“My guess is that they are going to use most of Guiding Light to rush the walls and take out all of our defenders. Since PVP is disabled for anyone over level 40, there isn’t much that Divine Truth can do other than provide gear and buff them up to the gills with high-level spells. I’ve counted at least 60 players there within the level range and they might have some hidden that I can’t see. All our efforts to get closer to get an accurate count has ended in failure – they are watching for stealthers all over the place.
“As of this hour, we have 15 town guards that are all level 40 or above and are a range of different classes. The PVP restriction doesn’t apply to NPCs, so the level 41 and 42 guards that have been training and leveling up can still participate. These extra levels probably won’t affect that much, anyway, since they will be facing multiple parties of players. On our player side, we have 26 that can participate in the battle – we’ve never had a ton of players and those we have are generally a higher level. Your friends Domn3r and his party are included in this number, so we’ll have to rely on them and the others to defend us. Of course, we have you as well, and if you’re game you can help wherever we need you.”
Devin agreed wholeheartedly – this was very similar to what he normally did: defending the dungeon. It didn’t matter if it was alongside the mobs inside the dungeon or with his guild friends outside the dungeon. Fighting players was what he was created for and he would do it to the best of his ability no matter where it was. He was contemplating going back inside the dungeon to change his classes since there weren’t any monsters to bring back from the dead, but his choice was taken away from him even as he thought about it.
The enemy at their gate finally decided to attack.
Chapter 28
They came slowly – there was no need to rush into danger. Instead of the 60 that De4th had estimated, there were exactly 80 players in 16 five-person groups heading their way. They all converged on the gate, being that it was weaker than the rest of the stone walls and the only obvious point of entry. Their tanks rushed ahead while the ranged fighters slung spells, arrows, and even throwing knives at the gate, steadily bringing its structure health down. As the tanks started beating on the stone gate, Devin could see the gate start to shake. Its health down to 75% already, the defenders started fighting back.
Mage and Archer guards, as well as all the defending players who had ranged attacks, began firing down on the attackers near the gate. Their combined attack did massive amounts of damage, but they were healed quickly by the waiting healers waiting back with the main group. Devin told the players and guards around him to concentrate on only one at a time, hopefully overwhelming any incoming healing with concentrated fire. It worked – as the first one fell, they target the next down the line until they had taken out three in a row. Unfortunately, their healers were close enough to cast Resurrection and after a couple of seconds the first of the bodies on the ground were brought back to the main group, ready for another round.
As he watched the revived tanks rush back into the fray, Devin couldn’t help but see that the gate was down to 50% health. If it keeps going like this, we’ll never make it. Looking around for a solution, he frantically searched the battlefield for an advantage they could use. Despairing, he watched as another tank went down and was promptly Resurrected about ten seconds later. Something about the time that it took them to revive the dead player stirred something in the back of his mind.
He wasn’t able to completely concentrate on whatever it was, because some of the ranged attackers broke off from attacking the gate and fired toward the defenders on the wall. I guess they don’t like us killing their friends. They quickly ducked down, but a couple of the NPC guards took some damage before they could hide. Ambrose and two other Healers were there to bring them back to full health, but they couldn’t safely attack those outside anymore. Domn3r instructed all the guards and players down from the walls in order to defend the gate when it went down.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs leading down from the wall, he joined the rest of the defenders getting in position inside the gate. He could hear the pounding from the assault taking place outside the walls and as he looked around he saw resigned faces all around. With no other option, he got into position far away from the gate but still within range of his bow. As he nervously waited with his fellow ranged defenders, he wished he had time to run in and change his classes. This Necromancer class is doing me no good here – there are no monsters to reanimate. Looking through his skills again, hoping for miracle, he thought he may have found one.
He got on guild chat and outlined a plan for both the remaining defenders and the rest of the waiting guild members. It was a longshot, but if it worked they might be able to salvage the situation. It would mean a great sacrifice for most of their guild members, but this was the only way he could see to pull it off. They reluctantly agreed to the plan, mainly because if they were overrun they were probably going to die anyway.
The health on the gate was down to 5% by this time and the defenders fell back to defend the guild house as per the plan. Devin retreated toward the Blacksmith where the rest of the higher-level guild members, including De4th and his lieutenants, were starting to file in. When they were all inside, Devin could hear an enormous crash of shattering stone emanating from the direction of the gate followed by a resounding cheer as the attackers took down the gate. He looked out the window and saw all of the enemy tanks rush inside and pause, confused at the absence of defenders. They moved farther in as the rest of their parties hurried inside, eager to wipe out the rest of the defending players and NPCs. As they approached the guild house, spells and arrows shot toward the attackers while the remaining melee defenders lined up in front. The last stand of the Reckless guild – or so they thought.
While they were distracted, all the higher-level guild members talked to Smythe, the blacksmith at the same time. While this sounds impossible, the system allows for more than one interaction via menu-based shopping screens. Within moments, each player inside the blacksmith dropped dead. I hope they at least chose an awesome weapon or piece of armor. Devin was lucky that no one had taken advantage of the “Death Conversion Contract” yet, as they were all concentrating on improving the defenses of the town first.
He walked outside, taking care to not pull attention to himself until he was hidden behind the Enchanting Hut with a full view inside the Blacksmith. Crossing his fingers, he used his Raise Undead Behemoth V spell and targeted every single dead player he could see – which amounted to over 50 of them. Inwardly thankful that the spell allowed him to target them, he turned toward the middle of the town and directed the result of his spell to form there.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the bodies piled up in the Blacksmith start to rapidly deteriorate and disappear. In the center of their little town, a massive tornado of body parts and bones swirled around and around. They rotated faster and faster until they all flew together to coalesce in the middle of the eye of the tornado, revealing a 50-foot monstrous amalgamation of body parts. It slightly resembled Bruce, as far as its size and undead status, but there the similarities ended. This was the mindless creation of a Necromancer and had no personality of its own, had two massive legs that could be mistaken for ancient Redwood trees, and two giant arms with fists the size of the Enchanting Hut that Devin was hiding behind. It didn’t have a head, per se, because the two eyes located at the top of its chest was where the Behemoth ended.
Fighting on both sides of the battle paused as everyone stopped and stared as the Undead Behemoth (Level ???) appeared behind the attackers. Before anyone could move, Devin had his new pet attack the Guiding Light healers and casters near the rear of the attacking group. Two heavy, massive fists slammed into the ground, completely obliterating 22 of the grouped up ranged players. As the shockwave expanded out from the impact, everyone within a 30-foot radius lost their footing and tumbled to the ground.
The Behemoth raised his fists a lit
tle bit off the ground and swept his arms to the sides, smacking into the remaining ranged players that were missed earlier. They were picked up from the ground where they were just getting to their feet and were thrown through the air at high speed, most of them splatting dead against the stone palisade.
The other tanks and melee fighters who were fighting the Reckless guild members turned toward the hulking monster and attacked in masse. Devin watched as his pets’ health barely wavered as it took each of the attacks without even trying to defend itself. His Behemoth, whom he decided to call Happy (since that was what he was feeling right now), lifted his foot off the ground and quickly stomped forward, smashing the armored figured into the ground. Seeing that their attacks were largely ineffective, the remaining attackers started to run for the entrance.
They were caught before they made it by the defending players and NPCs that blocked off their escape while they were trying to damage Happy. Their numbers were now evenly matched – with Reckless having a slight advantage – but Guiding Light didn’t have any ranged attackers or healers left. They made short work of the attacking players without even needing any extra help from Happy. Once they were dead, instead of a resounding cheer which Devin had been expecting, they sternly marched over to the gate and lined up in front of it – as if daring someone to try to get past them. Devin backed up this look by having Happy fall in behind them and stare out at the Divine Truth players waiting in their camps.
After about 30 seconds of this, he had Happy retreat and lie down and curl up out of sight so that he couldn’t be seen from outside the walls. His mana was dropping at an exponential rate and he needed to release his Undead Behemoth from his spell. As soon as he was confident he couldn’t be seen, Devin canceled the spell and watched as Happy fell apart into hundreds of different rotting body parts before disintegrating away.
He made his way over to the remaining defenders and sidled up next to Domn3r as he was watching the camp outside. “That was some fancy spell you had there, Devin. You know you’re a cheat, don’t you? I’ve looked into the Necromancer class before and their spells all say ‘target monster’. I’ve never heard about player corpses being used to bring back as undead before – how did you do it?” Domn3r asked him quietly, but with a small smile threatening to emerge on his face.
Devin had seen that his spells all just said “target”, and he got the idea that since he was a monster the rules might be a little different for him. He didn’t know if it would work but they needed to try something – and it had all worked out in the end. He didn’t tell Domn3r about his uncertainty, however, “My mom always used to tell me that I was special – I guess she was right.”
They had done it…but for how long?
Epilogue
After the attack two days ago, everything had pretty much gone back to normal. Or as normal as running both a dungeon and a town can get. Guiding Light and Divine Truth didn’t attack again that day, or even the day after. The patch notes had announced the presence of the town and numerous players were flocking toward it to check it out. It started as a novelty for lower-level players, but they slowly found that the liked being able to run through a dungeon, leave when things started getting hard, and be able to sell all of their loot right outside the dungeon for more than they would get in town.
Krista had repaired the gate and improved their other defenses with the additional resources she acquired from the deaths of the attacking players. She was able to expand the capacity of the barracks in order to accommodate even more guards – which were needed as they had an influx of players trying to damage buildings to get the monetary reward. They were all stopped before they did more than cosmetic damage, but it just meant they had to stay vigilant and watch everybody coming and going.
Despite the improved defenses, Devin was worried about another attack. He was sure that the Guiding Light-Divine Truth duo would attack again at some point, but they had shown no signs so far. They had gone away shortly after getting their asses handed to them by Happy and the town defenders. He figured they were looking for a way to get past Devin’s Undead Behemoth, unaware that it was a once a week defense and only used in the direst emergencies. The “sacrificial lambs” were for the most part happy. They were ecstatic when they learned about how the battle was won, stoked about whatever gear they had gotten in exchange for their deaths, and sad because they had all lost experience and in some cases a level. Levels and experience could be regained, but the town’s existence and prosperity were worth their sacrifice.
Domn3r and his group had all gained multiple levels after the fight for the town. All of them were at least level 40 and were looking forward to going on their quests to gain their advanced classes. Domn3r wanted to be a Barbarian, which would switch his style from “all defense” to “a little defense plus a whole lot of attack”. Devin wasn’t sure how that would affect their group dynamic, but that was completely his decision. Ambrose was looking forward to becoming a Cleric, which would boost her healing spells and give her more helpful buffs.
As Devin figured he would, Bolt3n would become a Ranger – allowing him to do even more damage with his precise shots. Max had her sights set on being a Thief way back in the beginning and had tailored her skills in trap detection and disarming to accommodate this.
Mac dithered back and forth between Wizard and Elementalist. As a Wizard he would be able to cast any spell but wouldn’t have any specialty in any specific field. As an Elementalist, he would maximize his damage with elemental-based attacks. He was still deciding when he left with the rest of Domn3r’s group to start their class quests. Devin figured he probably wouldn’t decide until the last minute.
All in all, things were looking good. De4thfrmbeh1nd had really taken his town-building to heart and was steadily improving each building as their guild treasury steadily gained profits from their own dungeon-diving. Every building had at least a couple of upgrades and he wasn’t neglecting their defenses either. A new Mage Turret was unlocked when every building in town had been upgraded at least once. Krista bought this for them and was able to place it during the night when no one was around. It stood on top of the gatehouse and fired magical bolts toward any attackers outside or inside. De4th upgraded this as soon as he saw it, increasing its rate of fire and damage output.
De4th did have one more tidbit of information for Devin and Krista. He hadn’t been able to tell them before this – it had been too crazy with everything going on lately. Shortly after hearing Devin’s story, he had a hacker friend of his research both of their names and found a former address – but no current address. From what he could piece together, after purchasing two one-way airline tickets to the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Tanzania, they disappeared. Their bills and mortgage were paid for automatically from Krista’s checking account for a couple of months before the house was sold to an anonymous buyer. There were no more records after that. Devin and Krista weren’t sure how to respond to that – it was something that they would worry about later.
Violette…well, Violette was being Violette. Krista told Devin that hours had passed after he had left her crying before she got up and actually did something. She went through the motions of summoning her minions for her Guardian Room and dejectedly settled at the top of her temple. A few hours later – from what Violette had told her – she heard booming laughter coming from the room behind hers. Curious, she opened the door to the second Guardian Room to see where it was coming from. As she watched Bruce talking and laughing at himself, she felt new life invigorate her.
As it turns out, they had a lot in common and would talk for hours through the doorway between their two rooms. They couldn’t leave their respective rooms, but they could at least see and talk to each other. Bruce later asked if there was any way that they could be in the same room together, but Krista had to shut him down. The system wouldn’t allow them to guard the same room. However, after consulting with Carl, she took pity on Bruce since he had been such a good Guard
ian.
Krista was able to attach a large hidden room to both of the Guardian Rooms that was inaccessible to players but accessible to their Guardians. She made them promise to stay vigilant when it was busy in the dungeon, but they could use the room to relax together if they needed a break. Just a couple of hours ago they were finally able to meet in “person” for the first time. Although Krista wouldn’t talk specifics about what happened next, Devin could hear the revulsion in her voice when she mentioned an “unnatural use of body parts”. He was probably better off not knowing.
As for Devin and Krista, things were just the same as they were before – but Devin secretly hoped that would change soon. They were both so busy with the all the various projects ongoing that they never got a chance to address his “not-so-secret-anymore” love for Krista. However, she was due to increase her Dungeon Level to 15 anytime now, which would give her access to her very own avatar. There were things that he wanted to tell her, but he wanted to be able to do it in person.
As it happened, Krista gained enough experience to increase her Dungeon Level to 15 on a player that Devin dispatched in the dungeon. He was experimenting being a Dragonkin Assassin/Illusionist and had just surprised a Mage that was lagging behind the rest of her party. As soon as he heard the news, Krista respawned him in a little-visited room on the first floor. There was a Goblin Brawler in the room with him, but Devin ignored it.
Anxiously waiting, he was surprised at the sudden appearance of a High Elf Healer in the room with him. After a millisecond of confusion, he realized that it was Krista. She looked the same as she did when she first started the game with him, except that her hair had streaks of pink in it – similar to how she looked in real life. She looked as beautiful as he remembered – she really did look good as an Elf. She was wearing a simple white Healer robe, had a silver circlet resting on her head, and had a flashy sapphire necklace hanging around her neck. She had no weapon, but she didn’t need any – she couldn’t attack anything even if she wanted to.
Dungeon Guild Page 18
