The Mountain Valley War
Page 58
“How big will the groups be? And will they send players?” I asked.
“Our spies said Anvilton intends to throw the players at us early and often. So even when we get past the main gate, we’ll need to guard against them attacking us from behind once they have respawned at their graveyard,” Olaf explained.
“Why not camp the graveyard?” Titan asked. “I mean, it sounds like keeping them there would take some pressure off you.”
“Orders,” Olaf said with a frown. “The General wants our forces focused on the gates. He also thinks it’s dishonorable. Plus, we will suffer attrition at the graveyard. It’s a long run from the Hammerton graveyard back to the Anvilton graveyard to help out.”
“I see, makes it a tougher challenge,” Titan said.
“Anyway,” Olaf continued, “We still have one scroll of ‘Justice Bringer’ left so I figure we’ll leave it with our rear guard, assuming we get that far. If Anvilton manages to destroy 30% of our cannons, the General will order his forces to pull back and try again tomorrow, meaning we’ll also be forced to pull back.”
It made sense to me to throw the players at us early. If they could repel us or get to our cannons, then our attack on the city would be thwarted for at least a day.
“Well, my spell is ready, and the cooldown is at 1-second, so I’ll have two uses if we really need it,” I said, checking the status of my ‘Justice Bringer’ spell just to make sure.
Justice Bringer
Level: 15
Experience: 31.25%
Spell Duration: 1 hour
Spell Cast Speed: Instant
Spell Charges: 1/1
Spell Mana Cost: 100
Recharge: 00:00:01
Spell Effect (Active): All Adventurers and Citizens within 35 yards have their effective level lowered or raised to match your own. Does not work on enemy Citizens, Beasts or Monsters.
“The Colonel said she expects at least ten columns, fifty soldiers in each column attacking one after the other, so some of them are certain to slip through. No details yet on what we’ll be facing, could be melee, range, or anything else. She referred to this as the meat grinder part of the battle,” Olaf said.
I grimaced at the sheer volume of soldiers we were going to need to fight through.
“And if we get past them, we get to fight two Captains,” Olaf added.
“At the same time?” Rose asked, looking nervous about this fight for the first time.
Olaf shrugged. “They could come out at the same time, but they might split them up, one after five waves and another at the end.”
“That’s good,” said Rose. Then looking at me, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Olaf continued, ignoring Rose’s order to me. “Players will be split pretty evenly between fighting in the charge and defending the cannons so it’s not all bad. And there are almost a hundred players so even if we split our forces in half, we should be just fine. And that’s not even counting Hammerton’s actual forces.”
“Good, and the players know I’m the main tank?” Rose asked.
“Yes, everyone knows Captain Rose is in charge,” Olaf said, rolling his eyes. “And Captain Baby is the main healer. We’ve played with most of these adventurers a lot the last week. I think we’ll be fine. The only other thing we need to worry about is the cannons from Anvilton firing back at us. That means. don’t stand still unless you want to die. Any questions?”
“What happens if we defeat the forces before the gate opens?” Rose asked.
“If the gate breaks open, the Rampart forces will probably attack, which could be a problem if we are still fighting outside of the main gate. If the gate hasn’t opened, grab a ladder and climb,” Olaf said.
“Where are the enemy forces coming from?” I asked. If the gate was closed, then how would the Anvilton soldiers get out of the city to attack us?
“Anvilton has staging areas east and west of the city,” Olaf said. “If we try to attack them directly, then it won’t be waves we’re fighting but the entire force on that side. And they will probably fire a flare to signal the Anvilton forces on the other side to attack in mass at the same time to pincer us.”
“Gotcha,” I said. I think I understood the layout of the battlefield.
“The battle will begin as soon as we take the field out front of our cannons,” Olaf explained.
“I think we’re here,” said Titan, pulling back on the reigns.
The battlefield ahead of us was incredible. There were ten cannon emplacements with two cannons per emplacement spread in the semicircle aimed at the Anvilton front gates. There were crews of Dwarves running around, loading the cannons or moving supplies.
A few hundred yards behind the cannons was a raised platform that was occupied by General Hammersmith and Colonel Grandmite, I was surprised to see she was level 20 now. I also recognize Icyhot standing there, he was also a Captain. The three of them were looking at the same diorama I saw back in the command center.
Between the cannons and the battlefield command center were the other players and the Hammerton Army of about 500 soldiers. When I considered that Anvilton was likely going to send almost 500 soldiers at us just to take the outer gates, I was worried we just didn’t have enough.
“Let’s go,” said Olaf. “Thanks for the ride, Titan. Enjoy the show.”
“Oh, I will,” said Titan, leaning back in his chair and smiling as he stared out at the battlefield.
I followed Olaf to the battlefield command center.
“Ah, good, Major Crushhammer, you have arrived,” said General Hammersmith, acknowledging him.
“Sir,” Olaf said stiffly, saluting the General, something I noticed my entire party do. I was just a second behind them to add my own salute.
“You’ve been briefed. Our cannons are now ranged. As soon as that first shot hits the wall or gates, the battle will commence,” General Hammersmith stated. “Organize your troops quickly and may the God Ivaldi watch over you.”
I took a moment just to look at the table, it seemed Heath’s and the rebellions sabotage efforts had been ramped up quite a bit.
Outer Gates – Anvilton Controlled – 6,500/10,000 Structural Integrity – 500/500 Soldiers, 2/2 Officer – Sabotage Successful Siege Damage +25%, Sabotage Successful Soldier Weapons Damage -15%
Ramparts – Anvilton Controlled – 150/150 Soldiers, 1/1 Officers – Sabotage Successful Soldier Health -10%
Inner Gates – Anvilton Controlled – Inner Gate 1: 4,500/7,500 Structural Integrity – Inner Gate 2: 4,500/7,500 Structural Integrity – 150/150 Soldiers, 2/2 Officers – Sabotage Successful Siege Damage +25%, Sabotage Successful Soldier Health -10%
Barracks – Anvilton Controlled – 200/200 Soldiers, 20/20 Elite Soldiers, 4/4 Officers
Command Center – 1/1 General
“Sir,” Olaf said, snapping off another salute. This time I was in line with my friends, saluting the older Dwarf soldier.
Apparently, that was all the orders we were going to get.
“Good luck,” said Mardi, stepping in line with the General and Colonel
Gras nodded to us and also stepped in line with the other leaders.
“I’ll manage the cannon crews,” Icyhot stated.
“I thought you might say that. We’ve got the charge,” Olaf said, taking a moment to bump fists with Icyhot.
When we got up to the other players, it was quickly evident they had none of the discipline of actual soldiers. They were laughing and joking around.
“Alright, you sorry lot, ready to have a little fun?” Olaf shouted.
“Ollie!” many of the players called out, happy to see their commander.
“Calm down, calm down” Olaf said, trying to wave them down so he could address them. “So, we got us a pretty big battle today. What do you say we skip all this and go to the pub instead?”
There were laughs and cheers and boos at the suggestion, but it seemed the players were all in good spirits.
“Fine, I s
uppose we can go to the pub after we take out the trash,” Olaf said, getting a louder cheer from the players. “Okay, on to business. We’ve got waves of enemies coming at us in groups of 50 soldiers plus an unknown number of players. For this battle, we will be splitting into two groups, one to meet the charge and one to guard the cannons. I need nine 5-man teams, one for each cannon. See Captain Icyhot for your assignments. Everyone else, you’re with me and if . . . before you die, make sure you know your way back to the battle. I expect the group meeting the charge will suffer high casualties. See Captain Rose for our rally point.” With that, Olaf started adding all the players to our group to form a large raid party.
While he was doing that, Rose started gathering almost half of the players and moving closer to the cannons. She stopped just before a wall of stone that looked to have been made with magic as there were no seams in the rock. I wasn’t sure how sturdy it was as a fortification, but it was an ideal border marker.
I leaned up against the wall to wait while Olaf and Rose were busy getting their player army ready for the battle to come. As I looked around, I saw even Baby had a group surrounding her, the healers if I was to guess.
“Well look at that, the Great Bye-bye Jacko has come down from his ivory tower to fight in the mud with the rest of us,” Pwn taunted, his voice had become instantly recognizable to me. And now he had followers, that was just great.
I tried to ignore him.
“What’s wrong?” Pwn continued. “You too good to talk to us now?”
Don’t engage, Bye-bye, don’t engage. I just kept repeating it in my head.
“Yep, too good for the likes of us. Better watch his back or he just might find a dagger sticking in it,” one of Pwn’s cronies threatened me.
“No,” Pwn stated harshly. “Too far. Tease him, rile him up, but we don’t kill our own. Especially not the guy that can level the playing field if Anvilton squirreled away one or two high-level players.”
I was surprised by that. I didn’t expect Pwn to come to my defense like that, even if it was ultimately for selfish reasons. I nodded to him once but maintained my silence.
After that Pwn and his friends kept quiet. Apparently, whatever they were trying to do was ruined when the idiot went too far.
It took about fifteen minutes for Icyhot to organize his groups and spread them out behind the cannon emplacements, making sure they were ready to step forward as soon as the battle began. When it looked like everyone was in place, Icyhot approach Olaf and had a quick conversation that I couldn’t hear. When it was done, the pair bumped fists again and Olaf stood a bit straighter as he approached the largest gap in the middle of the stone border between the planning area and the battlefield.
“Okay, let’s kick this pig!” Olaf shouted, taking the first step beyond the stone wall. As soon as his foot touched down on the other side of the wall, all ten of the cannon emplacements fired at once. Twenty cannons firing in unison was beyond loud, I swear I felt the ground shake under my feet. I watched the wall and gate at the other end of the field as the cannonballs hit and exploded. I saw eight explosions on the gate, direct hits. Two more hit close but didn’t seem to have much effect. Seven more hit the wall around the gate and the rest of them exploded beyond the wall.
I also noticed I had a new indicator at the top left of my user interface.
Siege Status
Outer Gates:
6,290/10,000
Soldiers:
500/500
Officers:
2/2
Wave One of Soldiers Incoming!
I think the direct hits did about 25-points of damage to the gates each and the near hits only did 5. I was half tempted to see what kind of damage my spear might do but that probably wasn’t a good idea.
The players quickly moved up to form the first line of attack. I looked back over my shoulder to one of the columns of Hammerton soldiers starting to file in behind us.
“Here they come,” Olaf called loudly, his voice seemed to be amplified. “Left flank will get here first. Captain Rose, go!”
Rose clapped her shields together and started moving toward the group of soldiers emerging from the west of Anvilton.
“Melee, move up,” Rose yelled loudly.
“Spellcasters, use your area of effect as soon as they get close!” Olaf barked out. “Remember, drop your spells ahead of them. If you don’t have AoE or it’s on cooldown then single target the healers, then the spellcasters.”
I wasn’t sure how I was being counted, so I just followed Rose. As the Anvilton soldiers got close, Rose began jogging forward, steadily picking up speed, the rest of the melee matching her pace. Once we were within 20-yards, Rose blurred from view along with a dozen other players. The impact of the players using the ‘Charge’ skill slowed or stunned several of the soldiers but didn’t stop them.
I leaped through the air, using my ‘Body Control’ to close the distance. It wasn’t as fast as the charge, but the damage I dealt was significantly higher. My spear stabbed into the soldier Rose stunned.
“Surrender or die!” I shouted at the man who was nearly dead. I didn’t expect to get a critical hit like that.
“Fight on!” an Anvilton soldier from the end of the line shouted.
The nearly dead soldier that was pinned by my spear tried to get up, a new icon by his name flashed briefly before the edge of Rose’s shield stopped him . . . permanently.
“Jack, we need to take out that Sergeant, they won’t surrender if he keeps using ‘Bolster’ on them,” Rose said, blurring from view, her shoulder slamming into the Dwarf that shouted just a moment ago.
I leaped after her. The target, an
I only had a second to brace for impact when Rose used her own ‘Shield Slam’ to interrupt the attack. I quickly cast ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ stunning him. Rose used one of her shields to knock the Sergeant’s shield away and I struck the now defenseless soldier with ‘Justice Strike’. I followed up with a ‘Power Thrust’, it unexpectedly went through his armor, a critical hit that instantly zeroed his HP.
I checked the status of the siege while I had a second to breathe.
Siege Status
Outer Gates:
6,205/10,000
Soldiers:
492/500
Officers:
2/2
Wave One of Soldiers Incoming!
“Why does it still say two of two Officers left?” I asked, looking down at the corpse of the Sergeant.
“Captains and above count as officers, Sergeants aren’t officers,” Rose answered. “Let’s go, we’ve got a lot more to fight.” Rose was off again, and I was right behind her. With the Sergeant down, we were able to get four more soldiers to surrender before the wave came to an end. We had five until a cannonball exploded in front of us, killing the captured soldier and nearly killing Rose and me. After that, we told any surrendered soldier to run for our lines with their hands in the air. There was no way I was going to have enough time in all the chaos to try to use ‘Holy Shackles’, the 5-second cast time for the spell would have been a death sentence with the cannons firing down on us from the ramparts.
I was breathing heavily when the wave finally ended. The battlefield was pure carnage. Fifty soldiers and it looked like only eight in total had surrendered, half of which came from Rose and me. I don’t know how many got past us to the cannons. I hoped there were more back there, but I didn’t have time to worry about that.
Siege Status
Outer Gates:
6,205/10,000
Soldiers:
450/500
Officers:
2/2
Wave Two: 4:21
Only four minutes until the next wave.
“Ranks form up,” Olaf bellowed loudly. The players didn’t really form ranks of any kind, they just moved back toward Olaf to wait for the next wave of attackers.
It gave me a chance to look back toward the soldiers. I could spot a hole here and there, but it looked like the Hammerton soldiers made it out mostly intact. I couldn’t see the cannons past them, but I hoped that the intact status of the Hammerton soldiers meant the cannons were even more intact.
“Players!” someone shouted, I looked to see Leafy, the Scout I met when we first took the Hammered Dwarf Brewery back from Anvilton, he was level 14 now, I don’t remember his level before, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t that high. Anyway, it was good to have him with us.
I looked toward where Leafy was pointing, there were about twenty players coming from the left. I looked back to the right and saw another ten players coming ahead of the next wave of soldiers a hundred yards behind them.
“Nothing above twenty,” Olaf said, a spyglass in hand that I hadn’t seen before. “Bye-bye, the group on the right looks like all spellcasters, can you slow them down with your pigs?”
“Yeah, I got it,” I said, running ahead.
“Bye-bye is buying us time. Wreck those guys,” Olaf ordered behind me.
Thankfully, the group of spellcasters appeared to be all grouped up tightly and all level 10 to 12. I almost felt bad for them . . . almost. I was lucky, they seemed to be focused on getting to the other group which meant they didn’t see me until it was too late. I cast ‘Boar Charge’, letting the drove of spectral pigs, plow through the ten extremely squishy magic users.