A glance at the tactical display showed that some of the goblins had followed them right out the gates and straight to the graveyard. I guess overwhelming a force until they had no gear and were getting slaughtered at the nearest resurrection point was the best way to kill an army of player characters.
I had a feeling that was going to be a good thing to know in the future.
“What’s that?” the goblin king asked, cocking his head to the side as I listened to the new sounds in the distance.
“That is the sound of your goblin armies taking out travelers before they can use their power of resurrection to come out here and cause more trouble,” I said. “And from the sound of things they’re not happy about getting killed over and over again.”
I figured eventually they would get the point and try to travel to another graveyard to resurrect. Or they’d log out and go to school. In the meantime I figured I needed to get to Nilbog, and I needed to get there fast.
A cheer went up from the goblin armies. It looked like they’d pushed out the last of the Horizon Dawn people and retaken the Goblinsteel Mines. The crowd of goblins and monsters parted, revealing Keia and Kris with Rezzik close by them. They all looked a little worse for the wear, I figured combat that close to the real thing would do that, but they all had stupid grins on their faces as well.
Keia broke into a run when she saw me. I threw my arms out, totally ready for one hell of a reunion and hug, but she surprised me by reaching out and slapping me across the face so hard that I saw stars and my hit points actually went down by a sliver. That was followed by the warmth of a healing spell topping off those hit points, which was followed by yet another smack that brought those hit points down again.
“What the hell was that for?” I asked.
“That’s for doing something stupid and continuing to put your life in danger,” she growled.
Then she surprised me again by grabbing me and pulling me in for one hell of a kiss. The kind of thorough kiss that I figured belonged in the backseat of some boat of a car a century back when kids going to see outdoor movies in hunks of steel that looked like they could singlehandedly induce climate change had been the norm.
My toes curled and I wrapped my arms around her. When it was over she blushed, then looked at all the goblins around us. Kris was pointedly looking anywhere but at us, but the rest of the goblins regarded us with curiosity.
I wondered if making out was something goblins did, and the moment the thought crossed my mind I suddenly had the urge to lose my lunch and decided that was a question I’d rather not have answered.
“Are you quite done now?” the goblin king asked, his irritation slightly ruined by his ridiculous mop of bright blonde hair.
“I think so, your majesty,” Keia said, sketching a little bow. “And thank you for saving this idiot who doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble.”
“That’s what I like about this one!” the king said. “Without that kind of initiative I might still be stuck in that dark hole waiting for those traveler enemies to come along and off me!”
“Right,” I said, looking towards the town. “This has been fun and everything, but I really think we need to get to Nilbog.”
“Of course, my boy,” the goblin king said.
Though once more we were interrupted. There was a fanfare of trumpets that came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I looked around to see if the goblins in my army were doing it, but saw nothing. There were a couple of confused shrugs from those goblins, so I knew they could hear it too.
I looked up since that’s where the fanfare seemed to be coming from, and in looking up I saw flags appearing seemingly out of nothing all around the quarry. Flags that bore the goblin king’s symbol, along with a blank spot in the middle.
Congratulations! You have completed the Goblinsteel Mine dungeon! All territory and resources are now under your control. Control can be transferred to another player or guild at your discretion.
Current territories controlled:
Goblin Underground (Uncontested)
Goblinsteel Mines (Uncontested)
Nilbog (Contested)
“Holy shit,” Kris said. “There’s a global announcement going out with your name on it saying you got a world first beating a raid dungeon.”
I shook my head, and then I started laughing. I couldn’t help myself. The whole situation was so ridiculous that I had to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Keia asked.
“It’s just so crazy,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye. “I have no combat abilities, no way to fight anything, and yet I’ve singlehandedly gotten a world first raid clear and taken over two territories with a third in the offing?”
I didn’t like that Nilbog was contested, and I was going to do something about that, damn it, but being the first person to clear a raid dungeon, let alone doing it singlehandedly, and getting control of two new territories was pretty good for a days’ work!
The corner of Keia’s mouth quirked up in a smile, and a moment later she was laughing right along with me and Kris. The goblins were looking at us like we’d gone mad, but I didn’t care.
It was just too damn funny. I’d beat the game, or at least as much as one could be said to beat a massive online game like this, through the power of crafting.
Now it was time to finish this and kick Horizon’s ass with the power of crafting.
80
Back to Nilbog
The airships moved in on Nilbog, but it was clear that it was still a city under siege even if I didn’t have my tactical screen showing me a bunch of red dots milling around in the center of town.
Horizon Dawn banners still flew from the place. There was also something new, though. I could put up banners of my own now if I wanted and replace the scale-themed goblin banners as well as filling the flag poles that were empty.
It was almost time to introduce the world to the banner of the new Duke of Nilbog. I’d been using the flight over to try and pick something that looked appropriately dukeish without being too ostentatious.
I shook my head. We were going to have to create a guild now to help manage this. I didn’t feel entirely comfortable controlling an entire town on my own. Especially when I was busy working on building my crafting empire.
That could all wait though. For now I had to actually claim the town that’d never belonged to Horizon Dawn, and I figured they weren’t going to be happy about giving up the power they thought they’d had.
“Any signs of resistance?” I asked, staring at the looming keep which meant we were getting closer to the town circle.
“Nothing so far,” Rezzik said from beside me.
“So does that mean we aren’t bombarding the town from the skies?” Korsob asked, sounding disappointed that an aerial bombardment wasn’t in the offing.
“Not yet,” I said.
I held onto the gunwale and tried not to think about how resistance could very quickly turn this airships into so much flaming wreckage raining down on the town. I’d instructed Korsob to stay high to avoid just that. The last thing I needed after my little spill at the raid mine was a repeat of gravity reasserting itself.
I only had two of these airships right now, after all. I didn’t want to lose another one before I had the capability to build more.
“Are you seeing anything down there Keia?” I asked in party chat.
“There’s a big gathering in the town circle,” Keia said through party chat from her hiding spot. “Someone has something big going on down there.”
“Like what?” I asked, peering down but not able to see much but a big crowd from this height.
“Like we’ve got Torian down here rallying a bunch of his troops. I’m willing to bet we’re looking at the remains of the army I brought to the dungeon and then some.”
I frowned. I really didn’t like her going out ahead of me to scout things out. She’d insisted, though, and she’d discovered a new tactic for getting me to do what she want
ed.
I blushed as I thought of her kissing me until I finally agreed to let her go in first, though I had to admit that was much more persuasive than her getting pissed off whenever I got too excited and did something stupid and nearly got myself killed.
I turned and looked at the goblins all around me. An ear twitched here. Another reached up and wiped some disgusting green snot from its nose. All of them had twitchy eyes, looking around as though they were expecting an attack to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
It was a feeling I could totally identify with. If I was part of a group that’d been as thoroughly persecuted as the goblins and I was flying into a place where their persecutors were gathered in strength I’d be shitting himself too. Hell, I was nervous considering I was going to get shot down right along with them!
Though there was one key difference between the goblins and me. The goblins had been getting their teeth kicked in by Horizon Dawn on a regular basis. So far I’d won almost every time I’d gone against them, and I was still riding high from one hell of a victory at the Battle of the Raid Mine.
They were already calling it that. I was already thinking about it with the capital letters and all. That was the kind of victory that was going to send shockwaves through the community when the videos started to get out. There was no doubt in my mind that video would eventually get out given the sheer number of people involved and the likelihood that they'd all been streaming. Hell, I had my own thing I’d been recording, though it hadn’t been going out live since there’d been a good chance a couple of times there I might die, and that wasn’t good for the viewing public.
You bet your ass I was going to release that video now that I’d come out on top, though!
I really hoped the victory would start send shockwaves through the bastard executives at Horizon.
"Do you think it's the entire force from the mine? Or is it just a smaller force of everyone who was already in Nilbog gathering together because of their defeat out at the mine?" I asked.
"It's a big enough group that it's probably the people from the mine plus everyone they could find in Nilbog to come out and give us a nice welcome," Keia said. "I think someone figured out what your next move was."
“Of course this would be the one time Torian and his asshole friends started to show some smarts," I muttered.
"What are your orders boss?" Rezzik asked. "Are we going to go in there and drop some fireballs on them?"
All the other goblins turned their attention to me. Now there was something else in their eyes. Something different from the terror they'd shown just moments ago at the thought of a large group of their one-time oppressors gathered together in their town. There was a rapacious lust there. A gleam in their eyes that said they were in the mood for a little bit of revenge, and they were going to get it no matter what it took.
I grinned. I hoped my grin matched theirs for sheer rapaciousness.
And then I said something that caused all their ears to droop in disappointment.
"We’re not going to attack them," I said.
Yeah. They weren’t happy about that, but that was tough shit. I was interested in winning this battle and preserving the town I’d just been gifted. Something told me if I outright attacked Horizon Dawn then it’d be the ultimate Pyrrhic victory where I was the king of a burnt out remnant when the smoke cleared.
"They're in our town and they’re holding our people hostage," I said.
"So we’ll build another!" one of the goblins shouted, his bloodlust getting the better of him.
Several goblins, Korsob included, turned and looked at the one who spoke up and he withered under their gazes. Maybe that goblin felt a little bit of the old bloodlust, but clearly there were others who didn't like the idea of having their loved ones burned to the ground along with any property they might own in Nilbog.
"We might still get a chance to kill them," I said. "Goodness knows we've killed plenty of them so far, but we need to try and get some of them on our side. We need to try and win hearts and minds. Not just kill them over and over again."
It was the classic dilemma of trying to push out an established force that had control of a town. Sure if I was going for the whole Vietnam allegory then my goblins were the Vietcong and Horizon Dawn were the invaders who were trying to maintain a draconian status quo, but the fact was Horizon Dawn’s people weren't going anywhere.
At the end of the day this was a game, after all, and that meant there were going to be players occupying my territory whether I wanted them there or not. The question was whether or not I could make those players play nice while they were in my territory.
The last thing I needed was a bunch of immortal players constantly throwing themselves at my defenses. Wearing down the goblins who could be permanently killed while the attacking players conveniently went back to resurrection stones where they could always come back to cause more trouble.
Yeah, I was fighting against a functionally immortal enemy, and the only way I could defeat them was by getting them to give up or come to my side. I thought I’d seen some indications that Torian’s grip was slipping back at the mine, and now I needed to test that.
"Bring us in lower," I said.
"What?" Korsob said, quickly echoed by Rezzik who was looking at me like I’d lost it.
“I said bring us in lower, please,” I said.
It was a simple repeat of my previous statement. I didn’t yell. I didn’t give orders. I simply waited to see if they would follow orders.
And they did. Korsob nodded to the goblin at the helm who pushed the wheel forward and we started moving lower. Right into the belly of the beast.
Though in this metaphor the town was actually my beast, and it was infested with parasites I needed to get rid of, only I didn’t want to piss off the parasites too much, and maybe the whole metaphor was too tortured in this case.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Keia asked, sounding incredulous on the other end of the party chat.
"I'm doing what has to be done," I said. "The worst they can do is torture me over and over again, right? I've got a little friend to help me with that."
I had a lot of friends to help me with that, actually. I was still armed to the teeth with a bunch of gems I could infuse and overload at the proper moment to kill anyone who decided to try and swarm or torture me. From there it would be a simple trip out to the nearest graveyard and then back into the fight, after all.
The disadvantage that made my enemies such a pain in the ass also made me an equal pain in their ass, at least. Plus I had an army massing around the town borders on the off chance I wasn’t able to win hearts and minds with my silver tongue and some well placed threats.
"You're crazy if you think you're going down there," Keia said. "I'm going to…"
"You need to trust him," Kris said from her position with those massing armies out in the forest.
"Trust me my ass!" Keia said. "He's always running ahead and trying to get himself killed, and he’s doing the same damn thing now!"
"And yet we always seem to come out on top," Kris said. “Listen. I know you're still new to our crew and everything. That you have to get used to the way things work. But I've found that the crazier the scheme - the more likely it seems the whole thing will result in our certain death, or at least getting us banned from the game - the more likely things are to work out in our favor in the end while Conlan is standing there with a smug smile on his face telling you "I told you so."
There was a long pause on the other end from Keia. Clearly she didn't like the idea. Not that I was going to stop just because she didn't like the idea, but still. The last thing I wanted was to piss off the pretty girl when things were starting to get good between us. But I also knew I had to do this.
"Please trust me," I said.
"Fine," she growled.
She didn't sound pleased. Not that I expected her to sound happy about it. I wasn't all that happy about this plan either. I wa
s well aware that I was descending to my likely death. That no amount of speechmaking was going to change the fact that everyone down there in Horizon Dawn hated my ass and would do anything and everything they could to kill me.
But still. I had to try.
I looked at the trees all around the town that were shaking with my armies moving in. At the other airship hovering around the town limits that had the power to level the town if it came to that. I grinned.
If a fancy speech didn’t work then I could go ahead and blow them the fuck up. After we’d had time to quietly get word to the goblins in the city that they needed to get out.
The ship changed direction and pitched down. I felt a brief moment of panic, and shook my head. Now there was something I could do without: a touch of post traumatic stress when it came to airships changing direction.
"You okay, boss?" Rezzik asked.
"I think so," I said. "Gonna have to get over that, though."
“You get used to it after the first couple of times you have an airship shot out from under you,” Korsob said with a crazed grin.
“You’re not making me feel better, you know,” I growled.
"Almost there," Rezzik said. "Last chance for you to decide you don't want to mess with this."
"I need to," I said.
"You sure about that?" Rezzik asked. "We could just pull up and bomb the whole circle from the skies. It’s the only way to be sure.”
Now it was my turn to look at my bloodthirsty friend with surprise. Rezzik shrugged and laughed.
"What?" he asked. "If they're going to burn it to the ground anyway then we might as well be the ones doing the burning and killing, right?"
"I'm really glad I'm the one commanding the goblin army,” I said. "Because I’d hate to be on the wrong side if someone else stirred you up."
"If it weren't for you none of us would be able to do any this," Rezzik said as the airship came to a slow halt over the circle.
“Time to do something impressive,” I said. “At least I hope it’s impressive. Take her down, and try to look menacing while you’re doing it.”
Spellcraft Page 64
