As Lance saw Grog running out of the forest, he couldn't help thinking of Forest Gump running and wanted to yell, "Run, Grog, Run!" but he restrained himself. When he saw two wolves running with Grog, his eyes widened, but when he saw what was chasing Grog and the wolves, his eyes widened even further; an elite river sprite with a green tag. Lance stopped and pondered for a moment until he realized creatures that would be friendly to him would not necessarily be friendly to an Orc. He sent a party invite to Grog, and after a second, Grog accepted. The tag over the river sprite's head suddenly snapped to red.
"Fire that spell, Sparky," he yelled. A sizzling bolt of lightning jumped over his shoulder and directly into the sprite.
The bolt had a stunning effect on the creature; as it struck, the creature seemed to turn into a mist and then reform. When it was solid again, a ten percent of the creature's health was gone. The tag on the sprite changed again, this time to yellow. Stopping rather suddenly, it turned to the party and said, "Why do you attack me, friends?"
"We are attacking because you're chasing our brother," Lance replied.
"You keep strange company, human, the word ‘brother’ does not seem to be possible in this situation."
"Nevertheless, he is our brother and our friend; if you attack him, you are attacking us."
Cletus appeared in the air in front of Lance and next to him was a small orc man a moment later Edie appeared as well keeping her distance from both of the other assistants. Cletus and Otis began making rude signs toward the sprite.
The sprite seemed to glitch for a moment and then said, "I do not know how to proceed in this situation, so I will return to my patrol route. Do not expect to get off this easily next time, humans.”
“And you, orc, next time you are near my river, you will die." The last words were said with an even darker tone than before. The creature looked at both Lance and Grog with a haughty expression before turning around and sliding back up the river.
Grog looked at Lance and said, "Thanks for backing my play there."
Lance smiled at the orc. "I meant what I said about you being our brother back there. Any friend of Pastor Joe's is a friend of mine."
Polly nodded vigorously and Sparky just smiled.
Grog seemed a little unsure until Lance walked over and offered him a hand. When Grog took the offered hand Lance pulled him into a partial hug. The hug seemed to cause Grog to relax.
"We are so glad to meet you," Lance said, "mostly because we are excited to have another believer as part of our group, but also because we really need someone to tank for us."
Grog smiled, "I have been pretty isolated over the last few years so I am not sure how good I am going to be as part of a social group, but tanking, that I want to learn for sure. Making our enemies attack me instead of you seems a lot like what our Lord did on the cross."
Lance nodded to Grog, then noticed that Cletus and Otis had started making the same rude gestures at each other as they had been making at the sprite before. "What's up Cletus?"
Cletus responded without taking his eyes off the small orc. "This... thing is invading my personal space. And I don't like it, not one bit."
Edie, floating slowly in Cletus' direction, nodded. "That thing is really scary, can we kill it?" She began making motions like she was going to cast a spell at otis.
"Hold your horses there girl and settle down Cletus." Lance said, "I am afraid that you are both going to need to deal with this. I am assuming that this 'thing' you are referring to is my friend Grog's assistant?"
"Yeah, he's an orc and nasty." Cletus said.
"I think he probably has cooties or something." Edie added sliding a little closer to Cletus.
"I doubt that he has cooties, and if we can have access to the wisdom of the Edies, Cletai, and the... Hey Grog, what is your assistant's name?"
"Otis is my name, and helping orcs is the Oti's game," The little green man answered before Grog could say anything.
Lance turned to Otis and offered him a little bow, "We are glad to have you aboard, friend."
Otis didn't seem to know what to do for a moment, then he offered a slight bow in reply, "Glad to be aboard."
Cletus huffed and then puffed out of existence. Edie disappeared a moment later.
Lance just shook his head, "Oti!"
"Can you introduce me to your friends?" Grog asked.
"Oh," Lance stammered, "How rude of me."
Pointing to the mage he said, "This is Sparky, our illustrious mage."
"Good to meet you Sparky" Grog said while firmly shaking the man's hand.
"And this is our healer Polly."
Grog had thought long and hard about the first time he met a woman who was not a prison guard so had his response ready to go. He reached out and took her offered hand by the finger tips and bowed slightly. "My lady."
Polly blushed deeply but responded smoothly, "It's my pleasure to meet you Grog."
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As they walked toward Traville, Lance got a new quest,
Moving toward the city, bodies, both human and orc, began to appear. Rounding a final copse of trees, Traville came into focus. The town was besieged, a ring of orcs and goblins surrounded the area and in a few spots, there were battles raging. One of those battles was right in front of them.
"Okay, we have a chance to flank that group right there," Lance said, pointing at the green-skinned participants in the battle. "Grog, I am not sure what to do with you here. I suppose you could tank after the initial flanking maneuver, but there could be some confusion and some friendly fire from the other humans. We have your back whatever happens."
"Sounds good," Grog said. "I have a taunt that is supposed to draw attention to me from those we are fighting, I am ready to roll."
The party moved forward quietly. At about 10 yards, Lance motioned for Polly and Sparky to wait as he and Grog advanced behind the warring factions. At five yards, Lance bent down and set a trap, then as he and Grog came close, they leaped together at two level 3 orc players who appeared to be casting healing spells. Grog bashed one with his shield and then swung at it with his mace scoring hits with both blows, the one-two punch reduced the healer's health to 0, and it dropped like a marionette with its strings cut.
At the same time, Lance leaped wrapping his arm around the neck of the other healer, and raised his dagger to draw it across the healer's throat. But, this one was quicker, getting its staff up and was able to block the blow. Lance's hold was good enough to keep the orc from crying out. Grog stepped over and bashed it in the forehead with his mace. Grog’s blow removed half of the lower-leveled player's hit points and left him unconscious. Lance finished the healer off with a quick blow as it went limp in his arms.
The battle had been a stalemate up to this point, but as the healers were taken out of the fight, the tide began to turn. An orc archer looked over his shoulder and sounded the alarm.
Lance caught Grog's eye and motioned to the trap he had laid and the two of them sprinted back several yards.
The group of seven orcs suddenly found themselves between two opposing forces and without healers. They turned from the battle and attempted a retreat through the smaller force behind them, but as they advanced three of the four fighters stepped into the trap that Lance had set, ice erupting around them; doing damage and locking them into place.
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The fourth got a lightning bolt to the face stunning it as Sparky yelled, "Ohms are futile."
Two grey blurs erupted from the underbrush diving at the trapped orcs.
The back row of damage dealers, an archer, and two mages, began preparing to attack the party.
Grog lifted his shield and mace into the air and bellowed "Deus Vult!"
Immediately every orc was looking at him and a bolt of fire, a lightning bolt, and an arrow struck him almost simultaneously. The attacks dropped his hit points by half, but, Polly was there standing behind him. She reached out with a glowing green hand and when she touched him his health jumped by 30 percent.
The delay and distraction were just what was needed because human fighters crashed into the back ranks of the orcs and decimated the group that had been flanked and rendered healer-less. Two of the human fighters turned to charge Grog, but Polly stepped in front of him, and Lance yelled, "Stop!"
Everyone froze at his word, and Lance continued, "Grog is a friend and on our side. If it hadn't been for him and his wolves our squishies may have been wiped out just now.
A tall, lanky human wearing a combination of plate and leather armor responded, "Yah, I saw that, but if he is a traitor, you", he indicated the whole party with a gauntleted hand, "will all be held accountable."
Lance nodded as he and the party stepped forward to take their place in the defensive line. Around the town, it was apparent the humans were winning their battles and pushing the orc horde back.
A horn sounded just behind some trees at the other end of town and a swarm of goblins emerged and, a moment later a towering elephant, atop which sat Borgakh. Her robes were deep black and were covered with arcane symbols that seemed to sparkle with darkness instead of light. She was medium height, curvaceous, and had a very regal bearing. She held aloft a staff made of wood that was a deep grey and topped with what appeared to be a fist-sized ruby. Her name plate read
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At her approach, the fights stopped and the Orcs stepped back from the battle lines.
"Friends," she began lifting her hands as if in welcome. "Why do we fight? We all want the same thing here. We want to have fun." She emphasized the last word in a way that made it seem distinctly important and extremely lewd at the same time. "We have fun when we are doing what we want and when we are free to make our own choices. But many of you have chosen the way of a god who will spoil your fun, who will tell you what you can and can not do. `Get involved in politics.`, `Don't get involved in politics.`, `Be kind`, `Heal others.`, `Defend the weaklings.`. Bah, all of these rules your gods put on you are bogus. None of you came to this game to follow rules, you came here to be free of rules, to have fun, to do your own thing!”
The horde of orcs filing in around her hooted and hollered at this.
“The god Dajixian does not require any of this. They require you to have fun, they require you to be free of all rules, and they require you to find your lusts and fulfill them any way you can. Joining `team fun` is as simple as asking your assistant Cletus to swap your god to Dajixian."
In an instant, about twenty of the city's defenders had switched their god and had run out to join the orcs and goblins. The green-skinned folks greeted and back-slapped their future brothers and sisters in crime. Borgakh looked on in satisfaction. "Those of you who just switched sides, good for you. You can stay and fight if you like, or you can just take off and find some other fun. No rules, remember." She smiled a quirky smile as most of those who had just become followers of Dajixian turned and ran off into the woods. She then turned her eyes, smoldering with ire, on the remaining humans. "So the rest of you want to obey your gods then?" So be it.
Lance asked the group, "The Bird and the Baby?" All the heads nodded except for Grog.
"I don't have a quest, but let's go anyway," The large green fighter said.
Lance nodded, and the party sprinted the short distance to the inn.
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Across the town, Borgakh raised her staff and spoke a word, all of the goblins and most of the orcs suddenly gained a new buff visible on their nameplate.
The few orcs still on their end of the town fell quickly as they approached a building defended by humans. Lance and his crew watched as building after building fell and burned. Borgakh was not about fairness and even distribution. While each group of defenders was guarding one building, the whole of Borgka’s horde was attacking each building as they came to it.
Polly let out a quiet, "Oh." As the first licks of flame appeared in the upper windows of Gwen's general goods store.
The group, along with about twenty other human players continued to watch as building after building fell. The blacksmith’s shop, the leatherworker’s shop, the alchemist’s shop... The rampaging horde of green-skinned orcs and goblins just kept advancing like the tide, encroaching inch by inch up the sand. Each advancement had fewer participants, but the vigor of the attacks seemed to be sustained.
As the last shop between the horde and the Bird and the Baby fell, a sense of anticipation mixed with dread fell over Lance as thirty-five enemies advanced to their position. Lance and the other thieves had prepared the ground in advance, and various traps erupted under the orcs and goblins as they advanced; some of the goblins were killed, but the rest of the attackers were quickly patched up by their healers as they advanced.
Lance stepped forward, bent down, and was careful to exclude Grog from his trigger as he set another trap. Just after he and the other thieves had completed this task, the tanks stepped forward.
Grog hollered, "Deus Vult!", almost in concert with two other tanks bellowing their taunt phrase. The eyes of the attacking horde snapped to the three of them.
Four orcs made the same taunt, and though Lance had been trying to scope out the healers in the group, his attention was suddenly focused on the orc fighter in front of him. Lance tried to shift his focus but to no avail. Magic was forcing his mind to think only about fighting the tank. The battle lines closed, and the front rank of invaders burned, froze, electrified, quaked, exploded with light, sank into darkness, ordered, and disordered as the traps under their feet activated. The healers began casting their spells but they had less time now and the battle was fully joined.
It was frustrating for Lance to watch the damage he did to the tank replenish almost immediately. He knew the more damage he did the less mana the healer would have to heal him the next time, but still, he felt the frustration of the shout compelling him to focus on the tank. Over his shoulder, he heard Sparky yell, "Deus Volt!" as he saw lightning bolts from over his shoulder pound into the hulking orc. He knew that Grog was taking huge damage just like this other orc and that Polly was working to keep his health topped up too. He offered a quick prayer for them as the battle likely hinged on that interaction. As he continued to fight, he disappointed that he had not led his party in prayer before the battle.
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Grog realized once the fight had begun that his opponent's taunt had not affected him and vice versa. Both had the freedom to choose their targets. Grog immediately swung his mace at one of the two healers standing behind the opposing tank. The orc across from him parried his blow, but the green man's riposte did not come back at him but instead at Polly, who was standing right behind him. Grog desperately swung his shield around to block the blow and succeeded, but then he was out of position, and the other enemy damage dealers, non-tank fighters, thieves, and mages just pounded him. Polly gasped as this happened, and he could tell she was struggling to heal him up to full.
"Sorry!", he said. "Still learning how to do this."
"It's okay, we are going to do this together", came her response, her hand on his back.
As Grog rotated his shield to deflect attacks and used his mace to pound at the other tank, a bit of red crept into Grog's face. He liked Polly. He was sure nothing would ever come of it, but he admired her.
"Polly," he said over his shoulder. "I am going to try something but it may spike my damage a little when I do."
Polly grunted in reply.
Grog had noticed that his, and he assumed his opponent's, taunts were running down and that both of them would need to renew the spells soon. As the time ticked down to a single second, Grog yelled, "Deus Vult!" renewing his taunt early, and then executed a shield bash. The maneuver would leave him exposed as his shield was used for offense instead of defense for that brief moment. The blows rained down upon his exposed body, and his health plummeted to 8 percent but stayed there as Polly upped her healings on him. On the other hand, the effects on the other tank were spectacular.
His opponent shouted, "Deus Vu..." But never completed the words and the blow that Grog had dealt with the shield bash had an added benefit. A
Lance and Sparky immediately saw the opening. Lance lunged at the closest healer, burying his daggers deep into her just as Sparky changed the target for his spell and the healer crumpled under the attacks. Lance dove into the opening the first healer had vacated and began chaining attacks into the other healer, who appeared too stunned to respond in any reasonable way. As the tank came out of stun and yelled, "Deus Vult!" Healer number two dropped.
Now, Grog thought, and a couple of seconds later, two grey blurs erupted into the back of the enemy's line. The wolves had been out of range of the opposing tank's taunt and, therefore unaffected. The enemy was already stunned by the turn of events, and this removed any remaining shred of morale. The remaining orcs turned and fled. Sparky yelled after them, "Your fear is like a magnet, and you are all nothing more than a bunch of iron filings!” As he shook his fist at their fleeing forms.
Grog stepped up next to Sparky and shaking his fist at the retreating foes yelled, “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!” Several other players cheering the victory turned to Grog and guffawed. The battle was over and the day was won, but at what cost?
Across the smoldering landscape that was Traville Borgakh's voice boomed. "Not bad boys, all but a couple. Rewards back at my temple. Oh, those of you who survived by that little inn over there. We'll be back in a week or so. See you then."
There was a coldness that swept across the battlefield at her words, but despite this and the devastation of their town, the defenders let up an exhausted but enthusiastic cheer. The battle was over and the day was won. Grog surveyed Traville and saw that theirs was the only building he could see left standing, the only one. Suddenly he remembered Polly and turned around. She stood there looking exhausted but there was something else he saw there, timidity, loneliness?
She looked up at him with her large brown eyes and said, “We did it.”
He smiled and pulled a flower out of his pack that he had picked earlier handing it to her, "This was your victory!"