Max had taken the healer down to 20% health, and she was sinking, so he left her alone. He focused instead on the other caster. The one who’d killed Lainey. A silence arrow went into his face, tearing off a chunk of his nose in the process.
Sasha, screaming in rage, threw down an aoe thorn trap that engulfed the archers and warriors that had cleared the mud. The massive amount of thorns was easily triple what he’d ever seen his druidess cast. The players were barely visible inside the tangle of vines, each of which were half a foot thick. He quickly cast wizard’s fire on three body parts he saw sticking out. He also cast it on each of the tanks. Then he raised some stone under Lugs, freeing him from the mud and allowing him to step back from the flames.
Brick, on the other hand, went charging in. His shield devastated the burning caster, knocking him back into a tree with a crack that was probably his spine. Then the dwarf grabbed the mage’s robes and tossed him into the mud with the tanks.
Alexander solidified the ground around that group, trapping all four tanks, the healer, the mage, and one archer. Then he built a three-sided stone box around the group that was trapped in Sasha’s vines, so they could not retreat anywhere except toward his group.
“Hit them all, except the healer! Take them down to 5% each. As painfully as you can!” he shouted. The rest of his group didn’t hesitate. Brick and Lugs began to break arms and ribs with terrible hammer blows. The enemy tanks fought back as best they could, arms still free of the mud. Dayle moved in to do the same to the tank group, so Brick moved over to the players that were on fire. His shield would heal him while he broke bones. Max was shooting arrows into sensitive areas still exposed above-ground, or sticking out from vines. Misty was doing the same with ice bolts. One of her bolts actually froze a hand that was exposed between burning vines. A second bolt shattered the hand.
Warren and Helga were slowly and carefully slicing tendons and muscles with their swords. Lyra, Benny and Sasha threw heals on any who needed it. Benny, in his paladin’s plate armor, stood in front of the two ladies to protect them. Kai and Fitz stayed out of the fight, though both looked angry enough to kill.
Alexander took a moment to observe all the enemy players. These were higher level than the last group, all over 50. One of the tanks was level 68. And the healer was 70. That was double the level of some of Alexander’s group. Nearly triple Benny’s level 26.
It took several minutes to lower the health bars of all the higher-level players. One of the tanks was a paladin, and he stopped fighting to focus on healing himself and his comrades. A few of them managed to get down healing potions, as well. This stopped quickly when Lugs, Brick, and Dayle broke arms and shoulders, incapacitating the players. Alexander softened the ground below the group that was trapped in Sasha’s vines, sinking them to their chests in the mud before solidifying it again.
The mage managed to cast another of those dark bolts with the worm in it, hitting Lugs under the arm as he raised his hammer. The bolt penetrated the ogre’s thick skin, and he went down, howling.
Kai was there instantly, making the poor ogre scream even louder as he worked to remove the evil thing. Beatrix cast a globe of water on the mage’s head, effectively stopping any more casting. “Beatrix, be careful not to kill him,” Alexander cautioned. “That one’s gonna pay for Lainey.” His tone made several of the others stop and look at him for a moment. There was a promise of pain in his voice that even Sasha had never heard before.
Calling to his group to halt for a moment, he called out, “You are all under arrest…” Then paused.
Shit. What can I charge them with? Killing a player isn’t a crime. I don’t have any way to know yet whether any of them are PWP. And Chaos Nation haven’t been declared enemies by the king yet. Can I do it myself? Are we even still on my lands? His mind was frantic, looking for a reason that the game would accept.
Taking a chance, he said, “Chaos Nation is officially declared an enemy of the Dire Lands, and the Kingdom of Stormforge! All of you who are members are charged with the murder of a citizen of Dire Keep, and espionage!”
Fitz cast a spell, and that same glow of light from the earlier group shone around ten of the twelve. The healer, and the paladin tank did not seem affected.
Moving next to Fitz, he whispered, “Do I actually have the power to make those declarations?”
Fitz laughed. He whispered back, “As Baron of Dire Keep, you do. On your own lands. You were granted that title by the king. As Knight-Advisor to The King, you have arrest powers on his behalf, and can bind them to the prison. Either yours, or the king’s. I’ll teach you the spell, later. The murder charge for killing an adventurer didn’t work. That is why two of them were not bound.”
Good to know.
Stepping up to the paladin, Alexander said, “You are not Chaos Nation. Who are you, and why are you with these assholes?”
The man motioned toward the unconscious healer. “She’s my sister. And that asshole mage over there is her boyfriend. He talked her into following him on this raid. I couldn’t let her come alone.” Alexander looked over at the mage, who had passed out from lack of oxygen. Beatrix had removed her water spell before the mage died.
Alexander looked back at the paladin. He had no sense that the man was lying. He’d been trying to protect his sister. He wasn’t in league with the Dark One, he was just in the wrong place for the right reason.
“Are you a member of PWP?” Alexander asked.
“Those assholes? I’ve seen the videos of them, and…” His voice drifted off, as his eyes got wide. “Oh, shit. You’re that guy.” He looked around at the others. “You’re Greystone clan. Some of you, anyway. The ones with the SEEE YA T-shirts.” Now his face fell.
“Which means, I’m one of the bad guys, now. Right?” he asked, dejected.
“You’ve certainly been helping them!” Sasha yelled at him. She was still seething over the death of Lainey.
Alexander looked at the man. “These are bad people. Members of a guild controlled by a real-life terrorist organization. I’m afraid you, and your sister, have stepped into some serious shit.”
“Terrorists?” The man gaped. “I’m no terrorist! What the hell do you mean?”
“Shut the hell up, moron!” The mage was awake again, and angry. Lugs, who was back on his feet, and very angry, moved to step on the man’s neck. Kai held him back. The dragon did break the mage’s one unbroken arm, to keep him from casting any more evil worm bolts.
When he was done screaming in pain, the mage shouted, “The Dark One will take vengeance on you! All of you!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Max kicked the mage in the head. “The Dark One, blah, blah, blah. All of you are so sure he’s right. What’s he paying you, anyway?”
“He doesn’t pay me! He gives me POWER!” the mage screamed. A wave a dark energy burst forth from him. It knocked Max over, taking about 60% of his health in the process. Others suffered lesser damage. Beatrix put another water globe over his head.
Max got back up, putting his face right next to the globe, yelling. “That makes you an even bigger dumbass than the others! At least they were getting paid. You sacrificed your life for bullshit power? Moron!” Spittle flew off Max’s lips as he screamed at the mage.
“Hey, guys. That sucked.” Lainey’s voice came over guild chat. “I’m back at the keep.”
Max took a few deep breaths. Sasha looked a little shaken. Alexander understood. With the hyper-reality of full immersion, Lainey’s death had seemed very real to them in the heat of battle.
“Glad to hear it! Congrats on your first death. We’ll have to celebrate.” Max tried to smile, but failed.
Looking at the paladin, Alexander said, “You might be able to help yourself by providing information. Are there more of you? Did these guys mention any plans?”
The paladin nodded his head. “They said we were scouting for a large raid group. Didn’t say how many, but it sounded like a lot. Something about undead soldiers. We were sup
posed to attack the keep and get an idea of your defenses. They expected us to be killed, and to give them the information when we respawn in Antalia.”
“That won’t be happening. At the very least, your accounts are going to be suspended while your involvement is investigated.” Alexander told the man.
As if on cue, the GM appeared. As he was giving his speech to the players, who were howling objections at him, Alexander called out in raid chat. “Kill them all! Start with the highest levels. We have about fifteen seconds after he disappears!” He pulled out his light weapon as he spoke.
As soon as the GM disappeared, he cast Wizard’s Fire on the vines, burning that group. He hit every one of the enemy players with a burst of light damage, one per second.
Lugs crushed the paladin’s head with his hammer. Brick and Dayle smashed away as well. Max fired arrows into faces as quickly as he could. Beatrix drowned them, Helga and Warren sliced off heads. Nearly every hit was a crit against defenseless players. It took less than the fifteen seconds to kill them all.
Level up! You are now level 42!
Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1
You have 26 free attribute points available
Each of them got at least another level. Benny got three. Helga, and Dayle’s entire group, got two.
Max and Beatrix looted the players, taking their inventory bags as well. They wouldn’t be needing them again.
When the job was done, Sasha gathered up Lainey’s gear, and Fitz teleported everyone back to the keep.
Chapter Thirteen No Rest for the Wicked
Lainey was waiting for them in the courtyard. Sasha hugged her, then handed her all her gear.
“Thank you!” Lainey said. “Stuck in that stupid limbo, all I could think about was one of those assholes taking my bow.”
Alexander gave her a minute to re-equip, then grabbed her up in a big bear hug. Max and Brick joined in. Nobody said anything. At least until a small voiced squeaked out from somewhere in the middle, “Squishing… me…”
Laughing, Alexander let her go. She breathed in deeply, then kicked him playfully in the shin. “Idiots. Nearly killed me again.” She grinned.
Alexander looked around, noticing for the first time all the citizens staring at them.
“Jeeves, loudspeaker, please.”
After waiting a few seconds, he announced, “We have dealt with another dozen servants of the Dark One. The keep is safe for now. We did learn there’s a large raid group planning to hit us. It seems they’re still in Antalia right now, so we likely have a few days. But they are coming. So, let’s be as prepared as we can be!” There was a general cheer from the crowd. Alexander continued. “We have reason to believe the army coming against us will include the undead. Father Ignatius, Father Alric, I’d like you to work with the paladins here. Bless as many weapons and armor pieces as you can. Those of you with magic, learn any light spells you can. Healers, your light magic heals will damage the undead as much as any weapon.”
Seeing that the mood had darkened considerably, he added “Do not worry! The ground around you is consecrated by not one, but TWO gods of light. You have all received blessings that will allow you to do extra damage against servants of the Dark One. And you will heal faster than you did before. Together we WILL overcome this enemy!” Enthusiastic cheers answer him.
Kai stepped close to Alexander. “I must return to speak with my father. This Dark One, he is sharing evil magic with his minions. Magic that should not be allowed. The King of Dragons must be informed. I shall return in a day or so.”
With that, he teleported up onto the wall. Motioning the guards to move back, his body morphed into his dragon form. Not the form small enough to sleep on Brick’s dragon forge. His true form. Where one second a man had stood, now there was a blue-black dragon, larger than the entire keep complex. With a single beat of his massive wings, Kai leapt into the air. He soared in a great circle above the forest, before passing over them and disappearing over the ridge above.
“Holy shit,” Misty said, as his shadow blocked out the sun. “Kai’s a dragon!”
“A big goddamned dragon,” Helga added.
“BWAHAHAHA!” Brick laughed. “Me thinks we forgot to share a couple things.” He grinned.
Lyra jumped up in the air, fist raised above her. “We have a DRAGON on our side! Yeah!” she shouted. There was a roar of approval, mixed with some laughter, from the gathered citizens.
As everyone drifted back to their jobs, Alexander motioned to Fitz. “Did you and Kai finish the moat?”
“Aye, boy. I was just about to pop back for the moat monster egg,” the wizard replied.
“What happened to two moat monsters? Moat monster babies?” Alexander chuckled.
“We’ll start with the one. See how it does.” Fitz waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll go fetch it, you fill the moat,” he added, before disappearing.
“Beatrix!” Alexander called out. “Want to help me make a giant bathtub for our moat monster?”
The little gnome dashed over. “You betcha!” she said. “I always wanted to have a castle with a moat!” She winked at him.
He teleported them back to the lake, at its closest point to the new wall. He’d have to make a trench about three hundred yards long. “Can you control the water flow, so we don’t empty the lake?” he asked the water mage.
“Sure! Though, the smaller you make the opening, the easier it will be,” she replied.
That was a good point. Maybe a trench wasn’t the best idea. A pipe might be better. A large pipe. Say, ten feet in diameter? It’d be easier to make, and easier to shut down if necessary.
So starting at the moat side, Alexander used his earth magic to form a stone pipe, starting a couple of feet above the floor of the moat, and extending it from the moat through the ground until it was nearly at the lake. Once he was there, he told Beatrix “I’m down to the last foot of stone. Try to hold back the water while I open it?”
She nodded her head, closing her eyes. When she was ready, she waved at him. He removed the last foot of stone, raising it straight up like a sluice gate. When the stone had completely cleared the pipe, he looked to Beatrix. The poor little gnome was sweating, her whole body trembling with the effort of holding back the water. “I’m sorry, Beatrix. Go ahead and release it.”
The gnome exhaled forcefully, and her body slumped. “I didn’t realize it would be so heavy! It was like the weight of the whole lake pushing on me!” She panted.
They both heard a roaring sound as the water rushed through the pipe and gushed out the other end, into the moat. They ran over to the edge and looked down.
The pressure from the weight of the lake water was causing the water to fountain out across the moat and strike the opposite side. Alexander heard the cracking sound of fish being slammed into the wall at high speed. “Can you do anything about that impact?” he asked. “We don’t want to kill every fish in the lake.”
Beatrix focused again, and re-shaped the fountaining stream so that it curved to the left, shooting the water down the length of the moat. This way the fish were still hitting the floor, but not with nearly the same force as they hit the wall. And soon they’d be landing in water, instead of on the stone bottom of the moat.
Alexander knew the water mage couldn’t keep that control going indefinitely. He said, “Channel your magic through the soul crystal I gave you. Use its power. I’ll recharge it for you later.”
She pulled out her crystal, and after a moment, visibly relaxed. He pulled up a block of stone for her to sit on. “Thank you. That’s much better. I can keep this up for a while. I think the pressure is already decreasing, as the water level in the lake goes down.”
Alexander hadn’t thought of that, either. What about negative pressure? What if the moat fills, and the water pushes back through the pipe? Would it prevent fresh water flowing in? He didn’t want stagnant water in his moat. This was going to take some studying. Maybe he could
consult with one of his father’s engineers when he next logged out.
An idea occurred to him. He picked a spot about fifty feet down from the pipe, and raised a six-foot wall. This would cause the water to pool much faster around the pipe, and lessen the impact for incoming water critters. When it reached six feet deep, it could spill over the wall and begin to fill further. Just to be safe, he raised another four-foot wall about a hundred feet downstream from the first. And he ramped up the stone on the dry side of each wall, so the water would run down smoothly.
Alexander pulled up a stone for himself, and sat with Beatrix for the better part of an hour. The two of them talked about the attack that morning, and did some planning for the upcoming raid in Antalia.
The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands Page 34
