by Michael Ryan
The remainder of the Third Platoon, now only five strong, moved into the forest. They found a place to stay concealed and watched the entrance of the dungeon.
Dale the Zuharah, Dyfrig the Ningishzida, Amy the Sidheagin, Smith the Sagittalian, and Sanjay the Isca all waited in complete silence. A wizard, a lizard, a wolf-woman, an ape-man, and a jaguar all waited silently under the brush, waiting to see what Amy had heard approaching.
A platoon of soldiers walked to the dungeon. It was made up of various races, much like their party, and numbered ten. Dale concentrated on the point soldier.
Name: Winters, Paul, Sgt.
Declan Soldier: Naphil Level 5
It was a group of enemies – the Declan faction. They had finally crossed paths.
Mercenaries?
Warriors from an unreported conflict?
Troth?
Just other Rhith players?
Military?
Civilian?
Both?
Dale had too many questions.
Perhaps the soldier was just like himself, someone who sort of wished they were back in tech school, worrying about grades, girls, and not experiencing horrible pain and suffering in a mandatory government volunteer program.
Perhaps not.
Perhaps they were just NPCs designed to behave like PCs just to fuck with the minds of Rhith players.
The stone statue guards came to life and presumably offered the Declan soldiers the same quest that Dale and his platoon had just completed. The group accepted the quest and headed down the stairway. The door closed, and the two guards returned to their stone shapes.
“Should we leave?” Dale asked.
“Maybe,” Amy said.
“Maybe we should see if they come out weaker,” Dyfrig suggested. “If they lose a few members, we can attack them.”
“Are we back to being in the platoon?” Sanjay asked. “If so, Sergeant Dyfrig, you’re the ranking MFIC.”
“I say we stay and take them out,” Smith said. “I’m ready to find out how this war is going to play out. Are they as strong as us? What motivates them?”
“It’s the same in every war,” Dyfrig said. “You fight and die for your friends. If that’s not the way of the Declan soldiers…well, the war’s already over.”
“You think so?” Dale asked.
“War has been this way since the first tribe was formed, when only men, or lizards, knew the earth. Even before the creation of gods and governments,” he said.
“I agree,” Amy said.
“We stay and fight,” Dyfrig commanded.
“Sergeant,” they said together.
The anticipation was almost as bad as the actual battles. Dale and Amy whispered to each other while waiting for the Declan faction to return from the quest. They stayed together while the other three members of their diminished platoon moved to new spots so that they could capture the returning troops in a crossfire.
Dale hoped the Vulturaptor was successful in thinning their ranks.
“I wish we knew where Yingtai ran off to,” Dale said.
“Never trust the Chinese,” Amy said.
“Amy…that’s…it’s kind of racist,” Dale said. “Don’t you think?”
“You only say that because you’re not from Korea.”
“I guess. But she’s Klaharn now,” Dale said. “I mean, here she’s on our team. She fights with us. You’ll have to trust her, won’t you?”
“I will fight with her,” Amy said. “But I’ll never trust her.”
“Okay. I guess I understand,” Dale said. “I think it’s harder for me, you know, growing up in Ohio. It’s not like I had any reason to distrust the Chinese. I mean, they owned half the city. I’ve never had a problem. I’m not judging you.”
“Thanks,” she said. “It’s different when you’re raised in Seoul. When I moved to San Francisco, it was a shock to me. I went into Chinatown once. Everyone was polite and kind, and I had to adjust my mindset. But my grandfather told me stories. Some things in the past are hard to forget and impossible to forgive. Ask Emi or Rikuto sometime about how they feel about the Chinese. Or even how they feel about the Koreans.”
“I understand,” Dale said. “I get it, but I still wish Yingtai were with us. And the Russians, too. I wonder where Tom went off to.”
“Tom’s in a hunters’ group under the Flidais guild,” Amy said. “So is Kim.”
“So they went for–”
“I imagine they went on a hunters’ quest, yes,” Amy said. “But I think he has ulterior motives for wanting her alone.”
“You think?” Dale asked.
“You haven’t noticed?”
“I thought Galina–”
“She’s a lesbian,” Amy said. “Do you even pay attention?”
“I knew that,” Dale said, “but…”
“Tom teases Galina,” Amy said, “but he wants to fu…to have–”
“I get it.” Dale blushed.
“This new world has lots of new species to hunt,” Amy said. “Maybe their partnership is totally innocent. But I wish they were here, too. Maybe it was a bad idea to allow the group to split up.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”
“What’s that mean?”
“An old idiom,” Dale said. “You know how our parents used to have to wear glasses due to eye problems?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ve seen the pictures.”
“Well, twenty-twenty was the standard for normal vision. So twenty-twenty hindsight means–”
“I get it,” Amy interrupted. “Quiet, the door’s opening.”
Dale and Amy remained still and silent as the passageway in the stone began opening. The Declan faction troops entered the forest. They’d dropped in number from the original ten down to seven.
The seven that remained were ranked levels four and five except their leader. The Naphil, who carried a longbow, had leveled up to six.
Two carried swords. A Sigtrygg carried a war hammer, a Gavreel carried a longbow, and two Gahmkah carried spears similar to what Sanjay had used in the dungeon.
Dale leaned close to Amy and whispered, “We need to concentrate on taking out their healers and support. We’re outnumbered, but we have the element of surprise.”
As Dale finished speaking, a long spear, imbued with magic, flew into an enemy Gahmkah’s chest.
Sanjay had fired the first shot.
Dale and Amy jumped into action.
Dale ran, sword in hand, assuming Amy would stay back and provide support by firing magic and healing the tanks.
Smith beat Dale to the battle.
He swung a club, engaging the Naphil.
Smith dealt substantial damage to the soldiers because they hadn’t completely recovered from the dungeon battle.
Besides being unprepared for an attack, the Declanians had been busy looking at, counting, and talking about their loot.
The Gahmkah, who Sanjay had hit, was down, and Smith crushed him with a blow from his club. Next he attacked the dwarflike Sigtrygg who came at him with a war hammer.
The two tanks traded blows, but Smith had the advantage because Amy and Sanjay provided better support than their counterpart could give.
Dale engaged a humant-avatar with his sword. It was almost like being back at basic training. Arrows flew back and forth from both sides. Dale’s health went down, then back up again; each time he gained a small advantage over his opponent.
Amy was doing a good job of healing, and Sanjay was able to throw another spear after waiting through the cooldown, but then he switched to healing support.
Dale swung upward, knocked his opponent off balance, spun, and sliced his sword through the enemy’s head.
+400XP
Killed: Declan Faction, Humant, Level 4
Hint: PCs do not leave loot when they die; however, if they drop something before death, finders keepers!
System Message: You’ve killed your first sentient being. Please check in with HQ psyc
h department upon returning from your mission or after respawn.
Debriefing is mandatory.
With the humant soldier and the Gahmkah dead, the seven were now five, and the battle was evenly matched.
But the other lionlike avatar, the Gahmkah, had switched from spear to longsword. He was tanking with the same ferocity and skill as Smith.
The Naphil soldier alternated between spells and enchantments. First he healed his compatriots; then he fired imbued arrows into his enemies.
Smith took devastating amounts of damage.
Dale barely dodged a longsword swung at his head as a Gavreel engaged him. The Gavreels were an angelic humanoid race, skilled sword fighters, and good at obtaining magic skills.
Dale was a level higher than his enemy but not as skilled, and he hoped that Amy could keep his health from falling too low.
Amy had to favor Dyfrig and Smith when providing support, as they were the primary tanks in the platoon. If they fell, the battle would end in a quick and embarrassing defeat.
The soldier attacking Dale hit him with a mighty blow that drove him to his knees. He was prepared to be struck again, and possibly die, but Dyfrig jumped in front of the Gavreel and took the hit.
Dale stood, rammed his sword into the gut of the Gavreel, but the Naphil enemy fired an arrow into Dyfrig while at the same time the Gavreel swung his sword at the reptile’s head. The sergeant died in front of him.
The two soldiers, after killing Dyfrig, turned on Dale, a two-on-one attack.
He felt powerful healing envelop his body like a hundred fingers had massaged and rubbed his sore muscles from head to toe. Amy and Sanjay had both placed enchanting spells on him at the same time.
Dale knew he had little chance of beating two powerful enemies at once, and he momentarily wondered where Smith was on the battlefield.
From out of the forest an ice ball with a trailing blue streak of light flew and struck the Gavreel as it brought its sword down, intent on finishing Dale with a final blow.
It dropped to its knees after the ball of ice exploded.
Dale engaged the soldier.
Adding to Dale’s attack, an imbued arrow struck the enemy in the head, killing him. Dale looked for another opponent, but the battle had ended.
There was one survivor from the other side.
Smith was holding him as a hostage.
Yingtai walked out from behind a dense grouping of shrubs, accompanied by a beautiful elfin woman. They had been the turning point in the fight, the source of the ice magic and the imbued arrow.
Smith held a blade to the throat of the enemy Sigtrygg hostage.
“Stay still and you might live,” Smith said.
The platoon regrouped.
Amy spoke first. “They were all sentient beings. Declanians. We still aren’t sure about the hostage, but I suspect he’s the same.”
“Why do you say that?” Dale asked.
“No drops. NPCs will always drop something, even if it’s worthless. Sentient beings don’t. We’ve had our first skirmish with our real enemy.”
“Yes,” Dale said. “I got that notification. Why do you suspect the hostage is a PC? I mean, I agree with you, but I was just wondering.”
“Just a logical conclusion,” Amy said.
“I agree,” Dale said. “Nice of you to join us, Yingtai. You saved my ass. Thanks.”
“Where’d you go?” Smith asked.
“I went on a quest after you left the chamber,” she answered. “I meant to shout to you before you left, but you guys were in such a hurry…to count your loot, no doubt. I found a secret door and made my way into an old prison. A place of horrors. I rescued a princess. Meet Princess Jara. She’s a friend.”
The group greeted her, and Yingtai explained the quest she’d accepted. She urged her fellow platoon members to take it as well. “We’re going in that direction anyway, and as you can see, she’s a powerful ally.”
Everyone agreed that it made perfect sense to accept. Next, they discussed what to do with the Sigtrygg hostage.
“We should end him quickly,” Sanjay said.
“What if we can learn something?” Dale asked.
“It’s like you said in the guard chamber,” he answered. “We won’t know if what he says is the truth, and believing something that is a lie is more damaging than being ignorant.”
“I see,” Dale said. He paced. “I don’t know that I disagree with you.”
“If you did, you’d be disagreeing with yourself.”
“Perhaps I can help?” Princess Jara asked. She materialized a small bottle that contained a purplish colored potion. “Have him drink this.”
Smith and Sanjay used brute force to make the hostage drink the potion. It wasn’t pretty to watch.
“What is your name, creature?” Jara asked.
“I am…” he stuttered. “Please, no…”
Smith kicked him in the ribs. “Answer the princess!” he shouted.
“I am Toe Pak Kim,” he said.
“From where do you come?” Dale asked.
“A faraway world,” he said.
“Why do you fight here?” Dale dropped to a knee and looked the hostage in the face.
“I only follow orders,” he said. “I don’t know why we are here, only that we are seeking an important jewel.”
“A jewel?” Jara said while she approached the hostage to get a closer look at him. Dale could feel the magic she was projecting. He stepped back, feeling a wave of nausea and a distinct desire to confess something to Amy.
“I’m not sure I trust her,” Amy whispered.
Dale was about to ask her why when the hostage spoke.
“I’ve said too much, Princess,” he said. “What you ask of me is treason. Kill me quickly and let me die in honor.”
“One more question, soldier, and I shall grant your request. Tell me who has the jewel you seek and where your faction believes it is hidden.”
He struggled.
Smith kicked him in the ribs.
The princess brought out a long small-bladed dagger that glowed with an orange hue. She held it to his throat. “This knife will make your death feel like a thousand years of punishment. Speak now, before my patience is tested and breaks like a faulty bowstring.”
“Our spies told us that Princess Talargo is holding the jewel,” he admitted. “She’s fled to the mountains, seeking a castle. That is all–”
The princess didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence; she drove the blade through his chin, up into his brain. He died instantly.
“You sent him to a thousand years of pain?” Dale asked. He flashed on his own suffering in death.
“No, my friend,” she said. “That was merely a bluff. The information he gave was all that we could hope to attain. No intelligent leader would allow their troops to know more, and anything else he might have said would have been a lie, or at least, nothing we could trust. Knowing that an important jewel exists here on Almaach, and that the Princess Talargo has one, is enough. We must make it to Irkalla. And quickly!”
The group agreed that heading back to base as fast as possible was the best course of action.
With Sargent Dyfrig dead, Dale became the ranking member of the platoon. He still felt funny about being in charge of others, but he decided that heading back to the base and avoiding trouble was a prudent course of action.
They had a powerful ally in the princess, so he felt confident.
When they returned to their initial entry spot into the forest, Dale suggested they camp.
“It was only this morning that we were here,” Amy said. “Seems like longer.”
“I agree,” Sanjay said.
“It’s nearly nightfall,” Dale said. “We’ll be safer here, inside the woods, than out in the open, I think. Especially with all those herding beasts, which could trample us to death in the dark.”
“It is as you speak,” Jara said. “A pair of hunters approaches.”
The group
took defensive positions, armed themselves, and prepared to go into battle again.
“Behold the mighty hunters!” Tom shouted.
Kim walked with him, her arm in his, a smile on her face.
“It’s only Tom and Kim,” Dale said. “Part of our platoon.”
“Lovers,” Jara said. “Cute. Is that all?”
Dale looked at the princess. “There are two others who may join us. Or not.”
“Do you think I want to stay up here all night?” a female voice said from the treetops.
Rikuto walked out from behind shrubbery. “Come down, Emi,” he said. “It’s all clear.”
Emi dropped from the tree.
“We’ve been here all along, but we wanted to make sure your elf companion was a friend and hadn’t captured you. Or something worse,” Rikuto said.
“Good thinking,” Amy acknowledged.
Tom dropped a suckling razordillo to the ground and asked the princess if she knew of any danger if they started a fire.
“I don’t sense anything dangerous nearby,” Jara said. “We can build a fire inside that circle of stones just behind me, near the elms. You soldiers are so loud that whether you have a fire or not is of little consequence. Anything near us already knows you’re here. And if they can’t hear you or see you, they can smell the sex on you.”
Kim blushed.
“I’ll be quieter,” Sanjay said, embarrassed.
“Yeah, you’re the real problem child around here.”
“Galina?” Tom asked.
“Sorry,” Smith answered. “She and the LT fell in a dungeon.”
“I should have been there,” Tom said in a quiet voice. He knelt and began to dress the razordillo.
“We should be safe tonight,” Jara said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Nevertheless, I’d suggest posting a guard. I have a guard ward I can use. In the meantime, I have not had roasted razordillo in…I don’t know how long. An eternity, it seems.”
“I’ve never had it,” Sanjay said.
“We know you’re a virgin,” Tom teased.
“Tom,” Kim said, “be nice.”
The night turned chilly, but the skies were clear, and there was no wind. The platoon slept on the ground, wrapped in army blankets.
Dale and Amy talked about the stars.
“I swear I recognize that group,” Dale said. “But it’s not one from Earth.”
