Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (20 page)

Amos loosed arrows constantly. His quiver seemed bottomless and he had gained some ability along the way to add magical effects to the shots. Most of them had no such addition, but he would start his attacks against each orc by firing a few glowing arrows. Toby wasn’t sure what each did and didn’t have time to learn at the moment, but Amos was good about keeping the effects up.

The orcs were not so numerous as the goblins or the damned skeletons. Before long their numbers began to thin, causing the groups to move deeper into the camp. The remaining orcs were unwilling to charge blindly. They fired heavy arrows from crude bows and waited around blind corners for the invaders. Mopping them up was proving difficult.

A fresh group surprised them out of nowhere, having been hidden away in one of the shoddy buildings. The group poured into the street, knocking people down as they swarmed in amongst them.

Paul cursed as he leveled his shield at the door and charged. Another of the tanks took up the notion with him, lending his shield to the attempt. Those still inside bashed the shields blocking the doorway but they seemed content to stay where they were for now, the tide of orc flesh was stemmed. Temporarily.

The two tanks left outside tried to pick up all the orcs, but it didn’t work out well. Many of them ran around aimlessly, chasing whichever DPS they saw first until a weaker one happened by.

Toby did all he could, swinging at every orc in range, and those beyond his range with the shock wave. He didn’t dare throw Soulbreaker. Even a moment without a weapon could be the end for him, and while it was no shield, he could parry attacks with it.

It took a few minutes and he watched the health bars off to his left fall and rise again more than once, but they managed to clear out the orcs that had overrun them. Toby stood with his hands on his hips, trying to catch his breath. He wasn’t winded from running, but swinging the would-be sword around so much was tiring in itself.

Jesse was helping Claire to repair what damage they could while never quite taking their full attention away from the two tanks keeping the rest of the orcs pinned. A few of the DPS had been at death’s door, so they got the majority of the attention.

Toby never expected he would see triage medicine in a video game, but there it was.

His own health hovered around sixty percent. He knew he would be worse off without all the stamina points. He didn’t regret them at all right now.

A wordless yell escaped Paul’s clenched teeth as his shield broke apart. He backed up a step, letting the other tank hold the door as he switched to holding his sword with both hands.

The other tanks came running, but the one holding the door was knocked back and stumbled.

Toby’s eyes widened as orcs poured out of the tent. There were at least as many as they had just cleared out.

One tank was down, another had lost his shield, all of the healers were low enough on mana to only concern themselves with the dying… and there were just as many orcs left as had gotten them into this situation.

He held up Soulbreaker before him, his eyes narrowed.

One of the largest orcs he had seen today locked its eyes on him and roared. It brandished a rusty hunk of steel longer than Toby was tall and barreled toward him roaring all the while.

He held his sword up in a salute before shifting it to the side, ready to unleash a shock wave to start things off.

The orc stopped short and stood up straighter, its voice shifting to a higher pitch as it waved its arms. As it turned Toby saw Tim hanging on its back with both daggers buried deep. He gave Toby a nod before disappearing again.

The orc screamed with rage as it looked back and forth, trying to find its attacker.

No time like the present. Toby charged in and swung low throwing out a shock wave at the orc’s legs. He followed it with a climbing diagonal slash. The second swing possessed the telltale red and white trail of the Duo hit. With the blade already high Toby positioned the sword over his head and swung straight down for the third hit, setting off the Trio strike with its brighter trail and far greater damage.

The orc’s voice changed to a weak gurgling sound as it stopped moving. Its eyes shifted to him, and its wicked sword raised as it turned. Its breaths were ragged and its wounds spewed black blood. It wouldn’t take much more to finish it off, but he waited for it to strike first to avoid the blow. He didn’t want to risk his attack costing him health because he didn’t take the time to defend against a telegraphed attack. The healers had enough problems right now.

He held his sword up ready to parry the blow. It wouldn’t nullify the damage of a hit, but it would reduce it. If the thing was slow enough, he might be able to move out of the way. The stacks on Uncanny Dodge weren’t at full yet. The chances of it going off were slim.

The great hunk of rust raised into the sky as Toby waited. It looked like he could just move out of the way. Simple enough.

Arrows appeared in the side of the giant orc. Four in its chest and two in its head. It keeled over to the side without so much as a grunt.

Toby turned his head. Amos was stepping up his game if he could fire six arrows so swiftly. Someone must have helped him.

Beyond the edge of the camp were more players. All of them bore the Kingsmen guild tag. They charged across the open space, all their ranged DPS firing away to help thin the rampaging orcs.

They crossed the walls and three tanks charged in, bashing orcs aside with their shields and shrugging off blows with their full health bars.

It took only seconds for the last of the orcs to be felled with so much added help.

The groups formed up as those already present tried to put their own groups back in order.

The newcomers saluted as a young man bearing a shield stepped up to the front of their company. “Hail, Tobin Ironblood. I am Gorin Stoneshield, a humble servant.”

Paul glanced aside at Toby. The older man shrugged. It looked like it was going to be his show for now.

Toby put his sword away and gave a nod. “Well met, Gorin. Our thanks for the timely assistance.”

He stood taller as a smile crept onto his face. “We had no fear of your failure, we only sought to share in the glory.”

Toby nodded as he looked at the fallen orcs. “I’d say you did that.”

Paul patted Toby on the shoulder. “What our lord means to say, is that you are a most welcome sight. Any Kingsmen may always stand with us.”

“Cool.” Gorin dropped the pretense. “I hear there are rewards for helping out now?”

Paul nodded. “Indeed, though you’ll have to see the event through to get them.”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” He turned slightly and waved to show the people behind him. “We’re in it for the long haul. Hope you’re not too cross for us trailing you, but you have this uncanny knack for finding events.”

“It’s called ‘scouting.’” Paul grinned. “Glad of the help. There’s much to be done yet.”

Toby rubbed at his chin as he looked over the dead orcs again. “So… why isn’t the event finished?”

Gorin tilted his head. “Say what?”

Paul frowned as he looked about as well. “You’re right. We haven’t received credit yet. Odd…”

An earsplitting horn blow pierced the silence.

Paul stood up straighter as the horn echoed. “Oh shit.”

Toby drew his sword again as his eyes swept the camp. “What, what it is?”

Claire shook her head. “It’s an invasion.”

“Invasion?”

Jesse nodded. “We killed the orcs faster than the game figured we could. Any time you do that with an event it’s like issuing a challenge. We told the system the content isn’t hard enough. That we can take more.”

Paul nodded. “And it’s withholding rewards until we do.”

Gorin’s face grew long. “Wait, you mean we’re not done?”

“Not by a long shot.” He waved to the newcomers. “Come on, get inside the walls. We’ll use them as best we can. There’s not much time.”

The horn calls sounded again. They were closer this time, and there was clearly more than one.

The Kingsmen moved to cover the walls of the camp. It wasn’t theirs, but any port in a storm.

Tim directed some people to moving the orc corpses and piling them in the crater they had made to enter. Toby moved to help but Paul grabbed hold of his arm and shook his head. “Let them handle it. Come on.” He nodded and started walking. Toby followed.

They moved around in between the rough metal constructs, finding their way up to the highest point in the camp, a lookout station near the center. It was only about ten feet off the ground, but it was the only vantage point they were likely to get.

Paul pointed off to the east side of the camp. There was a hill that way with dark spots already swarming down from it.

A horn sounded from the opposite side. Toby’s head swerved to see more dark spots approaching from the lowlands off that way.

“Shit.”

Paul nodded.

Claire yelled up from the bottom of the lookout station. “How bad is it?”

“Certainly not looking good.”

“Shit.” She shook her head.

Jesse joined her at the bottom of the lookout station.

“What’s happening?”

“Badness.”

“D’oh?”

“Yes.”

“D’oh.”

The groups formed up around the edges of the walls. Paul called out positions and people moved to take them up. He sighed and spoke softly. “We’ll be fighting on both sides. Our only hope is that the number of enemies is pretty limited.”

Toby squinted at the shapes in the distance. They didn’t look small in number.

Claire glanced back and forth at the two walls. “What about having our casters dump every AoE they have before the orcs reach us? It may not kill them, but it will make them weaker.”

Paul nodded. “It will. And maybe archers can take out a few of the weakened ones.” He called down the orders for ranged attackers to move to the front for now and ready themselves for when the orcs reached their maximum range.

There were three tanks on either side. The three from their groups to the north and the three Gorin brought to the south. Worse, those groups were unknowns. Untested… but they wore the guild tag, so there was no fear of stray AoE spells or effects. That would help at least.

Toby called down over the side. “Jesse.”

She looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Can you light our archers arrows? And maybe see if there’s another druid or someone else capable to do it on the other side?”

She nodded. “Aight.”

Paul nodded a few times. “Well well. Look at King Ironblood.”

Toby shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea. I know she can do it, and they can shoot farther than she can cast. Simple enough.”

“I didn’t think of it.”

“You’ve got the whole game in your head, trying to reference it all and balance it against whats happening.” Toby shrugged. “I know what the handful of us can do. And even then, I’m sure they have picked up new tricks along the way like I have, things I don’t know about. Much more limited set of options to muddle over.”

“Perhaps. But I think you’re doing well just the same.”

The black shapes were drawing nearer. “I guess we’ll see in a few minutes.”

Paul watched the northern approach while Toby kept an eye on the southern.

The first fiery arrows sailed through the air only minutes later. Most of them struck the ground without hitting anything, but the grass beyond seemed to catch here and there. The orcs had to move to avoid the fires as they approached which made their movements more predictable for the next volley.

None of them died by being set on fire, they weren’t so weak as all that, but it did cost them health.

When the AoEs came those that had been weakened by fire were the first to drop. They collapsed in burning heaps that became obstacles for the orcs that followed.

“So…” Toby watched the charging orcs burn. “Can anyone throw water? Or are our people going to be fighting flaming orcs in melee range?”

Paul chuckled. “I might have been to generous with my praise, yes. But I wouldn’t worry about it. The ‘on fire’ effect is short lived.”

Arrows and AoE spells continued to rain upon the charging ranks. At the start there were far more orcs than the camp had held, but they’d thinned out a bit. It was now only a lot more than they had bested. But they had help. Toby nodded as he looked down at the three groups below him.

It might work.

The field outside was littered with burning orc corpses, but plenty approached the walls. The arrows and AoEs continued, with normal spells thrown in now that the ranged was favorable. The metal walls held well enough, with the melee DPS standing atop them and striking at anything that tried to climb while tanks waited or took up positions where the walls were broken or gave way.

Paul tapped him on the shoulder. “You should get down there. You’re part of group one and they’re missing a tank as it is.”

Toby frowned. “You can fight.”

“Heh. I can, but not well enough to make a difference. All tank speced and no shield to my name. I’ll watch and call things out from here. Go on.”

He wanted to argue, but he stopped himself. He nodded and started back down.

With no tank, group one had split up to fill gaps. Amos and Claire were on the northern side firing and healing, respectively. Jesse and Tim were helping out on the southern wall. He could have gone anywhere… but the north seemed more pressed.

He charged that way as he drew his sword.

17

The orcs were moving downhill, using momentum to hurl themselves forward. They’d also taken to knocking loose any boulders or large stones they could find. The walls gave off hollow booms when struck by one.

He climbed up the short metal wall to stand with Amos and Claire. “How’s it looking over here?”

“ ‘Bad’ is probably the word.” She shrugged. “Not sure how much the wall can take, we didn’t build it, but the orcs seem bound and determined to find out what it will take to knock it down.”

Orcs were attempting to climb up on this side as well. Toby swung at their hands. It didn’t cause much damage, but it forced them to let go. The fall would hurt them a little more, too.