Unforeseen path, p.35
Unforeseen Path, page 35
“That’s just because the loser needs us for finishing off this dungeon,” the Ranger standing beside the female Warrior belligerently snarled at me with his knocked arrow as the name Pyralis Kirk, level 33 Human, Ranger appeared over his head.
“You saw how effective Fire magic was against that bug,” Ron Malone, Level 34 Human, Fire mage readily agreed next to him as he waved his fiery fists around to emphasize his point.
“Are you a bunch of morons?” Igtra scathingly asked as she glared at the trio.
“What do you mean?” Samantha demanded, meeting the Red Draconian-Human female’s look of disgust without batting an eye as Byrnwulf urgently spoke up.
“Igtra didn’t mean anything-”
“The Half-Elf just raised thirteen level 47 Orc Warrior Ghouls on this own and the rest of his group raised another seven level 45,” Igtra continued, completely oblivious to Byrnwulf’s waving hands as the other two members in the group traded nervous glances with one another, “On top of that, every one of them is over level 50 except for the two Badger kin. So, what do you think your level thirty-four to thirty-seven group is going to bring to the table that they don’t already have covered?”
That shut everyone up really quick, I thought as the Human Ranger’s mouth slammed shut with an audible click. Not that it stopped the loudmouth asshole from staring daggers at me while his buddy Ron the Fire mage puffed out his chest challengingly. At least, Samantha seemed to be having second thoughts about pushing the whole “known PKer” thing since she hesitated at Igtra’s words. Before any of the low-level players could think of an appropriate response, the Badger kin glanced over at me curiously.
“Known PKer?” Zeven asked in a concerned tone. Looking towards Byrnwulf, I saw the same look of concern reflected on his face.
“Yeah, the alliance of asshats that raided your stronghold and killed all of your people was playing the innocent victims on the forums, when I kicked their asses and helped my buddy out who was in a similar situation that you were in,” I said, before jerking a chin towards the other group, “but I still get grief from players that take whatever they read on the forums as gospel, instead of doing their own research on the matter to see what really happened.”
“What the fuck are you talking about,” Pyralis spat in self-righteous fury, “I saw the fucking video for myself. You destroyed Telrain with everyone in it and then burnt down the city of Darom.”
“Ah, you’re talking about the clipped dramatized video my ex-girlfriend made,” I said with a snort of laughter, “the one that all of the sheeple on the forums keep going on about instead of watching the actual full video that I posted.”
“Your ex-girlfriend is the guild leader of the Chaos Storm Alliance?” Alan Vans the level 35 Dwarf Fire Mage asked in surprise.
“Unfortunately,” I agreed with a heavy sigh.
“That’s crazy,” Laura Mac, the level 35 Human Priest said, glancing between Samantha and Alan not sure what to believe.
“You’re a lying piece of shit,” Pyralis self-righteously shrieked, raising his bow as if he were going to shoot me in the face.
“Is this guy for real?” Töten asked, looking back and forth between Phoenix and me.
“I’m sure he is,” Phoenix said, shaking her head in disgust.
“What the fuck would you losers know about it anyway?” Ron demanded as he stepped up beside the Ranger.
“Because I’m not a tool and watched the whole fucking video from the source,” Töten said with a smirk as Byrnwulf tried not to laugh.
“From the source?” Ron hesitantly asked, looking back and forth between the pair in confusion.
“Yeah, you know, direct from V-MMORG itself,” Töten said, the revulsion he felt towards the pair clear to see on his face.
“And I was there and saw it all go down,” Phoenix added as the two of them high-fived.
“Take a chill pill, guys,” Samantha hissed under her breath to her teammates, “cause if what they’re saying is even half true, then you’re on your own here.”
“Are you pussing out, Samantha?” Ron angrily demanded as he glared at the female tank.
“Pussing out?” Samantha furiously snarled back, “fighting our group wouldn’t be a fight for any one of them, let alone for a whole team of level 50s, so you can take that pussing out bullshit and shove it up your ass!”
“Yeah, you can count me out of this as well,” Alan said, backing up from the Ranger as the flames left his fists.
“Me too,” Laura squeaked, “you know how much I hate PVP.”
“Come on, guys,” Pyralis exclaimed, looking back and forth between his teammates, “we’d only have to kill him once to get the bounty!”
“What bounty are you even talking about?” Samantha demanded with an edge to her tone as she got into the Ranger’s face.
“Ah, now the truth of the matter comes out,” I knowingly said as the rest of the team looked at the Ranger in shock. Obviously, none of them had realized that he was pushing this for his own selfish reasons, “It’s not about me being a known PKer. It’s not about being outraged at what you thought happened in Telrain or Darom.” I let out a derisive snort while meaningfully looking the Ranger up and down. “It’s all about how much coin you could possibly make by being one of those asshat’s lackeys.”
“How much of a bounty are we talking about?” Ron asked as a conflicted look passed over his face.
“One hundred gold for each kill!” Pyralis hissed, not even trying to hide his greed anymore as the Fire mage rocked back on his heels.
“One hundred gold!” Laura and Alan choked out loud as the rest of their team member’s eyes lit up.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s five-hundred gold per kill,” Samantha spat, glaring at the Ranger like he was an idiot, “It’s not like we could kill him even if we wanted to. Besides that,” her eyes burned into the Ranger in fury, “I’m not cool doing anything for those PKing jerkwads.”
“Besides, it’s doubtful you’d ever see the gold they’re offering for that bounty anyway,” Kevin Beeker the level 37 Dark Elf, Ranger said, speaking up for the first time, “only a fool would believe those jackasses would hold to their word.”
“Oh, they’d probably pay it,” Samantha said, letting out a harsh bark of laughter, “then they’d spawn camp you until they took it all back with interest.” Turning to the Ranger, her voice took on a harsh tone as she hit accept and joined our group, “If you fuck this up, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Welcome to the team,” I said in an amused tone as the Warrior gave me a gruff nod.
While Pyralis lowered his bow with an annoyed huff, the clarification of what was really going down seemed to set both Byrnwulf and Zeven at ease. It probably didn’t hurt that we’d treated them both with respect since we’d first met them when we could’ve taken advantage of their situations. Like Zeven and Töten, Byrnwulf was currently lugging around his stronghold on his back too which probably made him a bit jumpier of PKer accusations. Not that I was going to mention that we knew he was lugging around his fortress along with him. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake that I had with Zeven but it did make me curious as to his situation.
“Good job on taking out that mini-boss,” Samantha gruffly said as her teammates silently nodded in agreement, “and thanks for not leaving us behind like those other assholes did.”
“Not a problem,” I replied in a relaxed tone, “I always say actions speak louder than words.”
‘We should kill the Ranger and be done with this,’ Helgath’s sent, not happy with the situation one bit.
‘Probably,’ I replied, doing my best to not let my reaction to the Half-Orc’s words show on my face, ‘but I can only kill him if he crosses the line by attacking one of us first.’
“So, do you have a plan for taking on the next boss?” Samantha asked, trying to act like she hadn’t been threatening my life a moment before.
‘Why not?’ Helgath demanded, ‘He’s already admitted to unjustly wanting to kill you for a bounty!’
‘That’s just the way it goes sometimes,’ I sent with a mental shrug. How did I explain to her how soft people had become in the real world? ‘That’s why you and Neristhana are going to be watching my back closely. If he attacks me-’
‘We’ll cut him down like the Chofe-ka he is,’ Helgath growled as she glared at the Ranger while threateningly spinning her daggers.
“Part of one,” I said, grinning at her raised eyebrow, “Once we get out of this barn and can see what’s going on in the town, I’ll have a better idea of what we’re up against. Until then, I figure I’ll lead with my Ghouls and see what happens.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Samantha said, eyeing the large Orc Warrior Ghouls thoughtfully, “Those guys would’ve made mincemeat out of that Toxic Stalker mini-boss.” A frown creased her lips. “Um, how do you want to manage the loot?”
What Samantha was really asking was if we’d allow them to roll on any loot that dropped. That’s because if our Ghouls were doing all the killing, what would they really be adding to the fight? While that might be true on a certain level, if you were in a team like this, it was a general courtesy that everyone was allowed to roll on whatever dropped. And who knows, maybe they would turn out to be helpful in the long run since the Quest more or less said that everyone in the dungeon would be needed to complete the quest. Then again, most groups didn’t have their own raid of pets like we did.
“It’s set to automatically roll for everyone in the group,” Töten grunted as he eyed the other players, “Does that work for you?”
“Seems fair enough,” Samantha agreed after trading quick nods with the rest of her team.
“If you’re buffed up and ready to go, then let’s go see what we’re up against,” I said, heading for the barn’s double doors while Neristhana and Helgath traded a nod. As the group followed after me, Neristhana casually fell back to the rear as I glanced at the timer on my HUD, “We’ve got an hour left to knock this dungeon out.”
While Helgath got the Ghouls into position, I began summoning my last two pets. There were a number of confused looks as the undead repositioned into a defensive line while I did the first-minute-long cast. That cleared up a moment later when the green sparkles of magic the spell produced pulled together into a familiar shape of a large Cave Bear as a loud bestial roar rocked the barn.
‘It’s good to see you too,’ I replied to Kitano as his barrel-shaped head nudged me affectionately. As I started on my next minute-long cast, I swear Pyralis was nearly pissing himself as the Cave Bear took up a position behind me.
“How many summoned pets does this guy have anyway?” I heard Kevin ask Alan who was standing beside him.
“No clue,” Samantha hissed back, “I’m just glad none of us listened to dumbass over there and attacked him.”
“What she said,” Alan agreed, ignoring Pyralis’s angry glare as they watched the green sparkles begin to gather in front of me again, “Not that I’m about to complain.”
“As long as we can roll on drops,” Samantha agreed.
“Rrraaawwwlll!” Shadow Fang’s howl rang throughout the barn as the Shadow Wolf took shape in front of me a half-minute later.
‘Glad to see you too,’ I replied in greeting, ‘You can keep watch over me while Neysa is away.’
“Chuff,” Shadow Fang agreed as he slipped behind me to stand next to Kitano.
“Everyone ready?” I asked, looking around for confirmation.
“Let’s do this,” Byrnwulf said as Igtra’s intense eyes quietly studied me.
“Ready,” Phoenix and Töten replied in unison as Zeven quietly nod in agreement.
“Been waiting on you,” Samantha impatiently grunted, waving towards the closed doors for us to proceed.
“Alrighty then, let’s move out!” I laughingly said, giving Helgath the go-ahead to proceed.
The sight that appeared to us as the Orc Warrior Ghouls swung the heavy double doors open was straight out of a horror movie. Cold moonlight lit up the foreboding-looking Hamlet of Hardfall that was thirty yards away from the barn. From the look of things, all the fireplaces, lanterns, and candles had been snuffed out which just made the shadows between the houses that much deeper.
Striding through the opening behind the line of Ghouls, I could see that the frozen field between us and the hamlet was strewn with the smashed remains of a dead cat and dog-sized Cheliferidae Risso. The trail of corpses led in a straight line towards the darkened hamlet in the distance. This was obviously the path that the two teams had taken towards the town, I silently thought, as we moved out across the field.
“This isn’t creepy at all,” Zeven hissed under his breath as our feet crunched over the scattered chitin-covered remains.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Laura gagged in a small voice as the bodies began to get thicker.
“Why did it have to be giant insects?” Byrnwulf grunted as a smile came to my lips.
As long as we weren’t dealing with Giant Spiders, I could hang. Though, as my foot crunched over a large claw, I could understand where he was coming from to an extent. It was most definitively on the disgusting side. As we passed the three-quarter mark of the field, I was just starting to wonder why we hadn’t run into the other group or, at least, some of their corpses, when the sounds of fighting and Frost mage spells suddenly came to my ears from up ahead.
“Oh … god,” a voice screamed.
“Kill it … kill it!” another voice shouted.
“It’s eating me … it’s eating me … gggaahhh!” a player’s gurgling scream was suddenly cut off as the sounds of fighting intensified.
At the sounds of combat, bloodcurdling screams began ringing out from across the hamlet. The eerie wailing shrieks were enough to make the hackles on the back of my neck stand on end as the monsters seemed to be getting closer. Though, what really started giving me the heebie-jeebies was the low-level chittering roar that seemed to be coming from everywhere. It reminded me of the sound from a swarm of locust.
“Hey, Samantha,” Pyralis urgently shouted as he ran out ahead of the Ghoul screen, “I think I see the other groups fighting up ahead!”
“Everyone make sure you stay in line of sight of a healer so we can hit you with a Minor Cure Disease if needed,” I said, drawing the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden and unlimbering my Black Coral Iron-reinforced Defender as Laura Mac nervously nodded in agreement.
“We gonna give them a hand or what?” Pyralis demanded as he hurried to the edge of the street heading between the homes with an arrow knocked.
“Why should we?” Byrnwulf grunted in reply, “Are they suddenly our friends or something?”
“That’s seriously cold, man,” Ron groused as hurried ahead to join the Ranger with his hands starting to flame.
“How is that cold?” Zeven demanded, looking at the rest of us for support, “They left us to die while we were fighting the first boss.”
“And trained the rest of us to boot,” Phoenix agreed with a look of pure disgust on her pretty face.
“That’s not the point,” Pyralis argued as the sounds of fighting become more intense, “you said it yourself. Every extra hand is a plus, right?”
I didn’t hear what Pyralis whispered to the Fire mage, but from the excited hand gestures, I could guess what they were going on about. Not that the sullen looks in my direction left any doubt as to what they were planning. As the line of Ghouls reached them, the pair must’ve come to a decision, because they suddenly took off between the houses at a run.
“You losers can do what you want,” Pyralis shouted over his shoulder, “but we’re gonna give those guys a hand while they’re still alive.”
“Those two are complete fucking idiots,” Töten grunted as their teammates glanced between one another unsure if they should stay or follow after the pair.
“You’re not gonna run after them?” a conflicted Samantha asked, watching the two players go unsure of how to react.
“Their lack of planning and forethought doesn’t create an emergency on my side,” I said with a shrug, commanding the Ghouls to clear a path ahead between the darkened houses, “Besides, I’m not about to rush headlong into an obvious trap for a bunch of assholes that left us to die.”
“Word,” Phoenix agreed.
“Obvious trap?” Laura squeaked, glancing between her teammates nervously.
“Seems that way,” Alan agreed as he meaningfully nodded towards the shadowy paths between the wooden houses.
“How do you want to do this?” Töten gruffly asked with his heavy shield and hammer held at the ready.
“Let’s go single file,” I suggested, commanding the Ghouls to head between the houses in multiple aisles parallel to us, leaving only the three directly ahead of us in the lead, “while everyone does their best to keep an eye on the doors and windows of the homes.”
“Works,” Töten said, stepping in front of me while waving Phoenix, Zeven, and the others to join him in the lead, “Healers to the rear.”
“I’m not your fucking healer,” I grunted at the big guy’s back.
“Whatever you say, Haus,” Töten replied as Phoenix laughingly pushed ahead of me.
“What does he mean, he’s not the healer?” Zeven asked in confusion as he followed the Barbarian.
“Looks like a healer to me,” Byrnwulf agreed with a twinkle in his eyes as he followed the other two with Igtra at his back.
“What’s wrong with being a healer?” Nahimana asked in a hushed voice to Neristhana as the Badger kin female fell in behind me.
“Nothing at all,” the Gnomeling conspiratorially whispered back, ignoring the glare I shot her way as I felt the Ghouls come under attack via our link.
“We’ve got incoming,” I warned as we moved between the first row of houses.
“How the hell can he know that from the rear?” Samantha bitched from up ahead as several others grunted in agreement.
“Probably because it’s his pets leading the advance,” Byrnwulf shot back.
“Oh, yeah,” Alan grunted in understanding.
