“There you are!” Van said as he led Sang out of the burning building. They collapsed on the ground, coughing and wheezing as the tavern’s entirety imploded behind them.
“No time to celebrate,” Van wheezed as he scrambled to his feet. “We’re under attack!”
“How could Draco have found us so quickly?” Sang asked once she caught her breath. Her lungs still felt as if they were on fire, and she could see that her health meter had dropped down to half.
“Good news is, it’s not Draco,” Van said. “The bad news is that it’s an invasion.”
“Invasion?” Sang repeated, looking around to see that the small town they had been occupying was now entirely on fire. People were fighting in the streets against Goblins and Orcs, and the dragon was flying around lighting anything it could see on fire. It was pure chaos.
“Yes, invasion,” Van said as he straightened up. “This town is in Rosethorn, one of the Contentious Kingdoms. That means that other kingdoms will occasionally declare war and try to attack. Right now, it looks like we’re fighting against the Kingdom of Ceren.”
“Oh, so this is an event?” Sang asked as she watched the dragon land on one of the buildings and begin to bite at nearby adventurers.
“Yeah, it happens all the time,” Van said. “It’s good experience points if we join the fight, even if they lose. Let’s jump in!”
“We’re not here to fight in events,” Sang said. “We’re trying to learn more about Draco.”
“And we’re not going to be able to do that without being at a sufficient level. Remember, this ain’t like the real world. If you don’t have a high enough level, you can’t kill anything!” Van said as he unsheathed his bagpipes. “Onward, to victory!”
Sang gritted her teeth as the terrible tune of his war ballad forced its way into her ears. It was so rough that she was worried it might cause damage to her. But on the contrary, the words War Ballad Bonus appeared above her, granting her an increase in her stamina regen and boosting her strength. She pulled her bow out and loaded it with an arrow.
“Alright, let’s do this!” she said as she followed after Van. There was a small group of Orcs standing by one of the burning stores; it was a smithy. They were busy looting a few corpses, grunting and snarling as they worked.
Sang fired an arrow right into the skull of an Orc. The words CRITICAL HIT! floated above the green monster man, causing his health bar to drop to zero.
“Nice shot!” Van said as he blew into his bagpipes some more. Jet was busy running around Van’s legs, apparently irritated by the music.
“Kill the Rosethorn lackeys!” cried one of the orcs. There were five left and they all had the exact same words above their heads: Orc Warband Level 17. One of them raised his long warhammer above his head and roared in rage as he charged towards Sang.
Sang released a few more arrows, but the words DODGE! DODGE! kept appearing over the Orc’s head. The snarling green man managed to run right up to her and swing his hammer down hard. Sang narrowly avoided the blow, dodging to the left. Before she could drop her bow and grab her short sword, another Orc was next to her, stabbing at her with his sword.
“Van! A little help here!” Sang called as she swiftly leapt over the assailant’s head and unsheathed her sword, blocking a flurry of blows. The clanging of the blades was nearly overwhelming as she desperately tried to defend herself. There were more Orcs surrounding her and she knew that she couldn’t keep her defenses up forever.
“Ahem!” Van shouted. “Behold the Hypnotic Power of the—ACK!” his words were interrupted as one of the Orcs stabbed him from behind. The Orc had apparently snuck up behind Van and killed him instantly.
“Van!” Sang shouted as she watched her companion slump to the ground, dead. She felt the crushing blow of a hammer smash against her jaw, knocking her backwards. She fell to the ground as blood gushed from her mouth. She knew she was beat, so she quickly activated one of her ranger skills, called Feign Death. Immediately, her body became translucent and she also slumped to the ground, completely motionless. The Orcs around her quickly lost interest and went right back to the area where they had been looting earlier.
Sang sighed as she glanced at Van’s dead corpse. A message quickly arrived at her user interface.
Respawned at Termali ten miles from here. Lost it all. – Van
Termali wasn’t an easy place to reach by foot, but with the battle raging on, it was doubtful Sang would be able to steal a horse to ride there. She’d have to meet him halfway. As she laid on the ground, waiting for the Orcs to wander off so she could leave, Jet crawled over to her and nestled atop her chest.
“Damn it,” the little dragon said, snorting out a puff of smoke.
“You said it,” Sang whispered. “You said it.
Van walked down the road, grumbling the entire time. All of his gear had been lost. His gold was gone, his awesome magical flute was gone... all of it. He knew Sang would probably be able to recover some of his stuff, but whenever a player died, half of their gear vanished randomly. It was a measure created to ensure that players didn’t spend all of their time killing each other over gear. Each step on the ground was painful, as he had no shoes. He hadn’t been able to afford anything in that small village where he’d popped up. Without a single gold piece to his name, he was being forced to walk now so that he could reunite with Sang.
As he moved, he shivered a little. The pain he’d felt when the Orc ran him through had been intense, but it had also been very different from the pain he’d felt when battling against Trefor for survival. The sharp sensation of a sword had been far from pleasant, but it hadn’t felt real. Van had wondered if he was going to die for real when the sword cut through him, but sure enough, he’d just popped up in a random town—alive, healthy, and shoeless.
A sharp whistle brought his attention to the tree line to his right. He could see that Sang was crouching down by the bushes. He had almost completely missed her, but for the fact that she’d whistled to him.
“Sang!” he said as he trotted over to her, wincing with each step as he felt sticks and twigs digging into his feet.
“Keep it down!” she whispered as she threw him a pair of boots and his bagpipes. “I think we’re being followed.”
“By who?” Van asked as he hopped around on one foot, desperately trying to get his boots on.
“I dunno, I heard them off in the distance. Laughing about how Rosethorn will never get their act together.”
“Hmm, sounds like players to me. Unfortunately, when we attacked those Orcs, it flagged us as combatants, making it perfectly legal to kill us as long as the war event is going on. There’s a pretty hefty bonus to killing enemy players, too.”
“Wonderful,” Sang said as she sharpened one of her arrowheads with a knife. “We were torn to shreds back there, and those were just NPCs. Imagine what actual players will do to us!”
“I’m sure they’ll give up once they find you and murder you,” Van said. “As for me, since I died already, I’m no longer tagged. So, this is exclusively not my problem!”
“Not my problem!” Jet echoed as he stuck his head out Sang’s satchel.
“Hey, I gave you shoes! You owe me!” Sang said.
“Oh right, I forgot the old sole-bond rule,” Van said with a chuckle. “Come on, if we get moving, they’ll probably lose interest.”
Sang shook her head. “I say we ambush them. Attack from the trees, rain down arrows on them hard and scare them off.”
Van shrugged. “I dunno; seems risky. If they are tough enough, they’ll dig in and fight back. Then we’re in real trouble.”