Shadow For Hire: Books 1-4 (A LitRPG Series)

by Adam Drake

  Amara Frostwalker has placed her banner.

  I frowned up at mine. Where to put it?

  I gave the map another look. If Amara was going to be attacking from the north, then I needed to keep as far back to the south as I could get.

  The southern part of the plain ended at the tree line forming a natural cul de sac. I'd set up at the back and work from there.

  I jogged south about a hundred paces feeling like I was just wasting time, now that Amara had begun building the apparatus which would potentially bring about my destruction.

  Now, now, I admonished myself. An able commander must always be optimistic. No one else would be.

  I stopped about thirty paces from the trees and gave my domain the once over. Seemed as good a place as any.

  Gripped firmly in both hands, I brought the end of the banner's wooden pole down into the ground.

  Instantly the earth boiled, forcing me to stumble backward.

  From the roiling earth emerged skeletons.

  My sword appeared in my hand as I looked at these undead apparitions with alarm.

  Almost a dozen of the things forced their way up out of the ground, but none gave me the slightest bit of attention. Crawling over one another they each reached forward with a hand and grasped the banner's pole.

  Then they all went still.

  I blinked at this strange sight. In a macabre form of an altar, the skeletons had created the base from which my red banner fluttered.

  Then a large shaft of light fell upon the banner and its grotesque keepers. The light formed a column that reached up into the sky, shifting like a curtain and glowing brightly.

  I stepped back, head craned up to look at this bright column. Like a spotlight. Then a thought hit me.

  I spun around and looked north.

  There, far in the distance, well beyond the trees, like a golden thread but still noticeable, was another column of light that stretched up into the sky.

  The location of Amara's banner.

  Be seeing you soon, I thought.

  A new icon shaped like a shield flashed at the left of my view-screen. Selecting it brought up a menu with various selections.

  Command Menu:

  Build Keep: 1,000 gold, 300 stone, 150 wood (upgradeable)

  Other Buildings: (Keep required)

  Build Woodyard: 200 gold, 100 wood

  Build Quarry: 200 gold, 150 wood

  Build Goldmine: 200 gold, 150 wood

  Build Barracks: 350 gold, 200 wood

  Upgrade Keep: 3,500 gold, 1000 stone, 600 wood.

  I frowned at my selection. Was I to use my own gold to make the initial purchases? That didn't make sense, but no one said this game had to be fair, either.

  A loud clinking of metal drew my attention back to the banner's skeletal altar. A large sack was held up by a pair of bony hands.

  Okay, then. I approached to find the sack was partially open. Gold coins glittered within. My start up fund.

  When I grabbed the sack, it vanished, and the hands holding it curled into fists. Suddenly, a status line appeared at the top of my view screen.

  Gold x 2,000 – Stone x 0 – Wood x 0

  Sweet, I thought. The keep was needed to start this party, but I lacked the wood and stone resources. I looked to the nearby tree line. Hacking at the trees with my sword didn't seem plausible. Then I noticed there were other items being held by the skeletal hands of the banner's altar.

  One grasped a thick tree branch. Another held a large stone as if ready to throw it.

  With some hesitation I took the branch, and the hand curled into a fist. The branch dissolved into a thousand moths that fluttered away in the breeze.

  My status line updated.

  Gold x 2,000 – Stone x 0 – Wood x 500

  Next, I snatched the stone out of the other hand's grasp, but as it curled into a fist, its middle finger remained pointed upward.

  Same to you buddy, I thought.

  The stone cracked like an egg in my hand, and dozens of little gray lizards squirmed out to fall to the ground. They quickly buried themselves into the dirt and were gone.

  Another status line update.

  Gold x 2,000 – Stone x 450 – Wood x 500

  Now we're in business. Flush with gold and resources I brought up the command menu and selected the Build Keep option. An information screen floated before me.

  Keep:

  The key building of your base, it is required to construct other buildings. It is also required for hiring Worker Units. Worker Units can construct buildings.

  Cost: 1,000 Gold + 300 Stone + 150 Wood.

  Do you wish to purchase this building? Yes/No?

  But what if I didn't have any workers to build the keep in the first place? The chicken before the egg syndrome.

  Only one way to find out, I thought, with a shrug and selected Yes.

  A clattering of bones gave me a start.

  From the banner's base, a tall skeleton emerged from the ground and stood before me. Cupped in its hands, causing it to stoop with its weight, was a large block of stone.

  I blinked in surprise at this new arrival. Very cool, if not a bit creepy.

  The skeleton's jaw worked open and closed. A voice slithered in my ear.

  Where?

  I repressed the urge to tell it to put the block anywhere just to get rid of the undead thing. But a strategic spot needed to be found. Everything I built should also be placed to impede an attacking force from getting to the banner.

  I walked fifteen paces directly north of the banner's altar, then pointed at the spot between my feet. To the skeleton, I said, “Here, please.”

  The thing moved to the indicated spot, waddling under the weight of the block. As it approached, I took a few steps backward.

  The skeleton stopped right on the spot and froze. It turned its skull to face in my direction.

  The voice returned to squirm in my ear.

  Back.

  Not wanting to hear it speak again, I moved all the way back to the altar.

  Once I was clear, the skeleton dropped the block to the ground with a dull thud. Then the bones of the undead apparition became unhinged and fell apart into a heap. The bones crumbled away into dust.

  The upright stone block shimmered, then began to grow bigger and bigger. As it ballooned in size, a progress meter appeared next to it. 15%. 22%. 35%.

  As it got larger, so did the number on the progress meter. The block began to change shape, forming a squat tower.

  At 100% the tower stopped growing and a system message appeared.

  Keep construction completed.

  I marveled at this new structure. It was about three stories high and about ten paces in diameter. Stone battlements ringed its crown and arrow slits dotted its surface at different levels.

  And it was mine!

  A large wooden door was at its base, facing south.

  Maybe I'll go inside and look around my new keep, I thought.

  But before I even moved, the door flew open and people spilled out of it. So surprised, I jumped back, sword in hand.

  As the last person exited the Keep, the door slammed shut.

  Twelve men stood before me in two neat rows of six. Each were identical to the others, with a mat of dark hair and a mustache. They also wore a pair of dirty overalls with a red shirt underneath – my banner color. Some held hammers, others axes or hand saws. A single name card appeared above the group. Worker Unit.

  They all looked expectantly at me.

  “Uh, hello,” I said for lack of anything else to say.

  One of the workers stepped forward, and a small flowing red banner appeared above his head. The unit's leader.

  “Whatcha want us to build, boss?” the leader asked.

  Good question. Now that I had workers it was time to put them to constructing the next building.

  Making the Keep took nearly all my gold and resources, but was a necessity. So I pointed at the line of trees to the south and said, �
�Cut those down and get me more wood.”

  The unit leader scratched his head. “Gonna need a woodyard first, boss. Can't do much without one, afraid to say.”

  Right. Woodyard. I selected it from my command menu.

  Woodyard:

  Required to receive and process chopped wood into building materials and for other usable products like weapons.

  Cost: 200 gold + 100 wood.

  Do you wish to purchase this building? Yes/No?

  I selected Yes.

  The worker leader perked up. “Right on, boss! Where do you want it?”

  I pointed at a spot about ten paces from the southern tree line. As I did so an outline of a red square appeared on the ground. When I moved my finger, the outline skipped along with it. I settled the outline onto the spot I wanted and said, “Build it there.”

  The outline froze into place, and I lowered my hand.

  “Let's do this, men!” shouted the unit leader, and the workers rushed over to the woodyard outline. They spaced themselves around the outline's perimeter and began to hammer and saw at it. The noise of their tools echoed off the trees.

  From the ground a small log warehouse began to slowly emerge from the ground. Its progress indicator increased rapidly and in moments it was at 100%.

  Woodyard completed.

  The workers let out a brief cheer and wiped sweat from their brows. Then the unit leader pointed at the trees. “Time to chop wood!” he shouted. The tools in their hands changed to axes, and they each attacked a tree with gusto.

  I caught myself grinning at them. Despite my initial trepidation I thought this was actually kind of fun.

  With a little time to get the hang of things, I could get my base built, raise an army, and get Amara's banner.

  How hard could that really be?

  A shout pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked to the source.

  At the top of the keep, leaning over the battlements, was a soldier clad in light armor. The indicator 'Lookout' was above his head. He pointed to the northwest. “Enemy spotted!” He shouted.

  Shocked, I looked to where he pointed.

  A large group of humanoids were running across the grass plains directly at me. They were tall, green and armed with spears. Each wore basic trousers and a simple blue colored jerkin.

  Trolls.

  Behind them, mounted on a sparkling white horse, was Amara. Even from this distance I could see her grin.

  The trolls were approaching at an alarming speed, such was their racial advantage.

  I found myself paralyzed with indecision. I had no soldiers or defenses and was about to be hit with what many players considered the most notorious tactic in a Battle Field game.

  A grunt rush.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Faced with little choice I decided to engage the enemy full on. Once within my base's perimeter they would slaughter the workers and raze the Keep. And worst of all, the banner would be lost.

  I had to stop them, but doing so on foot would be folly.

  Summon Shadow Steed.

  A magnificent black horse with full rider's tack appeared before me. He nickered in greeting. This was my mount, Smoke.

  I leapt up into his saddle and kicked him forward. As we closed the distance with the approaching trolls, I pulled up their stats.

  Unit: Foot Soldiers

  Battle Rank: Grunt

  Hit Points: 100

  Speed: 25

  Main Weapon: Spear

  A quick count told me that there were twelve trolls all together, with Amara as their back up. She'd pulled this tactic as a way to overrun my defenseless base and grab the banner. Never mind a long protracted battle, she was going for the quick and easy victory.

  I found myself getting pretty angry and summoned my bow with a quiver of arrows. Several volleys into the grunts scored hits, but I had an accuracy penalty while riding so fast.

  With neither the trolls nor I altering our course, I charged straight into them. At the last second I switched to my sword and swung at the nearest grunt. I sliced the top of his spear off and followed through to lop off his head.

  A system message appeared.

  You have killed a grunt. +1 Battle Points.

  You have gained 125 experience points toward your next level.

  The status bar at the top of my view expanded to include a new indicator. Battle Points: 1.

  But I barely noticed any of this, caught up in the heat of combat.

  As the grunt's corpse fell to the ground, the other trolls ran right past, without trying to engage me at all. Their target was obvious: my workers, who blissfully chopped away at the trees.

  I yanked at Smoke's reigns to bring him around and swung at the head of the nearest troll.

  You have killed a grunt. +1 Battle Points.

  You have gained 125 experience points toward your next level.

  A sudden pain pierced my lower back, and I looked around.

  Amara grinned at me as she nocked another arrow in her bow. She kept her distance to get better aim at me.

  Two can play at this game, I thought. I switched to my bow and fired at her, but she easily dodged it.

  “Think you got what it takes to beat me, FILTERED?” Amara shouted.

  I was about to send Smoke into a full charge but pulled up short. This was what Amara wanted, to keep me busy and draw me away from my base.

  Instead of taking the bait, I turned Smoke south and kicked him into a full gallop directly at the grunt unit. Behind me I heard Amara cursing, but I ignored her.

  By now the trolls had entered the defensive perimeter of the keep. The Lookout was firing a bow at them but with little effect. He appeared to be the Keep's only defender.

  I shouted a warning to the workers, who all turned to gape at their inbound executioners.

  The lead troll ran up to the closest worker and ran him through with a spear. The worker dropped his axe and fell over dead.

  At that moment I charged into the backs of the trolls, swinging wildly. Two died in moments and were added to my Battle Points.

  But my workers were dying left and right, felled by spears.

  Suddenly, the trolls changed their attention from the frightened workers to target me.

  Spears jabbed at Smoke's side and I managed to batter some attacks away. The quick change caught me off guard but I recovered and pushed Smoke out of their midst.

  As I lopped the head off of another troll, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

  Amara was charging past the keep, the Lookout feebly firing arrows at her. She wasn't coming to save her grunts, or attack me.

  She was going for the banner!

  I tried to move to cut her off, but the grunts surrounded me again, spears jabbing. With frustration I shouted at the worker unit's leader. “Get to the banner! Defend the banner!”

  The leader blinked at me in disbelief, then held up his axe. He pointed toward the banner altar and yelled. “To the banner, boys!”

  The surviving workers ran toward the altar which they were much closer to than Amara.

  I knew I'd just sent them to their doom, but I needed time.

  Smoke suddenly kicked backward sending a troll smashing against a tree.

  +1 Battle Points.

  With more frantic swings of my sword, I managed to push us through the grunts. With a final decapitation, I ran at the banner's altar.

  The remaining workers, totaling six, arrived at the altar just as Amara did. They swung their axes but did almost no damage to her or her mount.

  Finding them more of an annoyance, she tried to knock them aside with her horse. The workers only got in the way, slowing her down.

  Close enough now to grab the banner, she reached out a hand.

  My heart sank in my chest.

  But the worker's leader smacked her hand away with his axe, causing her to nearly lose her balance. She screamed with rage.

  Then I slammed into her side at a full charge.

  Amazingl
y, she recovered from this sudden assault and parried my sword swings. Her white horse kicked, and a worker pinwheeled away.

  With an effort, I placed myself between her and the banner, our swords clashing. She was highly skilled with melee weapons, I gave her that, but kept up my attack.