Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (7 page)

The group stopped on top of a hill and watched the scene below. The goblins were setting up a camp for themselves. A few ramshackle buildings but mostly crude tents. They had scouts wandering the edges of their camp and more moving about into the trees north and south of the camp. The six parties stood to the west.

Paul nodded. “Good. This will do to get us started. We need to advance and break up that camp, but don’t get reckless. We take them all out in a hurry and it might trigger an invasion. Just clean house.” He looked back over his shoulder. “Alright, for now keep the alternates together, but figure out where they are going to go after. Bill and Carol, after this you’re with us.”

Amos raised a hand. “Uh, bit of business first.”

“Eh?” Paul already had his shield on his arm and was drawing his sword.

“We should form a guild.”

“Hmm.” Paul left the sword at his side and rubbed at his chin. “I forgot Miller disbanded the last one.”

“Yeah.” Amos nodded. “But we need an
appropriate
one, now.”

“Appropriate how?”

“Well, we’re part of this event thing, right? So we need to work that up. Don’t get me wrong, the old ‘Deviants’ name was fun, what with us being the
Devs
and all, but it doesn’t really show allegiance here.”

“Right.” Paul nodded. He glanced around. “Suggestions?”

Claire raised her hand. “The Royal Guard? Miller did set Tobin up as a dictator, and we
are
guarding him.”

“Ehhh…” Amos shrugged. “He’s not really royal, though.”

“No, but if he takes over the place that would make him the king.”

“I like that better… King’s Guard.”

Paul shook his head. “The ‘Guard’ part is a bit on the nose. We don’t want people targeting us until we’re capable of holding our own.”

The druid raised her chin. “Kingsmen.”

Amos narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that a band? Or, like, three bands?”

“The ‘King’s Men’ was the play company Shakespeare belonged to.”

“How do you even know that?”

“English lit minor. Does it matter?”

“I guess not. Whose going to tell us we can’t use it? Us?”

Paul rubbed at the back of his neck. “Eh, it will do. It’s a bit more low key, anyway. Alright, I’ll set it up and we’ll add everyone. Invites are open, feel free to add anyone you think is helpful.”

Toby frowned. “That seems like it could snowball. What if one of them is just getting close to knife me in the back? If I was one of them, I’d consider it.”

“They can’t. People in your party as well as those in your guild can’t hurt you, open PVP or not.”

Claire nodded and bonked Toby on the head with her hammer. “It’s an allegiance thing. The PVP rules are designed around guilds fighting each other. If members could hurt each other, intentionally or not, nobody would bring mages or anyone with strong AOEs.”

Nothing on his HUD had changed. He didn’t even see where his hit points were listed. It must not be visible when his health was full.

“Huh. So just add everyone we meet then. Blind invite spam.”

Paul shook his head. “Not only do people hate that, but we have a head count to consider. We can only have five hundred members. Not a small number, and it’s unlikely we’ll see that many together at once, but it
is
the hard limit.”

A window with the guild invite popped up. Toby accepted. The names of those around him didn’t change, but those beyond started to. The names of the members of the other groups appeared in green over their heads now.

“Cool. Somebody trick that Miller guy into accepting so he can’t kill me.”

Claire tapped a finger against his forehead. He could almost swear he felt it…

“If we did that, you couldn’t hurt him either. Besides, when the time comes for his endgame to play out, he’s not going to show up as the little bald bearded guy.”

“No?” Toby hefted his sword. “What is the boss of the raid he took over?”

Paul shook his head. “Not good.” He wandered a few steps away, waving to the other groups. “Alright, group leaders over here. We need to talk.”

Toby raised and eyebrow and looked aside at Claire.

She sighed. “It’s a dragon. I know, I know, cliche. But it’s no slouch of a dragon. We put months into tweaking that raid. It was only
just
possible with careful organization and the best gear in the game… and that was before Miller decided to make it his clubhouse. We don’t know what’s in there now.”

“Bummer.”

“Yes, bummer.”

Paul returned a few moments later. “Okay, we’re going that way.” He pointed to the goblins north of the camp. “Group two is heading south, groups three and four are going to try and thin the resistance on the way into the camp.” He nodded to the two most recent additions. “The alternates are involved in this, too. We should all get a few levels here. Once it’s clear, we’re going to split into two parties, each with two groups and four alternates.”

They nodded and Paul started them moving down the hill as he drew his sword.

“Confession time,” Toby leaned aside to Claire. “I didn’t actually get to play this morning, and you know I wasn’t in the beta. So… the hell am I doing?”

She gave him a level stare as they walked. “Okay… everyone has four basic abilities as part of their class. I think all of yours involve hitting things, but that isn’t surprising. If you still had your controller, you probably wouldn't be surprised to find the four face buttons issued those four commands. But here with us, with those gloves on, it’s based on your movements.”

She lifted her hammer and moved it slowly. Nothing happened. Then she raised it over her shoulder and swung it swiftly straight down in front of her. Light appeared before the hammerhead as it moved, and a burst of air shot out when it stopped.

“An incorrect movement gets you nothing. A correct movement keys the ability. As you advance, how you use those four together can create additional effects, but for right now just concentrate on hitting things.”

He held up his sword and took a swing. Nothing happened.

“Before I was duped into rolling a cleric…” She muttered, “I used to run a warrior. For them, horizontal, vertical, and stabbing were the keys. Bringing up the shield set off the final ability.”

Amos leaned in. “Without a shield, his forth ability will probably be keyed to diagonal attacks. Not the same as horizontal or vertical, so you need to get good at having your intent come across to the censors. It takes some practice.”

Paul’s voice could be heard from the front. “Well good news. There’s plenty of practice just ahead.”

6

Goblin eyes turned to them as they approached. They lifted crude weapons and gave wordless cries as they ran headlong at the party.

A window popped up in front of Toby. “The Goblin Menace: Rank 1.” Huh, it offered him boots once the camp was cleared out. Neat. He hit “Accept.”

Paul held his shield high, his sword standing out over the top. “Claire and Jesse, keep an eye on Tobin’s health. Barbarians don’t start with much. He’ll get better, but he needs to live long enough to get there.”

The druid nodded. “Ayup.”

Claire rolled her eyes as she hefted her hammer. “Fine.”

Toby readied his sword. He’d never actually used it… but he felt a smile creep onto his face just the same as the dark metal gleamed. “Soulbreaker hungers.”

The rogue beside Toby shook his head. “Don’t start that shit. We’re supposed to be the good guys.”

“That’s not what everyone else out there thinks.”

“Hmm. You have a point.”

The druid shook her head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not evil. Chaotic neutral at worst.”

“That’s still
really
bad.”

“But it’s more fun.” She smiled as she made a quick gesture with her fingers and the nearest goblin burst into flames. It screamed… but it kept coming.

Toby stared at her for a moment. “Wow, glad I didn’t pick a caster. I’m not sure my fingers can do that.”

“You get used to it.” She repeated the gesture, throwing fire at each goblin as it moved into range. “Less carpal tunnel issues than all the clicking.”

She was probably on to something there.

Toby leveled his sword as one of the flaming goblins charged in screaming. He raised his sword high over his head…

Paul bashed it away with his shield.

Toby let the sword down again. It wasn’t that Paul was doing something wrong… he was the tank after all… but still. It seemed clear he still intended to make sure Toby didn’t suffer so much as a scratch, but in the end that would mean he never took part in anything.

And that just wouldn’t do.

Claire knocked a charging goblin into the air with an uppercut strike before crushing it into the dirt with an overhead blow from her hammer. Tim the rogue flitted about the goblins knifing them in the back. Jesse kept them all on fire. Amos peppered those closing in with arrows.

And Toby… stood around.

He ground his teeth. Even the alternates who weren’t in their party were fighting. Granted, they knew how, but he wasn’t going to learn anything by taking coffee breaks in the back.

He charged out past Paul when the next few goblins pressed in. They were already on fire and screaming as they brandished weapons at the shield before them. They seemed preoccupied with him. Good.

Toby held the sword out behind him to his right and swung it forward with all his might.

He almost dropped the weighted rod.

The sword before him cleft the space where three goblins stood without stopping. A bright red trail of light followed the arc of the blade.

The goblins ceased their attacks, their voices falling silent as the upper halves of two fell away from their lower halves. The third was not cleanly cleft, and the whole thing flopped to the ground.

He blinked at the sword in his hands. They had not exactly been fresh, already some hit points burned away by Jesse, but those that came before had taken a few hits to drop.

Soulbreaker. Amos had said it was a thing that should not be. He’d meant it in jest… but as far as the game’s rules were concerned, it seemed he was proven right. It seemed to be well beyond the power curve.

The others were staring at him. Or were they looking at the sword?

A goblin cry went up behind him. He turned and held the sword aloft. “I got this.”

He charged it even as it ran at him with its crude cleaver sword raised. He leaned to the right as the jagged blade swept toward him... it sailed by harmlessly through the open air.

He lifted the sword up over his shoulder. Might as well test both unknowns at once.

The blade whistled through the air as the red trail followed it down diagonally.

The goblin’s head and right arm fell away while the rest of it crumpled to the ground.

This one
had
been fresh.

Huh. He held the sword up and looked back over his shoulder. “Yup, diagonal.”

Paul was scowling as he closed the distance between them. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Helping.” A quick glance showed no other goblins close by. Those they could reach with minimal walking were outside their aggro range, and thus blissfully unaware of their fellows being bisected and burned.

“Good. Fine. Successful test. Now stay where we can protect you.”

Toby leaned a bit. He could see Claire and Jesse just fine. “I don’t think I’m out of range of the healers.” He looked up at Paul, a taller man only a few feet away. “Especially not out of your range.”

“You think this is funny? We only get one chance here, kid.” Paul didn’t seem very amused. His eyebrows were drawn low.

“Yeah, and when the time comes
I
have to be the one to swing this thing. So
I
need to know how. I’m part of this party, and I clearly have the power to help us progress. I don’t have any intention of sitting back there and leaching experience for everyone else’s work. I don’t do that.”

Paul shook his head. “We don’t have a safety net, here.”

Claire stepped out of the group and faced Paul. “And we won’t have one at the end, either. He needs to be capable of standing with us, of being a full member of our raid. We could barely clear it with everyone working as a unit. We can’t do it carrying someone we coddle to the cap.”

Jesse and Amos stepped away from Paul and stood beside Claire. The druid lifted her chin. “She’s right. And he was never out of our reach anyway. Do you think one pidly level one goblin is going to do him in? Have a
little
faith in us.”

Amos nodded. “Really, man, he can probably regenerate health faster than that thing could take it.”

Paul lowered his head.

Tim patted Paul on the shoulder as he stepped up beside him. “They’re right, you know. He’s got to learn and the danger here isn’t that great. This is a place he could solo at his level if he was patient, and he’s got a solid group of the most experienced players around backing him up. Better to let him go hog wild now than toss him into the deep end later.”

Paul nodded a few times. “Yeah… okay.”

Tim punched Paul in the shoulder. The others were already moving toward the closest goblins.

Jesse lifted her hands. “Burninating the goblins.”

Toby lifted an eyebrow as he walked beside her. “You know, you come across kind of aggressive for a druid.”

She raised her chin into the air. “I am nature’s unbridled wrath.”

Claire shook her head. “You are nature’s pyromaniac.”

“Also that.”

Amos lifted his bow, an arrow already resting on it. “Speaking of which…”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jesse twisted her hand into the symbol she had used to throw fire and the tip of the arrow burst into flame. Amos drew back the bow and fired, striking a distant goblin. The arrow pinned the creature to the ground while the fire effect burst out from the arrow on impact. Several goblins screamed and turned to face them, fire dancing over their skin.

Toby stood staring at the carnage. “Whoa. You can mix abilities across classes?”

“Uh… yeah?” Jesse tilted her head. “Right, right. Nubsauce.”