Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II

by Joshua W. Nelson

  And I was right.

  “Archers!” yelled out the guard standing on top of the wagon.

  From the first tree line where we engaged the Captain, we saw four Turncoat Archers step out onto branches, high in the trees. Four additional Soldiers came running out of the forest as well. There were the eight.

  Which meant we probably would have two Healers again.

  I sent Gary and Syphon off, keeping to the same plan as last time. Because the Healers didn’t seem to spawn until some of the mobs died, I couldn’t have Dan kite the two as I had before. Instead, I had Lug and Jenny grab mobs and drag them out of the range of the Archers. Dan was set up to launch arrows at the Healers as soon as they showed, but he was peppering their mobs in the meantime. The other two Soldiers were Entranced and were waiting for their brethren to die so their beat down could commence.

  The second part, engaging the Healers, would be tricky. I needed Lug and Jenny to turn their backs on their primary mobs and attack the Healers. They would be without any healing for a short time, as I wanted our Shaman and Druid throwing their offensive Spells in the mix. This was going to be an all-out attack on the Healers.

  That left only two targets for the Archers: Wayne and Jason. I had Jason get just far enough away from Wayne that he could still heal but be out of the range of the Archers. We tried dragging the Captain as well, but he boomeranged back to the point where Wayne initially started fighting him. Thankfully, Wayne hadn’t moved so far away that the Captain regenerated any hit points from the boomerang.

  The downside was that Wayne was taking the full brunt of the arrow barrage.

  “Holy shit, Alex! These arrows fuckin’ hurt! I’m getting lit up here!”

  “I’ll keep him alive, Alex, but hurry up and get rid of these Archers or I’ll run out of mana before we finish this.”

  As soon as the second set of Soldiers hit fifty percent, the Healers made their entrance. I had to admit, I might have planned a little over-kill. The Healers didn’t have time to even register who was on the battlefield before eight players stripped them of their hit points in seconds.

  It ended so quickly that we all stood around looking at each other for a second or two.

  “Maybe should have tried that the first time?” Dan asked.

  “Always with the backseat driving, this one.”

  “How about you guys focus on the Soldiers that are trying to send us to our spawn points, huh?” Jenny asked.

  “Sorry about that,” Dan said, adding, “You know it should be called backseat navigating, right? I mean, you aren’t actually trying to grab the wheel, but you are telling the person where to turn. It just makes more sense. ‘Don’t be a backseat navigator, Clarence!’ Clears it right up.”

  Kaitlin’s giggle was magic to Dan’s ears, and I had to send him a quick, private, “Don’t go overboard! Let it go from there!” before he had a chance to say anything more.

  At the same time as Dan was slowly working back into the good graces of Kaitlin, we finished off the two Soldiers. We made our way back to the other side of the road to deal with the Captain and the Archers.

  My plan was to have Dan focus on one Archer, Syphon on another, and have our Enchanters Charm the last two. Those, in turn, would attack the same ones that Dan and Syphon were attacking. But first, I needed to make sure that everyone remembered that the Captain couldn’t be killed.

  I relayed the plan and then added, “And remember, we keep the Captain alive.”

  Now there is no way to tell if eventually the events that followed would have played themselves out in the natural course of the quest, but as soon as I yelled that to the raid, the Captain shouted, “They’re trying to capture me, boys! Don’t let ‘em take me alive!”

  As one, every single head turned toward me.

  “Like I knew that would happen!”

  “Holy shit! They’re killing him!” Wayne yelled.

  I had the Captain targeted and, sure enough, his hit points were going down fast!

  “Charm two and have them attack the others! Don’t try for the same one! Everyone else with range, let loose. Allister, heal the Captain!”

  “What?” Jason asked incredulously.

  “It’s worth a shot!”

  I saw Jason cast and then heard him yell, “Hell yeah! It worked! It didn’t give him much, but it worked.”

  “Just keep him alive!”

  The Captain wasn’t fighting back at all anymore, and when he hit five percent hit points, he slumped down to his knees. At two percent, he fell over into the fetal position. When he hit one percent, I knew we had lost the quest.

  And then his hit points jumped back up to three percent before I saw Jason starting to cast another spell that I knew wouldn’t land in time.

  The Captain slipped back to two percent, when I heard Tim yell out, “Take that, fuck stick!”

  I looked over to the tree line and saw all of the Archers were dead. I quickly looked back to the Captain and saw his health was steady at two percent.

  We had done it.

  A massive cheer went up between the raid members. High fives were given all around and more than a few hugs exchanged. While everyone was basking in the revelry, I approached the Captain and touched his body. There was not the usual loot window that pops up, since the Captain wasn’t dead, but I did get an option to Bind Captive. It was either that or the big button that said “Ignore.” I opted to tie our Captain up.

  “We aren’t done with this yet. We still need to get this guy back to the Keep. I suggest, now that I have him trussed up, we heal him to a point that he can walk on his own.”

  “I’ll need to get some mana back before I can do that, but it looks like we have time.”

  “Sounds good, Allister. I’m sure the other healers will chip in too.”

  As our casters recouped their mana, I walked over to the area with the Archers. I started hitting each corpse and looting the bodies as well. There were only a few silver on each, and some had equipment or weapons that none of us would use. I would sell everything later and divvy it out in the split.

  I walked over to Tim as he was regenerating his own mana and commented on how the day would have been lost if not for the Enchanters. Again.

  “You know, Alex,” Tim said while laughing at my comment, “when Gary found out I was in the military, he asked me why I chose an Enchanter to play. Figured us soldier types would want to be the Tank.”

  “I’ve thought the same thing myself.”

  “Well, I will tell you the same thing I told him: if you can control the battlefield, where the enemy is and how it will maneuver, then you will win the day. Every time.

  “In the end, it’s not about how much armament you can bring to the table. It’s about how precise you can be with the tools that you have.”

  After a couple of moments, I looked at Tim and said, “Next time, you get to be Raid Leader.”

  Tim tilted his head back and had a hearty laugh. “Hell no! Been there and done that. Now I just want to be told what to do and what to royally fuck up.”

  “Deal.”

  *

  By the time I had looted all the corpses and finished talking with Tim, the Captain had received enough heals from Jason, Kaitlin, and Tyke to put him back at 15 percent. His arms were bound behind his back, and he wasn’t putting up any fight. He looked downtrodden, as I’m sure he understood the fate that awaited him back at the city.

  “We need to go and speak with Pike, but I’m sure the caravan is going to keep going toward the front. That means as soon as we are ready, we can activate these teleportation stones and get back to the Keep.”

  “I’ll take care of Pike,” Wayne said and headed off to inform the wagon master that we would be parting ways.

  “You can’t take me back. They’re going to kill me,” the Captain said.

  “As far as I know, we take you back to Kich’s Keep and the King’s men will ask you what you know.”

  “And how do you think
they will do that?”

  Given that the game was set in a barbaric time, I imagined the King’s men would be inventive with their techniques for questioning, but this really wasn’t our problem.

  “You sold everyone out and took up with the enemy. You get what you deserve.”

  The Captain looked around with pleading eyes at all of us. Finally, he said, “Take me back to my camp. I’ve got all the information the King wants in my quarters. If I give him all of it, at least I can bargain for a quick death on the executioner’s block instead of drawn out one at the hands of his questioners.”

  “Sure,” Dan offered sarcastically. “We just take you on back to your camp and have the rest of your men take us down. We aren’t stupid,” Dan said. “Not a word, Allitang.”

  “You know, I liked it better when he was actually messing my name up with words that exist.”

  I smiled and nodded in Jason’s direction but agreed with Dan. “Our Ranger is correct. We aren’t going to simply walk you back to your camp so you can go free.”

  The Captain looked around at the bodies littered on the forest floor and said, “These were all of my men. If I knew the King would send such a force, I would have dispatched them all at once to take you down. Instead, they followed my orders, and now they are all dead. There aren’t any more at the camp.”

  “You guys aren’t actually considering this, are you?” Tyke asked.

  “Considering what?” Wayne said as he returned from the road. “Pike sends his thanks and says there will be a handsome reward for us when we return to the Keep.”

  Jason quickly recapped the story thus far for Wayne, and I saw the look of concern on his face. “You should let me go, Alex. I’ve got more hit points and could last longer if I got attacked. At least enough to get me somewhere that you could drag my body.”

  “I don’t have any intention of getting in a fight. You guys remember that I’m sneaky, right?”

  “But you have no idea what’s there, Alex! This could be a serious fortification!” Tyke said, clearly frustrated that I was thinking of taking the Captain up on his offer.

  “Well, see, the thing is, I’ve certainly infiltrated tougher locations. And if I can get into the camp, I can relay back if it’s actually clear.”

  “And if you die? How are we supposed to get your body?”

  “Tyke has a good point, Alex. I can’t resurrect you if your body is stuck in the camp.”

  “I won’t get stuck. I think it’s worth at least a look.”

  The Captain was looking back and forth between all of us. “You can have all the goods we haven’t delivered to the Children of Loust if you let me have the papers I need to deliver to the King.”

  The mention of loot had everyone’s eyes gleaming. The entire party, save Jason, went from being unsure to being on board, all in a fraction of a second.

  “I still don’t like it, Alex.”

  “Me neither, but not for the same thing that has you worried.”

  Jason gave me a funny look, but I was already approaching the Captain.

  “Here’s the deal. You tell me where the camp is, and I will go look for myself that it is clear. If you have been truthful with us, my team here will bring you to the camp, and you can show us where these goods, and these papers, are located.”

  The Captain was nodding his head as I spoke.

  “However, I will not be giving you those papers.”

  With that, the Captain stopped nodding.

  “I will keep everything that I deem of value to the King and hand it over when you are delivered. I will inform them that you were helpful in order to receive a quick end. You will receive nothing from the moment we move from this location until you are in the hands of the King’s men. If what you desire is simply a fast finish, I will do everything in my power to see it happen. This is the deal. Do you accept?”

  The Captain took on a far-away look for a moment and then looked me in the eyes. “I accept.”

  Knowing just how complex the AI in Resurgence truly was, I would have to ask the Wanderer if the Quest NPCs were able to improvise to a point, as I believed just happened, or if I had spoken some variation of a script already programmed.

  “Alright. Out with it, then. Describe to me how to find your camp.”

  The Captain described the route through the forest to reach the camp and the general layout of the structure. It was simple in its fashion, with four high walls, one door to allow access for guards to enter and exit, and one large gate to allow access to horses or wagons.

  I allowed the Captain to explain the methods I could employ for getting the door or gate open, but I had already figured out my entrance when he said the walls were only twenty feet high.

  Tyke and his crew didn’t know about my Climbing ability, though, and I didn’t see any reason to loop them in, as I got nothing for the information.

  I was told repeatedly to be careful, to which I nodded and assured everyone I would be fine. Before leaving the forest area near the road, I became Invisible through my Conceal/Stealth and ran into the woods. After clearing the line of sight of my team, I also donned my Blacksuit.

  The Captain’s directions were spot on, and I was at the Camp in a little under twenty minutes. The first thing I did was get as close to the wall as possible and then see if anything inside the camp popped up on my Map. I could see the general layout of the interior, but there weren’t any mobs.

  With nothing more to do, I stepped back several feet and looked at the side of the wall. I thought about Climbing, how I normally activated my Skill, and the entire side of the camp became Green. I chuckled to myself, realizing this was going to be an easy day.

  I paused only briefly before I hit the apex of the wall to see if there were any color variations along the top. Seeing that everything was still Green, I climbed over and descended into the camp.

  A quick run-through told me that the Captain had been truthful and that the team could escort our prisoner to his former home. Before they arrived, I opened the door and gate. I didn’t believe I was wrong about the place being empty. But if I was, I wanted us to have a path for a quick exit.

  Once the team arrived, the Captain led them over to where his quarters were and then stopped before the door. Still bound, with his hands behind him, the Captain turned to us with a mischievous smile on his face.

  “It appears that I forgot the door was locked. I guess we will need to renegotiate our terms.”

  “Or I just beat the door down with my hammer,” Wayne said.

  The smile didn’t leave the Captain’s face and may have gotten a little evil as he replied, “Indeed. You are welcome to try.”

  Wayne started to walk up to the door, as he never backed down from a challenge, when I called for him to stop. He obviously didn’t want to, but I’d saved his butt enough times that he listened when I told him to not hit something. Usually.

  “So we renegotiate terms and you unlock the door for us? Is that the deal?”

  “That is the deal. And here are my terms. First…”

  “Yeah, that’s not what’s going to happen here.”

  The Captain stopped talking and looked at me. But I was looking over at Lug and then Wayne. And then back to Lug.

  “Hey, big guy, I need you to grab the Captain there and beat on him until he drops to his knees. At that point, place him next to the door. Literally, put his head against the wood.”

  Lug didn’t say anything but nodded his head in an affirmative.

  “After that is done, I need everyone to step away from this location. Like quite a bit away. When we are all a good distance from our kneeling friend here, I want you to shoot an arrow into that door from across the courtyard, TC. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, Alex, I can hit the broad side of a wall with an arrow from a short distance away. Thank you for showing such faith in my skills.”

  “Excellent,” I said, not wanting to lose my momentum and answer Dan’s quip. “Once that is done, feel free
to beat the door down, Naugha.”

  My teammates looked confused at my directions, but the Captain had a look of utter fear on his face. When I started explaining how the Captain’s body would be against the door, his demeanor shifted dramatically and only got worse when I explained what Dan would do.

  “Alright then, get to it Lug. Don’t kill him, but don’t be nice either. Just get him to a kneeling point.”

  Lug took out his two-handed sword and started rumbling toward the Captain. When almost 350 pounds of Ogre come at you, rumble is the only way to explain it.

  “Wait! Stop!” The Captain yelled out.

  I held my hand out for Lug to wait and approached the Captain. “So, about that whole renegotiating thing; you still want to try, or do you want to just deactivate the ward and give me the key?”

  “Yes. You win. The key is in my pocket.” After the Captain said those words, I was able to put my hands on his body and a loot window appeared with a key, which I took.

  “Good. Now deactivate the ward.”

  The Captain spent several seconds concentrating and then said, “it is done.”

  “Fantastic. Everyone back up. Dan take the shot.”

  “WAIT!!!” The Captain yelled again.

  “See, here is how this is going to go down. Before that door gets opened, my Ranger is going to put an arrow in that door, and your body is going to be next to it when he does. You have 15 seconds.”

  The Captain immediately turned toward the front of the door and this time I could see sweat beading at his brow. It took him 20 seconds, and when I saw him sigh with relief I said, “Fire!”

  An arrow appeared right next to the Captain’s head, stuck deep into the wood, but no wards exploded.

  “See how easy that was? Now let’s see what’s inside.”

  When we got into the quarters, we saw a table with papers everywhere and a number of large trunks sitting to the side. Loot. But before I could make my way to the bounty of goodies, Wayne addressed me in front of the group.

  “Alex, why did you tell Lug to beat on the Captain? Why not me?”

  “Well, for starters, brother, I didn’t know if you would do it. Lug was an unknown, but I definitely was leaning toward you not being willing to beat on an NPC who was tied up.”