The outskirts of Moran almost looked like the interior. Small structures and trailers were spread out among the streets. The minute the 11 of us stepped inside, the notification informed us it was hostile. “NOW ENTERING: Moran (Hostile)” appeared in front of us as we entered the towns. The Level 14 Goblins proved the hostile status. A pack of ten charged us as soon as we stepped foot in the town. The Goblins would have been a major threat if we were not incredibly over leveled and overpowered compared to the area. Spells went off left and right. I fired my pistols one after the other. It took all of 15 seconds for the creatures to go down. Loot went out and a few of the new guys found an upgrade from the creatures.
Having an 11 person party was not good for experience, gold, or loot. We decided up front to roll on gear that fit each class. It would keep things simple. Unfortunately, with the goblins 4 levels below me, my share of the experience was 80% less than even the split would allow. That meant that for every 1,100 experience gained by the group, I’d get 100 xp from the split. From there, I’d only gain 20 with the 80% reduction. This was not a leveling adventure for me or Graham. This was for the territory.
As we encroached further into Moran, more goblins and Plague Hounds attacked. The fear of the new monsters was quickly quelled by their profiles identifying them as only level 13. They were worth literally 0 xp to me. Nick threw down a [Ring of Fire] and we corralled the enemies into it before gunning them down. This wasn’t an encounter, this was a slaughter. It really showed me just how far we had progressed.
When we reached the town hall, an objective popped up.
Reclaim Moran!
OBJECTIVES
Defeat Clobber (0/1)
REWARD
300 XP, 75 Gold
It was an easy objective. We all entered the circle and the Level 18 Colossal appeared. Clobber was massive, easily three stories tall. Still, it didn't matter how big he was. His health was only that of an 18 Colossal. [Ring of Fire] from Nick was combined by [Ranger’s Mark] from me. Jerry cast his [Raiding Target] which was effectively the same as my Mark. All of the sudden, bullets and blades flew down on the ogre. Cuts and other signs of damage appeared on its body, spraying green blood on the streets. He summoned the first wave of goblins, 6 Level 14s.
Cain used [Taunt] and all 6 charged at him. A [Multi-Shot] from me sent all six into the red health zone. Bill charged at them with [Sweeping Blade] and finished them off. I couldn’t have imagined this would go better.
We cornered the Ogre against the town wall. His club smashed against Jackson’s shield more than once, which was a heavy hit for him. However, Theresa’s high Wisdom level let her funnel healing spell after healing spell into him. After a minute, his health was in the yellow zone.
Clobber summoned another wave of Goblins whilst I fired a [Multi-Shot] into his chest. The [Ranger’s Mark] was clearly doing its magic. Jerry continued hacking at the legs while me and Nick sent volley after volley of bullets and flame into the Colossal. After two minutes of combat, Clobber was in the red zone.
He let out an incredibly loud yell before 12 Goblins poured into the battlefield. One charged at me with a spear, but a solid headshot caused it do drop dead before it reached me. Nick cast his [Pillar of Flame] and one of the Goblins just melted onto the concrete. We assaulted the beast we everything we had once the Goblins were removed. Clobber fell dead on the pavement.
“Graham?! What was the time?!”
Graham checked the old-timey stopwatch he had looted off of an Undead a week back. “3 minutes, 32 seconds.”
Not only had we not taken any serious damage, we had beaten the boss of a small Texas town in under 4 minutes. If the current challenge level stayed the same, we could effectively clear out most of the Mid-West already. It started to make sense to me how Red Liberty was advancing so fast.
“I Leveled up!”
“So did I.”
“Me too!
Matt, Jackson, and Bill had both moved to Level 15 from the fight. Checking their profiles, I could see that Elsa had advanced to Level 16 as well. Casey was nearly Level 16, Jerry was still Level 16. The new group was strong.
I checked the in game menu and saw the local time as 11:15 a.m. We had done what was supposed to be a multi-day project in just a couple hours, including travel. We might as well go take out the dungeon now, while we had everyone ready to fight. “Should we just go to the mines?”
The group sat around, the lower levels enthralled by the experience and all of the newer players overjoyed by the gold. They had been scraping by in that lodge for far too long. The 450 or so gold a person was significant but not exactly overflowing in riches to me or Graham, but I was glad to see them enjoying it. Jerry looked at me with a glimmer in his eyes. “Hell yea, let’s do it.”
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We entered the mines by 1:30 p.m. on March 6th. The entrance was little more than a hole in the side of an oddly out of place hill. As we descended the stairs, we heard sounds of chittering and hammers banging anvils. The first major room we encountered at 2 Level 14 Cave Slugs. With 11 fighters, they were easily cleared. It felt like leading an army. We didn’t leave a single crate, barrel, or stone unturned. The second room had 4 Cave Slugs, also an easy victory. The creatures spit acid, but most of us had either agility so high in comparison that we could simply side-step the projectiles, or health so high it wouldn’t matter if it had hit us.
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When we got down to the third room, things got fun. At least 20 Goblins worked on forges and anvils around the room. Racks of weaponry stood to the side along the walls. Shields, spears, bows, swords, axes, scythes, and all manner of goblin-forged items decorated the warehouse-sized chamber. The foreman saw us and blew on a loud whistle. The Goblins charged.
The game of whack-a-mole was fun to play. Goblins ran at us and were simply swatted out of the way. [Pillar of Flame] went up around the room, sending Goblins into the roof. It was a gorgeous sight to see after being beaten down for so long. Theresa made sure to keep us healed, but she seemed almost bored. We were running several levels over the recommended and with twice the people. Within two minutes, the chamber was cleared.
As we looted the room, we realized that every weapon and tool and piece of armor was rated Level 5 Common. A few of the newer combatants had a minor upgrade or two, but most of us were well past that. The only decent gear was the (Foreman’s Hood) and (Foreman’s Dagger). Elsa, as the only rogue, received the dagger. The hood was a DEX/AGI piece of a gear and would have fit me better. Unfortunately, I needed the (Bullhide Hat) I had equipped for the additional Wisdom. My energy was too low otherwise. This let me make the kind gesture of passing on the hood and letting Elsa, the only other DEX/AGI class player, have it without rolling for it. I wasn’t exactly expecting anything more than a thank you, but her non-chalant shrug and equipping of the hood left me a little sore.
We cleared a few more smaller rooms before arriving at a large chamber. Outside the chamber, two large ogres blocked the entrance. Level 16 Elites. We took care of them quickly. They had little in the way of special abilities which allowed us to hang back and take them out at range instead of confronting them head on. Whenever they approached the ranged fighters, Cain would use [Taunt] and force them to run the other direction. The game of keep away lasted a few minutes before they dropped dead.
As we entered the chamber, we didn’t see much. It was dark. Nick cast a flame pillar along a nearby wall to illuminate the room. As he did, we saw it. A Level 18 Colossal Ogre, almost exactly the same as Clobber, stood in the room. The difference was this one’s skin was a cavern floor gray color. He gave a roar as I read the profile. “Choctog, Level 18 Colossal.” We had just handled one of these easily. I was expecting this one to go the same.
The group immediately moved into position. As the attacks flurried into the Ogre, I began to wonder what his special ability was. Clobber had summoned 24 Goblin minions over the course of the fight. What would this one do?
As his health hit the yellow zone, we found out.
“Keep it up, Casey!” Jackson was laughing encouragement as he dodged the rampaging feet of the Ogre to land strike after strike.
Casey laughed. “It’s already on yel-”
Boom.
A large stalactite from the roof of the cave descended on Casey. He was killed immediately. I stared stunned at the dead body. It came out of nowhere.
Jerry screamed as he slashed at the Ogre. The death affected the new group more than the rest of us. Still, the death sent a sense of shock through all of us.
I looked up to see the ceiling covered in massive stalactites. Each one could cause a similar death. I shouted over to Nick. “Focus your fireballs on the rocks!”
He nodded and began to shoot balls of flame at the sharp rocks we had not previously noticed. The explosions caused waves of dust and stone shards to descend on the group, but it was better than what hit Casey. We continued to deal damage. Nick must have not gotten to one of the stones that fell when Choctog hit his red zone. It smashed to the ground in-between Theresa and Matt, causing both healers to be flung to the side of the cavern. While not seriously injured, the healers were out of position.
I fired two [Multi-Shots], dealing what I hoped was considerable damage as the ogre backpedaled into the wall. Jerry and Bill darted forward with [Barbarian Rage] to destroy the beast. Choctog trembled as Elsa charged forward, wielding her new dagger in one hand and an old dagger in the other as she spun and used [Shadow Blade] to drive both of her now-enchanted blades into the Ogre’s eyes. Choctog was defeated.
NEW SPECIAL SKILL: DIPLOMACY (1)
What? Diplomacy? I didn’t have time to think about it before the group looted Choctog. Gold and XP were joined by two high level items: [Choctog’s Club] and [Shattered Chestplate]. Both were high strength items and went to Jerry and Cain respectively.
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With everything south of Albany in the county cleared, we all relaxed at the tavern. With the experience from both quests gained, everyone had leveled up at least once. I put all 3 points into Wisdom, hoping that would be enough to keep me going for the foreseeable future. Graham also hit Level 19, focusing intensely as he divided his points up across from me.
I had more than 5,000 gold now. I wasn’t sure what I was saving for, but I didn’t see a reason to spend it quite yet. I bought a health potion from the alchemist because who knew when that would be needed? I also bought a round of drinks for everyone in Harehill. The tab came to about 100 gold, but I figured the Tavern would well spend it. The Texas Pony had already started improvements, including adding a new expansion on the east side of the building and adding a new story on top.
Casey’s death was sad, but it didn’t seem to affect the new players the same way Rosco's death effected Cain or Theresa or the rest of us. The Hubbard Creek survivors had seen so many people come and go while living in a place with nearly no safety. Sure, they wished it hadn’t happened. That said, they weren’t going to shut everything down because it did. I wondered if that callousness would affect all of us the same way going forward?
The death did reinforce an idea for me, though. We were never safe. It didn’t matter how high level we were, any random event could kill us if we weren’t careful. We had to always be on guard and ready for whatever this new system would throw at us. If I was going to lead, I had to keep these people safe. We all got too cocky and, despite our power, if we had had some caution…maybe Casey would still be alive.
With my new points for Level 19 assigned, I finally had the time to the menu and checked on my new Diplomacy skill. It was listed as a passive. When I selected it for more information, a notification appeared:
Your party has cleared a faction with a rank of ‘Stable’ or higher from an entire zone. You will now be able to see rough sketches of major faction controlled areas in zones you have explored.
I smiled at the notification and opened the map. It was just as it said. From the western edge of Shackleford to the eastern edge, the territory was grey and listed as “Unclaimed”. However, strips of road were highlighted green and labeled “Rabbitfolk”. This network stretched all the way out of Shackleford. Up in the northern area of the county, the land was split between purple and orange. The purple was labeled, “Undead - Stable”. The orange was labeled, “Kobold - Stable”.
We had just landed a major victory. It was good to see progress being made. I couldn’t imagine what dealing with higher level zones would be like, but for now we safely controlled half of Shackleford and were that much safer.