42. Battlegrounds: Mage
I glared at the C- rating that I had earned in the third battleground. I was operating with the Alias of Merlin, the uninspired name coming from the fact that I had drawn the [Mage] card this morning. [Archer] wouldn’t shut up about all of the A+ ranks he was earning. Lord was refusing to comment on how he was doing. [Acolyte] had given up until he could find a pre-made which would take him, but was facing discrimination from most established pre-mades due to his poor performance so far. I had been neck and neck with [Duelist] with B ratings until the previous battleground, but I had gotten ganked by a pair of rogues working together. One of them had stunned me from stealth while the other one had opened up with an [Ambush], and together they had killed me before the healers on my team could intervene.
It was frustrating, but that’s the life of a squishy.
Having been ejected early, I had nearly two hours until the next battleground commenced. I decided to talk a walk about Eldertide in Crescentis, the location where my [Mage] self had been spending most of his time. Ten minutes after recovering from my death, I stood atop the overhang atop the cliff portion of the city, leaning against the guardrail and staring out to sea.
The ocean was beautiful, but there was gray on the horizon. There was a storm incoming. I frowned.
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I emerged from the kaleidoscope spacial magic on the edge of the pools and cast my gaze about. The crystal clear water reflected the sky above only slightly, allowing me to see the multicolored stones in the lake bed beneath. It was beautiful, but I only had a few moments to appreciate it before my presence was noticed. Eliyenia formed from the clear water, then stood atop it.
“Who are you, stranger?” she asked, and I realized that I had forgotten my disguise on.
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<> she responded at the same time that she also said “I do not know you. Declare yourself.”
Marking it down as one more idiosyncrasy that other Natives had, I released my [Illusion Magic: Disguise] and returned to my normal form. She knew me as both Hail and Hagi, and I chose to present myself as Hagi. “I apologize. I forgot that I had just been on a stroll incognito.”
She smiled in welcome. “Ah, so it is you. I had a suspicion. How may I assist you, Dungeon Master? War Leader? Conqueror?”
“I haven’t conquered anything as of yet,” I objected. “As for war leader, I may be the one starting the battlegrounds, but it is for the amusement of the Travelers involved. From what I can tell, they see that nothing is on the line from these events but a bit of fun and bragging rights.”
“Is that how they see it?” she asked. “How do you see it, Lord Hagi?”
“I’m not certain,” I admitted. “On earth, I understand that this weekend has been looked forward to for some time with great excitement, and many have made plans to come to this world to participate. I understand that is good for the strength of the foundation of this world. But I am worried about what the consequences will be for the natives to have too many such events spawning. I know that I am different, but can you not sense when a battleground is taking place? Does it not alarm you?”
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After she had finished her noncontextual communication, she responded in a different vein. “It is true that each and every battleground is an upset to the events of this world. Even the battles in which nothing is at stake but Traveler pride, the effects can be far reaching and unpredictable. So far you have done an adequate job of sending out warnings to the Natives, so preparations have always been in place to deal with a sudden absence of the most skilled travelers from our lands while the battle occurs.”
“So then, the storm that will hit Eldertide is under control?” I asked.
“Is that what has you concerned? Hagi, we are not entirely inept. While we may have grown complacent under Traveler protection, Eldertide has been fending off Storms and the swarms of darkspawn that they bring from time immemorial. The city guards will be more than sufficient to the task, even if the Travelers who usually take part in that event are more occupied within the battleground when the winds and the rain hit the cliff side.”
“I see,” I said. “Tell me about the Polluted Estuary.”
<> she sent quickly. “The Polluted Estuary is controlled by Mermen Darkspawn, with several rare spawns of elite nagas and water serpents. It’s recommended level is fifty to sixty. It lays to the north of Eldertide, where the Rivaberum River joins the sea. There are legends of strange magics and wil-o’-the-whisps appearing at night. The lair was spawned from the Echoing Abyss, which you have destroyed, but the Polluted Estuary has never spawned a worldboss.”
“Do you know what the consequences would be if I were to destroy it?” I inquired. “As you did with the Aqueous lair in your lands?”
“That lair was within my territory, as you noted, and I have been studying it since it was formed. I could reasonably predict the outcome, but not entirely. As for the Polluted Estuary, neither of those conditions apply. It falls within the territory of my brother, Neraloff, although he is young and foolish yet, so to gain permission for its destruction you would have to speak with the elf Yrlosh. Perhaps she would know more about the consequences of doing so.”
“Either way, it does not sound like an event which I can manage while the battlegrounds are ongoing,” I admitted. “Thank you for your time, Lady Eliyenia of the Shallow Pools. Unless you have further need of me, I will take my leave.”
I gave her a courtly bow. She returned it with a curtsey and bid her farewell. A moment later, I cast a [Teleport] spell to return to Eldertide.
Being a [Mage] is convenient.
The rest of the premade my [Mage] self had been grouping with finished their Battleground shortly afterward, and they commiserated with me on my bad luck at my early ejection from the previous battlegrounds. Despite my worries to the contrary, nobody was considering removing me from their group, as they all understood that mages were glass cannons. I did receive a lot of unsolicited advice on how to handle a similar situation in the future, which I listened to with good grace despite the unnecessarity and simplicity of what was said.
I caught up with the others on the events which had occurred after my death. They had won, of course, but it had been a close matter. Once the recap was over, we began discussing our strategy for the sixth battleground, the final one of the initial block before a twelve hour break.
What was publicly known about the fourth battleground had the majority of Travelers confused. It was scheduled to take place in a labyrinth which had been constructed southwest of the primary bandit camp. I had seen the maze, so I knew that it was really just stone walls raised twelve feet in the air with an open ceiling. Within the maze there were supposedly hidden relics. Picking up the relics gave Travelers a random buff, which varried. One set of buffs reduced damage taken and dealt by fifty percent. Another caused damage output to skyrocket at the expense of increased vulnerability. There was a healer relic, and one which gave the ability to phase through walls.
Carrying the relics generated points for you team, and you could supposedly carry up to three at a time. They were dropped on death, so the objective was to kill the enemy for their relics, then hold them for the points that they generated for your team. Everyone was quite excited to see how this type of battleground would play out, myself included. Our discussions went straight down to the wire, when leader of my premade informed me that she had just put is in the queue as mercenaries. Moments later, we were whisked away.
Eight of us zoned into the same starting room, with two random players that weren’t in our premade. We had been assigned to Team Blue. A [Soldier] in my group quickly took the lead in forming our strategy, and fortunately for all parties the two strangers fell in line.
The room contained three relics. One of the damage reduction relics, a healer relic which increased mana regeneration and healing done, and one of the glass cannon relics. After a brief discussion, the [Soldier] took the first relic, our [Druid] took the second, and I was given the final one. I was nervous, as I feared that doing so would increase the likelihood of getting killed as much as it would help me. Especially with the relic floating around atop my head, announcing me as a target. It was convenient that I didn’t have to hold or equip the item, I suppose, but I remained skeptical.
Once the walls of light keeping us in the starting zone faded, charged down one of the hallways selected at random. After several turns and two dead ends, we came across our first enemy party. Our rogue saw them before we stumbled into them, as she had been scouting ahead, and she sent back a warning whispered through party chat.
“Six visible,” she said. “Not sure if they have backup, or if they split up or what. Two relics that I can see.”
“Right,” our [Soldier] leader began. “No point in dancing around it. Either they split up at the entrance, they already lost some of their party to combat, or they have four [Rogue] classes in stealth. We go in hoping that it’s one of the first two, but keep an eye on your six for an [Ambush].”
We waited for our rogue to get into position, but before she was the party came around the corner and saw us. The leader, a [Warrior], let out a [Battle Cry], while what looked like an [Archer] gave out a different sort of cry and ran back around the corner.
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Our [Soldier] leader stepped up to meet the [Warrior’s] [Charge], and the two began exchanging strikes. Our [Soldier] had the reach advantage with a Pike, but the [Warrior] was a difficult target with his tower shield and short sword combination. Two of my other allies, aside from the rogue who had managed to get behind enemy lines and was still in stealth, were also melee characters, and between the [Soldier], the [Paladin], and the [Swordmaster] on my side, the hallway was effectively closed off. The other team had only another soldier to step up to keep their [Warrior] from being flanked. Unfortunately, the enemy [Warrior] had the damage reduction relic floating around his head, so although he was doing minimal damage, the healers he was protecting were easily able to support him from the back line.
I decided to give them something else to think about. Taking my [Tilarack’s Stasis Prism] in hand, I unleashed the stored [Inferno] into the enemy’s midst. The spell lasted for six seconds, dealing massive AOE damage that caught everyone inside. Including my party, but they were protected from my AOE spells. I followed up on one of the three enemy healers with a [Chain Lightning] at just the same moment that our [Rogue] broke [Stealth] to deal a critical [Ambush] to the same target. The healer puffed into mist.
I quickly polymorphed one of the remaining healers, planning to lock the other one down with counterspell while our [Rogue] and our [Archer] killed her. Everything was going according to plan when abruptly I suffered critical Damage from an [Ambush].
I reflexively [Blinked] away, spinning around me to see an [Assassin] with a Relic floating around her head. She [Nightstepped] behind me again. Blink was still on cooldown. I was certain I was about to die, but a timely heal saved my life. I managed to cast a [Slow] on the [Assassin] and ran away in a dignified manner that was in no way unmanly. Our [Archer] doubled up on the [Slow] with a [Cripple] applied to the [Assassin’s] left leg. The assailant, having been confident before, now realized that she was out of her depth, and she, for some reason, ran into a wall.
I cast a chain of [Arcane Missiles] at her, and with the assistant of my allied [Archer] we brought her down to zero before she recovered from the surprise of her Relic’s phasing ability not working. She burst into motes, and the item was left behind her, floating in the air waiting to be claimed.
I turned back to the others and resumed my plan of focusing down the healers. They had killed their second healer without my intervention, and were now working on getting through the health of the [Cleric] I had [Polymorphed]. It was proving difficult, as she had a Relic as well and her heals were keeping up with the damage we were pumping into her, but once I began [Counterspelling] she quickly puffed into mist.
From there, the others fell quickly. I took just a second to catch my breath, but our leader called out “We can rest when we’re dead. We made a lot of noise just now and if anyone heard it they might come investigating. Joe, claim that rogue’s relic. Samah, take the one that the [Warrior] had. That leaves Tish for the healer’s Relic.”
“Looks like the rogue had one of the Relics that let’s you phase through walls,” Joe, our rogue said once he had claimed it. “But it says right in the description that it doesn’t work in combat. Great for ambushes, not so much for escapes. Looks like our late friend should have actually read the buff.”
Everyone rushed to comply, while I quickly refilled my [Tilarack’s Stasis Prism] with another fully charged [Inferno]. The others waited patiently for me to regenerate my Mana, knowing how powerful the stored spell would be for later. Once I was ready, we set out again.
The next group we came across were fellow Team Blue members. They had also seen combat, but had fared less well than we had. Two of the members were from our premade, and they reported that another two of our friends had been ejected, along with three of the randomly assigned players they had begun with. They brought to the team another two Relics, but the third one they had gathered from their starting zone had been lost in their retreat.
Now that we had rallied with them, however, they suggested we track down the Team Red scum that was responsible and take our Relics back. Following behind them, we quickly set off back the way they had come.
The enemy team had taken casualties in the exchange as well, and although they had four Relics boosting their strength, we now outnumbered them significantly. And they made the mistake of clumping up again, allowing me to once more lead with a stored [Inferno]. They only had one healer, and while he had the buff from two relics empowering him, he panicked at the incoming damage and failed to save the most vulnerable member of their team, a [Barbarian] carrying the same dual edged relic that I possessed.
From there, I shut the healer down with [Counterspell] while the others ripped the group of five apart. That claimed us four more relics; two of the phase-through-walls variety, one for healing, and the one the barbarian had been wielding.
Our leader quickly assigned each of the spoils. I was quite surprised when he insisted that I take a second of the same class of Relic I already had. Having two of them would triple my damage dealt, but it would also triple my damage taken. Given how squishy I was already, it was a heavy burden and a great risk, but the others promised to do their best to keep me safe.
In the end, I can’t say that they were wrong. Over the next six encounters, I got seventy percent of the killing blows. I stopped [Counterspelling] entirely. If the enemy made the mistake of clumping up, I would unleash the seven hells on them with a stored [Inferno], followed up by a just as unexpected second cast using my Mana. Only a tank class with at least one of the Damage reduction Relics could survive that, and even then they were usually in rough shape after the two spells ended.
Before long, everyone in our party was carrying at least one relic. I had three; two damage relics and one that was designed for healers. Although I didn’t benefit from the healing buff it provided, I did benefit greatly from the increased mana regeneration.
We were leading on points, both Relic control points and Morale, so we barricaded ourselves into one of the starting zones and waited, either for the enemy to come to us, or for the battleground to end. We got a few waves of the former before it was time for the latter, but the enemy was scattered, desparate, and lacking Relics to match our own. We mopped the floor with them until the victory screen appeared.
Congratulations!
Team Blue Wins!
The second battleground (King of the Hill) has completed!
Your record of participation (cumulative):
Player Kills
104
Deaths:
2
Flag Captures
0
Zone Control Seconds
2593
PK assists
243
Capture Assists
4
Relic Control Points
9831
Damage Done
2.845*10^7
Healing Done
0
Overall Rating:
A
You have earned scalable rewards according to your rank!
You may select to receive your rewards now, or participate in further battlegrounds to earn even greater rewards!
Make your selection now
Claim Reward
Save participation reward for later
Pleased with the outcome of the battle, I selected to bank my reward points, then proudly informed [Archer] that he wasn’t the only version of me that was A ranked anymore.