a grimace.

  “Just a little bit.” I agreed as we both followed her man into the room. “If the shit hits the fan just fall back to Plan B.”

  “Plan B? What the hell is Plan B?” Sarka hissed urgently looking at me confused.

  “If you can’t tank them in-between Frost Novas, just have your man Frost Blast the mobs while you kite them,” I said grinning as we both followed her man into the room.

  “Kite them?” Sarka repeated the gaming term with a frown. I understood her confusion since the word didn’t make any sense unless you’d been around the MMORPG block.

  “Yea, you know. Just run around the room and do your best to make sure they follow you while everyone else wears them down.” I said with a straight face.

  “So basically you want me to run away?” Sarka asked instantly perturbed.

  “Yep, that’s always Plan B.” I agreed, stepping in front of her as she flipped me off muttering under her breath. “Fucking great.”

  As soon as we stepped inside the room, the heavy stench of spilled blood, rancid bodies and the decay of death was overwhelming. Around the doorway were numerous cages piled on top of one another with every one of them overfilled to capacity with the naked humanoid forms of what had to be the Gnome survivors Miya had told us about. They were all dirty and covered in shit and festering sores as they huddled together. Their bruised, fearful faces watching us intently as we silently made our way through the metal maze of cages.

  From the far end of the large chamber, I could hear the sickening crack of whips shredding flesh quickly followed by the muffled, pain-filled growls of some enraged beast along with the harsh guttural laughter that I’d learned to associate with Goblins in the short time I’d been in the world. I could see the tight, nervous set of Yun’s shoulders as he led the way further into the chamber. The entire scene was entirely too realistic. Like walking into a grisly scene from a horror movie come to life.

  Coming to the open area of the room, we all stopped in shock and disgust at the sight before us. Oozing wet chunks of unidentifiable viscera from slaughtered creatures were scattered across the floor or heaped into bloody piles. At the far end of the massive chamber were seven Goblins. Six of them were beating an unidentifiable animal that had been roped down to the floor. The poor beast had been whipped to a raw, meaty pulp with hardly any skin left on its entire body. Unconsciously my eyes focused on the creature as a pop-up description suddenly appear over its ruined head.

  Race: Silver Dire Wolf

  Type: Large Beast

  Level: 30

  Status: Giving Birth

  To say I was surprised would have been an understatement. Getting any information on such a high-level mob was unusual. Not that the Dire Wolf was long for this wo
rld since the creature’s Hit Point bar was highlighted with the flashing red of near death. Still the ‘giving birth’ status blew my mind as I momentarily found myself shocked at the incredible realism of the game. Is this how the programmers respawned the zones throughout the game? If so, that raised even more questions about the game’s mechanics.

  Unfortunately, the momentary wonder that had filled me in this place of horror and death instantly fled I saw a particularly large Goblin reach down and rip a small pink body out of the Dire Wolf’s belly and shove the squirming, pink lump into its toothy maw in glee as the wolf mother threw herself against her bindings enraged. Uncontrollably the bile rose in my throat at the ghastly sight as I suddenly found myself puking the contents of my stomach out on the slimy floor at my feet.

  The sound of my vomit hitting the stone floor acted like a catalyst as it echoed throughout the room. Everything momentarily stopped as all the heads on the far side of the chamber turned towards us at once. In that split instant, my mind took everything in. The evil, red-eyed Goblin Slave Drivers armed with whips and swords. The Goblin Boss, Cralo Gutripper, with fresh blood dripping down its chin. The dying Dire Wolf’s hateful eyes filled with animalistic intelligence that seemed to bore into my soul begging for help.

  The moment ended in the blink of an eye as the Goblins shrieked and charged. There was no turning back now. Jumping into motion, I shoved Yun forward as we both rushed into the room. As soon as all of the Goblins were in range, Yun released his Frost Nova spell. Immediately a wave of ice washed over the chamber covering everything in a 50-yard radius. Sliding to a stop, I began blasting the closest Slave Driver, even though the first blast knocked the mob free from the spell’s icy grip, four seconds later the Goblin keeled over dead from my Flurry blasts.

  Without hesitation, I began hammering the next closest Slave Driver as Sarka stepped up next to us with her shield and Cruel Bastard sword held at the ready. When the second mob dropped, I released my own Frost Nova before the rest of the mobs could close the distance between us as I began working on the third nearest Goblin, while backing up towards the edge of the room as Yun stepped behind his wife. This was where it was going to get tricky. As the third Goblin dropped dead a foot in front of me, I focused the last of my remaining Mana on fourth Slave Driver. As my third shot slammed into the mob, the last two Slave Drivers rushed me with the Boss a step behind them as my freeze spell broke.