The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

by Brent Roth

  Well, maybe that was too harsh.

  They were simply anti-social and lacked etiquette, which wasn't too unusual seeing as they all looked to be in their late teens to early twenties, at least as far as their character appearance went. I didn't really have much to go on but, there were trends with player behavior online and within games, to the point where it was rather predictable after a while. Yeah, as long as we could clear the first floor at a reasonable pace, I wouldn't have any real complaints.

  Everyone had their moody days anyhow.

  But as soon as I caught up with the party of four that had positioned just slightly out of range of the first group of goblins, the archer drew his bow and fired off a shot. Without even taking a pause to see if I was ready, or to consult or discuss group strategy, he pulled and stood there waiting for me to take aggro off of him.

  This stupid son of a bitch, I thought to myself as I hurriedly dashed in front of the group and began to cast a [Chain Lightning]. With only seconds to spare I rushed the cast and skipped the chanted verse, drastically lowering the amount of damage of the spell and in turn, lowering my ability to maintain threat in the long run.

  As the five goblins continued their charge with swords waving in the air and high-pitched screams accompanying them, they were hit with my lightning and immediately went silent. Momentarily frozen in place, as if they had run into a wall, the disoriented goblins pulled themselves together as I grabbed my one-handed axe from its sling on my waist. Raising my shield and axe to meet their charge, I swung down at the first goblin in an attempt to catch it off-guard.

  The swing was a miss as the reach was so much shorter than I was used to, and just as I tried to bring the axe back, a sword slash came down across my face, nearly slicing my nose in two. Reactively jerking my head back and lifting my shield in-turn, the second slash of another goblin was easily deflected.

  But before I could even prepare for a counter attack, two [Fireballs] exploded in my vicinity as the first goblin took minor damage and flames licked my face. My eyebrows singed, I pulled back and attempted to turn the goblins to the side so I would be out of the firing line, yet before I could even gain position, an arrow found itself lodged into the back of my shoulder.

  Wincing from the pain I grit my teeth, trying my best to contain my rage.

  Ignoring the arrow, I deflected the other three goblin attacks with ease as the five had nearly surrounded me. They weren't as skilled as the latter floors and the [Minor Goblins] were almost inconsequential, so I felt confident going forward. That was until [Fireballs] started to randomly pelt different goblins every one and a half seconds.

  With the unfocused attacks of the three damage dealers, threat management was proving nearly impossible for me as I had to quickly attack one goblin then rotate to the next. Switching through my targets when they looked as if they were about to be peeled off of me, I barely maintained some semblance of control.

  I didn't have the Area of Effect taunt that Barik or other shield bearers had, since I was new to tanking with a shield, so I couldn't force the mobs to focus me. In order to maintain hate, I needed to deal enough damage to them to remain high on their threat priority. Switching back and forth between goblins, was not the way to do that.

  And then it happened.

  Another wayward arrow hit me in the ribs, and the sudden pain deep in the center of my midsection distracted me as a goblin landed a sword thrust into my thigh. Thinking that was the worst of it, I was quickly disappointed as two of the five remaining goblins took off and started to beeline towards the casters. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the archer managed to hit one of them in the chest with an arrow, causing the goblin to chase him instead.

  And that's when the fight devolved into chaos.

  The archer took off running in one direction as he attempted to kite the goblin that was chasing him, shooting off arrows as rapidly as he could without concern to accuracy. Arrows were flying left and right as they bounced off the walls and stuck to my shield.

  I had actually turned to face my party with my back against the wall in order to defend myself from my own party member's friendly fire.

  Though to make matters worse, the other goblin chased one of the casters as he ran around in circles as well, with random instant cast flames being shot out as he scurried about. The flames flew all over as the healer was forced to run to the side and the other caster started to run to the dungeon portal, completely ceasing his attacks.

  I had three goblins on me and ignored the chaotic scene in front of me as I attempted to single-handedly kill them all. No longer receiving any heals, I was essentially left to fend for myself as the rest of the group did their own thing.

  Deflecting an oncoming blow, I was barely able to land a counter attack on the wrist of a goblin as its sword fell to the ground. With its hand dangling loosely by a few non-severed ligaments, the goblin shrieked in pain as its eyes bulged in shock. Ignoring it, I turned my focus to the other two goblins and bashed my shield into one, knocking it flat on its back as it flung its arms up in desperation.

  Without any hesitation, I lifted my good leg and stomped down on the goblin's face and crushed it beneath my boot as a sword found itself three-inches into my right pectoral. Dropping my axe, I grabbed the goblin's forearm and pulled the creature in closer as it tried to remove its sword.

  Utilizing the momentum of my yank, I swung my shield out edge-first and connected with the throat of the goblin as the impact sent a shudder through my elbow. The goblin collapsed to the floor grasping its throat, while I quickly raised the shield with both hands and used the edge to smash into its head.

  Turning around, I picked up my axe and threw it into the chest of the gimp minor goblin that was still clutching its partially-severed hand. Watching it collapse to the ground before me, I didn't have any time to waste as I dropped my shield and began to gather electricity in my hands. Focusing my eyes on the goblin that was chasing the mage, I built up a chanted verse as I charted out the path the caster was taking.

  He continued to run in circles, zigzagging here and there, but I only needed to lead the goblin by a quarter of a second. That was all the time and space I needed to hit a running goblin that was changing its path every other second.

  Once my cast was complete, I let it fly.

  Just as the goblin changed its course in relation to the mage, lightning surged and cut through the air as the bolt of raw energy traveled in a straight-line. The goblin managed another step as it was hit in the side and came crashing down into the dark damp dirt floor of the dungeon, its full sprint interrupted immediately by the paralyzing effect of the lightning.

  As it lay on the floor twitching, I had already drawn my bow and placed a single-shot up through its chin, ceasing all of its movements. Now all that was left was the archer, as I turned my bow and let a few arrows loose.

  And then, it was over.

  Silence had returned as I looked at the group standing doe-eyed a little ways away.

  One caster had been lingering by the dungeon portal entrance, ready to exit at any given moment and with nearly a full bar of mana. He didn't participate at all once the fight got hectic. He was ready to bail and simply watched the scene unfold.

  The healer on the other hand only bothered to heal the archer, and still had plenty of mana while refusing to top me or the other caster off, for whatever reason.

  Then there was the caster that was being chased, who had taken a few hits too, but he was largely alright. He missed almost all of his [Fire Blasts] though.

  That archer, well, he was at full health thanks to his friend.

  I looked down at myself only to realize my health was quite low; that I had five arrows sticking out of me and two burn spots on my body. There was an arrow in the back of my shoulder, my right rib, my neck, my lower back, and one in my right thigh. Sword wounds to my right pectoral, my left thigh, and a few minor cuts here and there.

  A strange thing, seeing as the goblins
didn't have bows and arrows.

  In fact only one person had a bow.

  I was angry at them, for being such idiots… for not waiting to consult or communicate, and for not understanding basic dungeon mechanics. They were obviously beginners, but that didn't make it easier to deal with. Not when they had bad attitudes about it.

  Yeah, I was mad.

  Yet, now that the fight was over, the party returned to normal and sat down, largely ignoring me as I quietly stared at them. They were clearly inexperienced and unskilled, but that wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me, was the lack of teamwork, the inherent selfishness, and the fact that they refused to communicate.

  I could tolerate bad players, since not everyone was going to be great.

  I could not, however, tolerate bad players who purposefully made the situation worse due to whatever menial reason they had constructed in their minds. Whatever false narrative they were using to convince themselves that what they were doing was proper, I wanted no part of it. If you couldn't even communicate, you didn't deserve to be in a party. These kinds of players pissed me off.

  Yeah, I was ready to ditch this party.

  But before I could do that, the players had started running their mouths. Enjoying the comedy show, I sat down and started to munch on some jerky to try and recover. My wounds would heal slowly without any healing magic, so I wouldn't get back to full strength, but I didn't need to be one-hundred percent.

  "Hey kick this shitty tank, he fucking sucks," said the archer to the healer.

  "I know, we always get stuck with the freaking noobs," he replied. "Ugh but we only have two hours to play, let's just carry this piece of trash."

  Carry me, they say.

  Hah, I couldn't help but smile and laugh at it all, while the two of them continued to insult me, standing a mere ten feet away. I had half a mind to kill them where they stood, but a few random insults weren't enough to make me mad. I was more angry with their behavior during the fight, than what they were saying afterwards.

  Five minutes had passed as they continued to insult me, raging on and on how I was a "shitty ass noob tank," among other things. I didn't have much interest in listening to them to begin with, and the comedic part of it had long since vanished.

  Honestly, I had heard of enough.

  They could think of me as a "dumbass" as much as they wanted, seeing as I had yet to reply. The opinion of others really had little bearing on me.

  But then, they poked once more.

  "You ready this time you shitty noob?" said the archer. "I'm going to pull, pay attention this time you idiot, and tank the mobs properly so we can carry your pathetic ass through the first floor."

  "Nah, I've got no interest in tanking any further, so I'll be seeing myself out," I replied nonchalantly. "Good luck finding a new tank."

  Standing up, I had started to walk towards the exit as one of the two casters started to speak up. It was the one that retreated during the middle of the fight, and didn't contribute at all… the selfish coward.

  "Are you serious?!" the caster nearly shouted at me. "We're already locked into this instance and have been waiting for like an hour, and you're just going to leave? Don't be an asshole, we can't even join other groups for like an hour now."

  It was ironic really, that I was somehow responsible for their inability to find a group, and was now a jerk for not wanting to participate with a group that only cared about their own self-interests while spouting out insults. The archer and priest had been insulting me for a good five minutes now, while the two casters sat silently watching and listening. Not once did they say anything, to try and diffuse the situation.

  They watched and listened, and pretended to have no part in it.

  Now that I was leaving and their interests were affected, I was the bad guy.

  I started to laugh a little, that the dungeon was now locked to our party meant that no one could leave and join a new party mid-way through. It was a feature that was meant to keep people from powering through dungeons over and over, so once you killed the first goblin, it was locked to your character for an hour. That duration was extended every time you killed another mob, so on and so on. The feature was fairly standard in MMORPGs, and was nothing new really.

  And thus, I laughed.

  They were stuck together, and without a tank they would be hard-pressed to find a replacement willing to join a group that already started clearing. The fact they lost their tank was a pretty bad sign, regardless of who was right or wrong. It meant that the party failed in some aspect, and no one wanted to take those kinds of risks going forward.

  Especially not tanks, not when they were valued commodities.

  Healers and tanks were always few in number compared to the damage dealing classes, so we always had more control when it came to choosing parties. We were in demand, damage dealers weren't… it was simple economics.

  "Let me get this straight," I said after some time. "I'm the asshole for wanting to leave a party that's been insulting and raging at me almost non-stop?"

  "Yeah," the caster shot back immediately. "You're screwing me over by leaving."

  "And I should care about you… why?" I asked playfully.

  "See this guy's just a douchebag," chimed in the archer.

  "He seriously sucks, he's lucky we even invited him," followed up the priest.

  The only one who had yet to say anything was the other caster, but he was nodding his head silently in the back. Either way, the situation was now one versus four.

  "Hmm, so after running your mouths, you now expect me to tank for you?" I asked seriously. "And, let's just clear the air here while I'm at it. I'm the trashy shitty noob, pathetic dumbass asshole selfish douchebag tank, who is supposed to care about your wasted time? I mean, gee, how could I ever not want to tank for you!"

  "You're seriously bad," said the priest. "You take so much damage, learn how to play kid. You can't even position properly. I've never seen someone so bad in my life."

  "Ah yeah, that damage," I laughed out. "Those five arrows that struck me and those two fireballs that hit me… you know, I wonder where those came from."

  "Learn to play scrub before you talk back to me," replied the priest, visibly angry.

  "Yeah, you got in my way so you got hit, retard," said the archer.

  I started laughing again at how ridiculous the conversation was. They were using all of the basic insults that every immature person used on the internet. The best part was that they were clearly five to ten years younger than me, and were calling me a kid.

  I loved it, I really did.

  The only problem… the main problem, and the reason I avoided players in the past was because I thrived in these types of situations. I loved PvP, and I absolutely loved beating sense into trash talkers. I couldn't really stand them personally, and hated being around them… but once I got going, it was a bad habit of mine.

  Yeah, I was regressing already.

  The whole time the conversation had been going on, I was patiently biding my time as my health and mana gradually returned… my bad habit was about to show.

  It wouldn't be long, now.

  As I started to circle around the party, I continued the conversation while my health slowly recovered. "You guys are just the best, really," I said sarcastically as I continued to pace around them. "Between all of those great heals I was receiving, I mean, I was just basking in that holy light you know, fucking radiating from all those heals, and the accuracy of our damage dealers, with a dozen or more arrows stuck in the wall over there and those loose fireballs… I really do need to step my game up. I'm just not up to par compared to you guys."

  I was starting to have a little too much fun, and in the back of my mind I knew it was wrong but I couldn't help it. I strived to be an honest, kind person… but everyone has buttons that shouldn't be pushed. My biggest issue, was my lack of patience when it came to trash talkers, and now… I had completely regressed.

  Ah, they were all g
oing to die.

  My anger had woken from its slumber and reared its head.

  "Man, no wonder this kid was looking for a group, he's so toxic," said the priest.

  "He's just mad because he sucks at life," chimed in the archer. "Heh-"

  "Uninstall noob, get the fuck out of here," the archer continued after a slight pause.

  "Self-righteous douchebag, can't handle the truth so he lashes out at us," followed up the selfish caster as he folded his arms across his chest. "Waste of space, should just kill himself."

  Yeah, I didn't bother to laugh anymore. My health was nearing seventy percent and my mana had already reached max capacity, so I was itching to go at any moment. The healer would die first, then the caster. After that, the archer or the other caster would get it, if he decides to join in the fight.

  "What about you, you're nodding your head back there but, where's your voice?" I asked the last member of the party, the caster who was being chased by the goblin.

  "Even if they started it, you're worse than them," he replied seriously with his head held high, looking down on me as if he were some superior being.

  Eh, it was a typical response.

  If I was surprised by this turn of events, I wouldn't be able to call myself a gamer.

  It was an unfortunate truth in the realm of online gaming.

  Victim bashing was alive and well when it came to group situations where numbers ruled the day. There was little to no consequence for player actions online, so people often tend to be quite a bit braver than in normal situations. Add in a friend with them, and all of a sudden their confidence is bolstered to new heights as they are reassured by their numerical superiority, free to do or say whatever they please with little impunity.

  They'll pick a scapegoat, gang up on him or her two to one to absolve themselves of any guilt they may or may not be feeling, and continue with their harassment until they're satisfied. Then the bystanders, too cowardly the majority of the time, sit quietly and pretend nothing is happening until they're negatively affected in some way. Most of the time, the bystanders are thinking to themselves, as long as it's not me.