The elemental brawler

Chapter 7: A goblin war

Part 1

What was offered to his sight, below him, was a scene of desolation. There was forest everywhere around, but here, in the middle of it, below the mine entrance, there was a clearing. Nothing ordened. Trees had been cut to make room and in place, there were shanties, training grounds, wells and piles of wastes. Thick black smoke was rising from all those and covering the place and more with a dirty cloud that let fall a fog of black dust.

‘That’s a perfect rip-off of what became of Isengard in this old book they made a movie of many years ago.’

Running everywhere or standings still in groups on the training grounds, were thousands of goblins in arms, overseen by hobgoblins. Pairs of half ogres were used as drudges to pull heavy carts, wheeled towers and siege weapons. There was even, in a pit, 5 cave trolls.

The hobgoblins howled orders and theirs soldiers were moving almost in unison, running around the training ground or taking fighting stances or even, mimicking a charge, their spears pointing forward and hiding behind a wooden shield. They were obviously preparing something big.

!Ding! Event: you have witnessed the goblins war preparations.

!Ding! New quest: a goblin war.

Part 1: warning the city.

As you have witnessed the goblin preparations for war, you can warn the city of the danger.

Report what you have seen to a city official.

Delay for the report, 12h.

Difficulty: D

Fail if killed or caught.

Reward: significative increase of familiarity with all the city factions.

‘Oooookay… a multiple steps quest. That may be nice. But 3h only to complete it, that’s harsh. I better hurry’

Cilerius was already thinking of a plan to get back to the mine a climb the remainings floors as fast as he could and was turning to head back in the tunnel when he saw. Near the guard house, was a goblin, unbuttoned pants at its ankle and taking a leak on the wall, its head turned in his direction, its wide open eyes fixing him with surprise and its mouth gaping wider and wider. Its eyes moved slowly from him to a place at his left. Cilerius followed its gaze and saw the gong. Both had their gaze back at each other at the same time, resolution forming on their face.

The goblin pulled up its pants fast then began to run to the gong. Cilerius, who was further from the gong but didn’t have pants down, was already running in its direction.

‘Fast! Faster! Run like the wind. Like a cheetah.’

!Ding! new skill: cheetah dash.

You can now use really fast dash on short distance.

As the skill mastery raise, the speed and the distance on which it can be used increase.

Upon receiving this skill, his dash became faster than previously. He was kicking the ground with more strength, gaining more momentum each time. His speed was so great that, even being a lot further from the gong than the goblin, he could intercept it at the moment its hand touched the mallet handle and before it could raise it. Cilerius didn’t have time for an elegant way to stop the goblin. He did a tackle, a really violent one, his shoulder hitting the goblin abdomen at full speed. He would have been send it flying if it wasn’t for the fact that his tackle was a rugby one, his arms embracing the goblin at the moment of the impact. Nevertheless, the shock had been enough to stop its breath and make it groggy. The momentum had also been enough to have both of them flying near the guardhouse door.

They both landed on the floor, the goblin first with its back, serving as a cushion for Cilerius onto it. From both the initial impact and the landing one, the goblin was pretty much incapacitated and couldn’t oppose resistance what came next. It died, its throat frozen.

The whole action hadn’t been quiet at all. As Cilerius stood up, the guard house door opened and a goblin was standing in the doorway, holding a sword. Behind it, two other goblin and a hobgoblin were ready to rush out once the doorway would be freed.

For Cilerius, now even more than before, it was a matter of fast actions or he would be doomed. He had but one way to deal with many targets, packed together, in one swoop.

“Flamethrower!”

Targeting the goblin standing in the doorway, then with a spanning mouvement, he torched the guardhouse, hearing the shrieks of its burning occupants. The hobgoblin, thanks to the hazard or mostly by design, was the most in the back and shielded from the first flammes by the three goblins standing before it. Upon seeing the fate of its companions, it jumped head first through the window and after a roll, stood and brandished his sword. It looked behind Cilerius, toward the gong and crouched to pick a stone.

Cilerius, still torching the three other goblins, caught this gaze and could figure what the hobgoblin was up to. The three burning creatures weren’t a danger to him anymore, if not already reduced to ashes. The urgency was now to deal with the hobgoblin, as it was about to throw the stone.

“Zephyr of restriction!”

The most urgent threat was dealt with. The Hobgoblin couldn’t throw its stone anymore, but now, Cilerius had to kill it fast and quietly. While the goblins had loud shrieks, he had found that the hobgoblins had powerful howls. In a cave where the noise of the pickaxes were loud, that didn’t matter, but here, the tunnel could act like a sounding and the army outside wouldn’t need the gong to react.

“Glacial palm!”

Using ice instead of fire was, the best move he could think of. Cold would numb the body and reduce both the movements and its capacity to howl. That was the plan and that was almost what happened. Almost because, as strong as the wind spell was, it was only designed to restrict moves in a certain spot, to bind the target there. The movements limitation was a byproduct. An useful one but only a byproduct. It wasn’t totally stopping the movements, so, seeing the stone flying out of this ice tornado wasn’t a big surprise. But luck wasn’t on the side of the hobgoblin and the stone, if it flew toward the tunnel exit, landed far from the gong.

Cilerius was beginning to relax a little, waiting on his foe to pass out, when another object flew from the tornado like a silver flash, toward the gong. Only by a reflex, at the moment it was upon him, Cilerius used his hand to deflect this object a little, as it was, this time, flying toward the gong.

As a result, the trajectory was more upward and this object crashed in the tunnel ceiling, just above the gong but didn’t fall after. Gravels and little stones fell, making the gong clinking a little, but the object remained planted in the ceiling. Planted, because the object was a sword. The hobgoblin had tried to use its sword to sound the gong. It had almost succeeded. If not for Cilerius reflex, it would have.

Cold sweat was dripping in his back as he was breathing a sigh of relief.

‘Note for myself, never relax before you have confirmed the end.’

According to this policy, he renewed the wind and ice spells, resolute to finish his prey. The combined effect of cold and ice shards was producing a good result and when the wind stopped, the creature standing there was wearing numerous cuts with trails of blood originating from them. Frozen blood, as was the creature itself. It was standing like a statue.

Cilerius let a satisfied grin draw on his face and was obviously relieved. What would have happened if the gong sounded? He was glad he didn’t have to find about it.

“clink, clink… clink…”

Upon hearing those sounded, he turned his head and could see that gravels were still falling from the place where the sword was stuck. But suddenly, Cilerius realized it wouldn’t stay stuck that long. He just had began to walk toward it when the sense of urgency increased. He could see the sword shake a little. He was now running, trying to get there in time. But he wasn’t. He saw the sword slowly begin to fall. There wasn’t anything he could do to prevent it falling, he was too far. Even casting ether arrow would take too long. In slowed time, he could see the sword falling, its blade hitting the gong support, then spinning all the way to the ground without hitting the gong. Another sigh of relief, another disillusion. The point where the blade had hit the support was where the rope holding the gong was fixed. The blade had cut a part of the rope and now, the rest of it was fraying. Still running in this slowed time, Cilerius could see more a more threads snap. the last few snapped suddenly and he could do nothing but watch as the gong began to fall. As a last resort, he targeted the place where the gong was about to fall and shout:

“Alteration of the soil!”

If he could stop the gong from falling, maybe he could make the ground soft to prevent the gong from sounding. That was well thought and it happened so. The gong fell in the sand, its side stuck in it, but then, it began to tip toward the tunnel wall. As the gong hit the wall in a loud noise, Cilerius exclaimed:

“Ohhhhh crap!”

‘Damn, if that was a normal game, I could guess it was scripted to happen. In this case, I suppose it’s just my bad luck.’

After hitting the wall, the gong fell on the floor and was producing more noise. Now, since the deed was done, Cilerius ran toward the tunnel exit to look outside if there was any reaction.

Reaction there were. A group of 10 or so goblins was already running up the hill to reach the tunnel. Further, another goblin was raising a war horn, ready to blow. All around the training places, agitation was show and was a testimony that everyone was aware of the gong sounding.

Seeing the situation, Cilerius had no doubt that he couldn’t escape sneakily anymore. He had to flee, fast. One could think that taking his stand here would be glorious, but for Cilerius, it would be ridiculous. What would be the gain? Was there any chance to win in this situation? Could he warn the city and complete the quest in this situation? The answer was simple and short: NO WAY!

He had to escape whatever the mean used.

‘Think, fast! By the tunnel? No, I would only get back in the mine with many goblins and hobgoblins between me and the exit, with an army behind. Even if I could manage to pass through, it would only be to lead the army in the middle of an unaware city. No, I have to get out of the tunnel and manage to pass through the enemies lines and toward the city. From what I could gather while in the mine and the tunnel and from the position of the sun, I’m about 10km to the north-east of the city.When looking out of the tunnel, the city should be in my back.’

To decide for an escape direction was easy and fast. To plan how to do it was another matter. He didn’t have much time, as the goblin group was already half way here. If he had a slight chance to pass through, it was before he would have to deal with this group.

‘Okay, no time to plan here, let’s play it by instinct and hope for luck.’

As soon he had made his decision, he acted fast. First, he renewed his spirit buffs. He needed all the help he could get if he was to outrun a goblin army. Then, he casted the wind walk.

‘I better be ready to not leave a trail for them to track me.’

That done, he readied himself for a long run. There was still two options. He could exit the tunnel and run up the hill, use the shortest way to the city. Or he could run to either side, around the hill and to the forest. Both options had their pros and cons. Running up the hill would be making distance between him and probable pursuers and use the shortest way to the city, but it was also a good way to deplete his stamina and with no clue about what could wait for him after the summit. There could be a guard camp there. It would be logical even for goblins, to set a watch on high position. Running to a side, around the hill and toward the forest, was less stamina taxing and a sure way to get cover fast, but at a risk. He would run on the border of the army camp and have them close on his heels.

‘Known risks against unknowns… the answer is obvious.’

You can take chances in a risky situation if you know the dangers. Taking chance without the danger knowledge would be like playing russian roulette without even knowing how many bullets there are in the pistol.

There wasn’t time anymore. He had to go, now. He emerged from the tunnel and immediately, began to run to the side. Since it was the late afternoon, the sun was low in the sky in the west direction. That’s why Cilerius had chosen to run to the left while exiting the tunnel, toward the setting sun. He would be, for his pursuer, till he reached the forest, against the light and even this small advantage would be valuable. Even if the group coming near could see him clearly, the army down the hill would have more difficulties to see and understand what happened. As soon he was out of the tunnel and not hiding anymore, he activated the new skill he got before:

“Cheetah dash!”

With the help of this skill, he could sprint and outrun the incoming group and get some distance before they could react. If he was able to reach the forest with some advance, everything was possible. With the surprise and the skill, Cilerius was able to gain a hundred meter and half lead before the skill wore off. The refresh for this skill was one minute and the stamina consumption equivalent to 5% of his stamina. To compare, normal running, even at full speed, was using only 1% of his stamina per minute. This skill was useful for a quick burst, but really inefficient on the long run. That is, at least for now, with mastery of a debutant.

With this lead on the climbing group, Cilerius could have hope for his survivability. They were obviously surprised but reacted fast and gave chase to the fleeing man that exited the tunnel like a missile, while one of them raised his horn and blowed in to warn the camp. The result was as expected. All the goblins raised their head to look in direction of the horn call and saw the flag signal that followed, indicating a menace in the west direction. Many of the goblin centuries began to run in this direction before even knowing what was the threat. Their training on this subject was obviously well learned. Their commanders, the hobgoblins, stood, looking at the rest of the flag signals. With complex moves of a flag, the bearer could communicate informations even from a distance voices couldn’t reach. From this, the hobgoblins could understand the threat and began their own call, howling orders.

As a result, some goblins ran to an enclosure were huge wolves were waiting, already excited by the howlings and expecting blood. The goblin riders harnessed their mounts as fast as they could and soon, were able to give pursuit to the prey that had now entered the forest. Some other goblins had run in what seemed to be a mine well but Cilerius couldn’t see what they were doing there as he entered the forest before anything got out of this well. He wasn’t about to wait for something to happen just to give to his curiosity.

As soon he had reached the first line of trees, he activated his sneak skill. Leaving no trail nor making sounds, he had a possibility to increase his lead as soon as the pursuers would lose sight of him.

He ran straight in the direction he entered the forest for one minute, then, after a quick glance behind to see if the pursuers were in sight, he took a hard turn to the right, going north from what he could imagine. He was taking a bet on the goblin thinking. Once they would realize they had lost him, before the wargs were here to pick a scent, they would fan in the general direction he had before, with an inclination to the city. Turning to the north was going away of the city and even if that meant lengthening his travel, it was probably safer in near future. Set on this new direction, to be sure of being away enough so the pursuers wouldn’t see him, he used the cheetah dash again and was in fact just out of their sights when they passed the point where he turned. From the sounds of the chase, he could understand that they were, for now, still heading in the general direction he had when they lost sight of him.

Cilerius keep on running north for five minute then slowly, turned to the east, like 10° every 100m. He planned to run around the camp and get to the city by the other side of the hill. They would surely not even think he would do that. Still, they would probably set a big searching net between him and the city once they would realize they had lost him. 12h was plenty for a 10km run, even in the forest, but if he had to make a big circle around the searching net, it was short.

‘My best bet is first, to lose them completely, circle around the camp, the hill, then head straight for the city. I will have plenty of time to watch how they did fan and were to pass through the net sneakily. Trying to pass through a side of their net would only lengthen the distance to run with goblins that could cut my way there.’

As he was thinking about that, he had another thought upon hearing the wargs far in his back.

‘Nice side effect! Since I walk on air, I don’t leave a scent trail on the ground. If I take care of not touching the trees too much, they won’t have a scent trail at all… and… yes! good idea!’

He then whispered cautiously while still running:

“Sylphea!”

“Yes master! hihihi! Do you play hide and seek?” She answered normally.

“Yes… but please, lower your voice.” His answer was still a whisper.”

“Okay master… I’ll speak like you.” Her voice was now a whisper too.

“Listen. Can you manipulate the wind shield to make me avoid all touch with my surroundings?”

“Of course master. The wind shield will stop all contacts from objects coming at you. Of course the objects you run into will be deflected too.”

“Good girl. Thank you!”

“Hihihi! Anything for you master.”

With his wind walk to run in the air, the wind shield that would carefully deflect the trees branches and even trap his scent in the middle of its vortex, with the sneak skill to move silently, it would take a master tracker to follow him.

‘Now, I just need the hide skill in addition and that will be perfect. I better try and get it as soon as possible when I get back to the city, since I have the required level with the sneak skill. But first, I must escape this army...’

While running in the forest, he could hear the tremor of the searching parties far behind him now. It had been now 1h since he received the quest and he finished to get around the camp and was now heading to the south south west, still slowly incurving his path the most direct one to reach the city.

He was all ears, attentive to all sounds. In this thick forest, sounds were a lot more reliable to detect something early than sight. Now, the sounds of the chasing parties were ahead of him. He could distinctly hear far away in front, the wargs roars, the hobgoblins howls and the goblins squeaks. As he came nearer of the origin of those sounds, he slowed his run and began to pay even more attention to detect nearby enemies.

It wasn’t a time for fight, it was a time for stealth. He had not a snowball in hell chance to survive if he tried to pass through using force. Soon, he came near places were goblins were standing on guard. Some alone, some in little groups, some with wargs. From this moment, Cilerius only walked, moving out of sight of those sentinels alway using sneak. His moving speed dropped drastically but he still could advance and had a little more than half the time allocated remaining, for about half the distance to the city to go.

While cautiously moving around the sentinels, he could sometime hear sound coming from above the tree caps. He couldn’t see what was happening there, but still was each time stopping his movements and hugging trees trunks. Even without the hiding skill, there were ways to diminish the probability of being seen.

When he came near a clearing, he understood what it was. Some goblins were riding giant bats to patrol from the air.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘Ok, that what was in the mine weel. Even my curiosity is satisfied now. But that could be dangerous. They’re fast moving and can patrol a lot of ground. But mostly, bats are using sonar to detect their surrounding, either animated or not. And they seem to use this clearing to enter under the trees caps.’

Just when things seemed to go well, another problem appeared.

Cilerius moved around the clearing, with even more care than he used before. Understanding that now, even his presence could be detected, either his moves by the bats, or his sight by the riders if stopped without a place to hide in, he had to do something at least for the last part. He couldn’t stop the sonar, but he could manage to reduce the probability of the rider to see him.

After looking for something in his bag, he took off his cap and cloak, then emptied the content of the bottle he got from his bag, on them. A thick and tacky liquid covered those cloths and once that done, he picked leaves and twigs and covered the cloth with. He then did the same with the back of his pants and sandals. That done, if he was to be lying immobile on the ground, without proper inspection, he could escape detection.

!ding! New skill: camouflage.

The ability to use materials to melt yourself in your surrounding.

With proper preparation, you can hide your presence in the surrounding. Less efficient than the hiding skill, but add a bonus to it if you were to learn it.

Prerequisite: hunting skill.

As the skill mastery increase, you can make the preparation faster and can use it in more exposed surroundings.

Must have the required materials to succeed.

‘Nice one… must make sure to plan for the materials for many situations.’

So dressed in leaves and twigs, he moved again, alway aware of the sounds to react fast. If a bat came, he had to either hug a tree or drop face 1st on the ground, stop the wind walk and shield stop all movements. As soon as he could, he had the reactivate the wind spells to stop his scent trail. The problem being that he would now leave spots were his scent could be picked by the wargs. The worse would be if a bat and a warg happened to be near him at the same time. If he was at this time, up the wind for the warg, he would be most probably detected. All he could do is make sure to detect the wargs early and move around them to be down the wind at all time.

Now, his progression speed was really slow with all the stops and detours he had to do each time he came near sentinels or patrols.

‘whatever I do, the last part of the run to the city will be with enemies on my tail. At least as soon I get out of the forest, I will be detected. The latter I get out, the more likely I will have the rising morning sun in my back. In addition to put a big light on me, the city guards will be against the light and won’t see my pursuers for a moment. The probability of a tightened net as I approach the forest border is high. I must plan a run from inside the forest, even before they detect me.’

With these thoughts, Cilerius kept moving toward his goal. He was like a snake twisting between obstacles. From times to times, he checked both the remaining time and his approximate position to know if he had spare time or if he had to pick up the speed. Since it was at night and he didn’t have a light source, he had to move really carefully. With so many creatures of the wild around, he couldn’t use his elementals spirits as scout. They would be detected, at least by the bats or wargs and even by some goblins with sorcerer of shamanic abilities.

The result was a slow progression punctuated with sudden stops when he could hear a bat approaching. His only advantage was that the goblins weren’t keeping a strict silence and he could hear them from far enough to get around them quietly.

After 3h of crawling like that in the darkness, his estimation was he had only progressed by 2km. Added to his progression when there was still light, he was probably still 1km away from the forest border and then 2 more km away of the city, in the open. The time left before the limit was now 2h30. In 1h, the sun would begin to rise, he would then be able to move faster than before. The goblins could probably lose some attention too, due to the fatigue. Whatever could happen, he had to continue moving just to increase his chance of being in time to deliver this crucial information.

30 minutes later, he could finally see, far away behind many trunks, some lights. Those were in heights, probably in the towers of the city walls.

Now was the most dangerous part. If there were intelligent enough goblins in the lot, they would be hidden here, in the last part of the forest, waiting for the intruder to pass near them. It was a chance to take. Cilerius could wait till dawn to have enough light to hope see silent sentinels, but he knew he had to take some risk if he wanted to be in time.

One step after the other, he moved toward the forest border, the more silently he could, his sense of hearing in full awareness. Was he lucky? Were the goblins too tired to keep strict guard? Maybe intelligent goblins were a myth? The fact remain that he reached the last hundred meter before the border without alarming any goblin sentinel.

But it wasn’t the moment to let his guard down. Now, he had the most dangerous part of his escape to resolve. Dawn was almost here, the sun would rise in his back and he had to run this last part in the open.

Since he still had a few moments of darkness before light would illuminate his back once out of the forest, he fastly took a last decision. He would try to move out of the forest quietly and hope he could get a substantial lead before he was detected. Any lead was a good thing, since the enemy was mounted and even airborne.

After one last try to detect possible sentinels near him, he exited the forest and moved silently toward the city. 5 minutes later, he was 400m closer of his destination and had, subsequently, a 400m lead on the goblins, when the sun began to rise and the shadows of the trees were shrinking fast. Just a few second and he wasn’t in the darkness anymore. Every eyes looking toward the city from the forest could see him as clear as the nose on the face. As soon this happened, he didn’t wait for a reaction. Cilerius activated his cheetah dash and began to run as fast as he could.

Behind him, just as he started to sprint, many eyes saw him, as expected. Just a handful of seconds after, 3 goblins on wargs gushed from the forest toward their prey, from three point of the forest border. One was coming from maybe 50m away of Cilerius exit point, while the other two came from about 200m left and right of this same position. For one minute, Cilerius could hold this 400m lead thanks to his skill. Then, the wargs began to reduce it. Even without the dash skill, Cilerius was running at full speed, so the lead wasn’t shrinking too fast. But he couldn’t hold this speed for another kilometer. That was about the distance he had to progress before the city guards could be of help to him.

Progressively, he slowed his speed to not fail his escape by having lost all of his stamina due to an excessive effort. He was still only 500m away from the city gates and was already basking, when he heard a sound that, when in the forest, meant he had to stop and blend with his surrounding. Here, that only meant that enemies fasters than the wargs were approaching. In the open like that, there was no point to stop all moves. Even if the bats would lose his presence, their riders wouldn’t. He probably wouldn’t die from one or two of their javelin throws, but he could suffer injuries and most of all, be delayed. From a strategical point of view, one decision was imposing itself. He had to deal with the bats now, when they were alone and before the wargs could reach him and join the fray. He remembered something at this moment. Due to their characteristics, bats were able to avoid pretty much all the attacks coming from their front. Most of his spells were useless in this particular case. Most but not all. He still had a spell that perfectly matched his needs. One that was fast, that he could alter the course after the launch.

Renewing his defensives spells and buffs while still on the run, he stopped and turned to face them just when he felt the bats arriving upon him. Four bats were now reaching him and some more seemed to come from the forest, as well as some other wargs.

He had to deal with his immediate concern, the four bats and their riders. He raised his hands, all fingers pointing forward and waited, waited some more. One could think he was sitting duck here while the riders were about to throw their javelins, but he needed to do that in order to both, esquive their throw then cast his spell in good conditions. Yes, his mastery on this spell allowed him change their aiming much after the cast, but to insure the result, he needed to conserve most of this capacity to aim precisely to the needed point from somewhere that their front.

The javelins flew and thanks to a few nimble moves, Cilerius avoided them all and was able to shout, as the bats were now above him:

“Magic missile!”

Ten rays of light departed from his fingers points and got on the bats chase. Sure, he could try and aim for some of their vital parts, but anatomy being what it is, he couldn’t be sure their heart was located exactly where he thought of. What he could aim for were visible parts that once hit, would handicap the bat enough to make land, or more precisely, crash.

Ten rays of light, four bats, eight target. That meant two spare rays. What he was aiming for was the bat’s wing’s joints. A fragile and visible part. One that compromised integrity would cripple beyond hope of recovery. For a human, the equivalent would be the knee. Just imagine trying to fight with a broken knee, let alone both. Pain, immobilisation, disturbing effect. It’s really effective.

Those shots coming from behind, the bats had no ways to detect them and the goblins didn’t have the skill to drive their mounts for effective evasion.

There were hits, shrill shrieks then the sound of crash and then, a lot of dust raising. No bats were flying anymore. On the ground, two goblins were struggling to break free from under the crippled body of their mounts while the other two weren’t moving at all.

‘Two goblin armed with javelin to deal with, before the wargs get here.’

The equation was easy. Those enemies, for the sake of reducing their weight for the ability to flight on bats, had only clothes, no armor of any kind. In this situation, even a single empty handed strike from a seasoned hand to hand fighter, could be considered almost overkill.

Their pain didn’t last as they couldn’t properly defend themselves while still partly constrained by their mount and Cilerius was in a hurry to reduce the potential opponents.

A quick look informed him of the lead he still had and he turned to run toward the city gates. Of course he couldn’t outrun the wargs now, but each meter closer to the city was added distance relative to the second wave of pursuers.

If the wargs were more dangerous opponents than the bats, as were their riders geared with armor and heavy lances, they were a lot louder too. Cilerius didn’t have to look to know their position. That meant he could run longer and move further toward the city before having to deal with them.

At the moment he felt the first one right on his heels, Cilerius rotated, his hands already joined and chanting a spell.

“Flame thrower!”

His aim was moving as he rotated, but already pointed up since he expected the warg to jump for the last part and throw him on the ground while landing. That was well expected and indeed, it happened like that. As it was in the air, helpless to change direction and esquive, the warg was bathed in the flames cone of its prey spell.

Looking at the warg landing, its fur on fire and rider panicked, Cilerius couldn’t hold himself anymore and shouted:

“If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles, art of war.”

Even if it was an advantage for him, he couldn’t believe how stupids were some npc’s. That riled him, not because of the actual situation, but because that meant, at the time he would have to rely on npc’s, he should expect a lot of basic mistake.

‘Let’s just hope the efficiency of the IA will increase with the level of the npc’s. Fighting monsters with stupid behaviors would become boring on the long run.’

Since Cilerius was still under lvl100, he couldn’t know that his expectations were right and that the stupidity was essentially kept on purpose for the low level monsters, so the noobs could learn first their own capabilities before having to face more intelligent monsters. Of course, for players like Cilerius who were fast to adapt to the game mecaniques, that was boring a lot faster than for what’s called “casual players”. Experimented players referred to the first hundred levels as the tutorial. Since those players didn’t usually bother to share their experiences on low levels, each was making this discovery by himself. And Cilerius didn’t research the casuals players guides. At the time he would realise his mistake, it wouldn’t be important anymore and he would be enjoying the real game.

For now, the monster was rolling on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. One fast glance and Cilerius saw he could move toward the city for another hundred meter before the two other wargs would be on him. Once again, he began to run. It wasn’t a time to farm experiences and drops, it was a time to complete a mission the fastest he could.

Upon hearing the other two wargs right on his heels, he rotated just as he stopped and was almost happy to see that they had learn from their camarade pain. They weren’t jumping but coming right at him. Of course, That didn’t mean they had an advantage but only that Cilerius needed to use another tactic.

“Mineral needles!” He shouted, targeting the area right in front of him, that the wargs were reaching.

Grinning, once again he turned and ran toward the city that was only 300m far now. The goblins reinforcements wouldn’t catch on him before he would reach the gates and the guards stationed there. Even a kamikaze attack wouldn’t be a problem from the moment he would be there. Only a high leveled casters could be a threat, but obviously, there were none in the immediate pursuers.

The guards had seen part of the scene, his escape, his fight with the bats and the wargs and were in combat position as he ran between them. Out of breath, he told them:

“Hold the position, there are many more in the forest. I have to go and tell something about them to the guard captain. take care of yourself!”

That was fast and concise, but enough, given what they had seen.

“No problem, we will hold the position. No filthy goblin will enter the city while we guard the gate.”

Cilerius almost didn’t hear this reply as he was already running toward the guard office where he had meet the captain some days before. Many players saw him run at full speed in the city and were wondering what was happening. Some even began to follow him out of curiosity. A few followed him out of duty. Those were the member of the guild that had for mission to watch him and, since a few days ago, they had lost track of him. Their guild master had throw a fit and everyone in the guild had looked everywhere in the city without any success. Now he was running on one of the main streets without a worry about who might look. The guild members weren’t about to lose him again, in plain light.

Just a few minutes after entering the city, Cilerius had the guard office in sight. His speed in the morning crowd was a wonder. Those on ground level just thought that someone in hurry almost smashed in them, but those who had the chance to see the scene from high ground, were able to understand the high skill of this running player. He was at each time moving through the best open space in the crowd.

Cilerius finally reached the guard house and asked the guard on duty:

“Is the captain here, please? I have informations of the utmost importance.”

The guard had already seen this guy a few days earlier and remembered that the captain had been friendly with him.

“Yes, the captain is here. Do you want me to announce you?”

“Yes please. It’s really important I see him as fast as possible.”

“Got it. Wait here while I call the captain.”

The guard then turned and entered the office. The wait was short but welcome for a Cilerius out of breath. 2 minutes after, the guard captain was in the doorway, looking at him with an interrogative glance. Cilerius outfit was enough to show that he had come through the wild as fast as he could. Dust and leaves were covering him. A few cuts on his skin and cloth were telling a story to the eyes of the guard captain. Realising the urgency and importance of what this visitor had to tell him, he said:

“Come in. Too many onlookers outside.”

“Yes, I’m right behind you.” Cilerius followed the captain inside the office.

Just 2 minutes after, four guards exited the office at full speed, each heading toward one of the four city gates. Then a few minutes later, some more were running toward many places of the city. Another few minutes later, a guard was coming back from the north gate and entered the office, running.

All this morning activity spiced the ambience of the waking city. Players were becoming more curious at the sight of each guard running. Rumors soon began to spread and a few groups headed toward the city gates, to check on what was happening.

A few events happened all this while and before they could give any report of the situation outside the city.

For Cilerius, it was an expected event.

!Ding! You have successfully conveyed your observation of the goblin war camp to an official of the city in the imparted delay.

You gain much xp.

Level up!

Level up!

Your familiarity with all the city factions increase greatly.

As this personal quest window was fading, another popped.

!Ding!

A goblin war. The goblins seem to plan to attack the city. The teleport rings will soon have a discontinued service. Once the city is fully under siege, only by fighting one will be able to escape the city. The city siege will be completed in two hours.

The city officials are looking for adventurers to help them in the city protection. Many related quests are now available from the city inhabitants.

That window was showing to each and every players in the city. Soon, many were those speaking to the npc’s, looking for the related quests. Some merchants were asking for protection of their stalls against the looter who could profit from the confusion. The guards were sending peoples toward their lieutenants to enlist for the city defense. Some noble were hiring mercenaries to fight under their colors.

Cilerius didn’t have to go and look for quests, as a window popped for him only.

!Ding!

The guard captain ask you to gather a platoon to help with the city defense. You can enlist city guards or private guards in you squad. Each guard require 10 familiarity points to enlist. A lieutenant require 20. You can enlist private guards from the friendly noble houses. Each private guard can be enlisted for 15 familiarity point of the corresponding noble house.

You will be able to regain the used familiarity upon the return of the hired guards. Depending the gained experience and accomplishments, a reward will be calculated.

Quest fail if killed, captured or if the city fall.

Do you wish to defend the city?

That was a no brainer for him. He had means to escape the city if needed, but he still had some missions to accomplish here first and the fall of the city would mean a loss he couldn’t resign himself to suffer.

“Yes, I will defend the city.”

That was also the perfect stage to test his abilities in large scale confrontation.