"So your conscience can feel better?" Sang asked. "Van, I know you don't want to hurt innocent people, but let's face it – these people were told exactly what they'd be getting into. There are no surprises here. I'm in favor of Fredlin's plan. I say we try to take out as many as we can, and by surprise if we can."
"I know where you stand," Van said sharply, "but I'm not a fan of that plan. Besides, it's tactically weak. The attacker is always at a disadvantage. Let's find some weapons, figure out where the water is, and wait things out until the numbers drop off. If anyone tries to kill us, we'll fight back, but only when necessary."
"Van, this is not the time to get into this kind of fight," Sang said as she crossed her arms. "We've got to—"
Her words were interrupted by the rustling of bushes. A large tattooed man with a sword emerged.
"Oh crap!" both he and the entire party shouted at once.
"Oh my, and no one has a sword," the tattooed soldier chuckled as he swung his sword around. "Looks like this will be an easy fight! You don't have to outrun me; you just have to outrun your slowest friend!"
"Outrun this!" Fredlin said as he chucked a stone right at the soldier, cracking him in the skull. The words 10 damage hovered above his head. The soldier stumbled and dropped to the ground, moaning.
"Was that really a lethal hit?" Van asked. He checked the man's hit points to see that he only had 11 hit points total.
"No, but this one is," Fredlin said as he walked up, grabbed the sword, and swiftly stabbed downwards, killing the man.
"Fredlin, are you crazy?" Van asked, but before he could walk up to the wizard and confront him, Sang leapt in front of him.
"What's done is done," she hissed. "If we fail, a lot more than 22 people are going to die." She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in close. "We don't have time to be bitching about our feelings. Man up and let's get to work."
"Here," Fredlin said as he handed a sword to Sahara.
"Thanks," she said as she spun the sword around a little.
"We better move," Van said, trying not to think about the fate of the man they had just killed. He had no lies to tell himself, and no method of coping with what had happened, so instead, he chose to shove his emotions down and not think about what was unfolding around him. Things were going to be a lot more gruesome in a few hours.
You are thirsty! said Van's display. Health Regeneration is disabled until your thirst is quenched.
"Ah crap," Van said as he looked at his health bar to see that he only had 15 points, as well. His rage power would have been helpful in this situation; it would have given him the ability to stay alive for as long as the rage was activated… though he'd immediately die after it wore off.
"Alright, weapons or water?" Fredlin asked.
"We got a weapon," Kylian said as he grabbed a few rocks and shoved them into his side pouch. "Let's find some water. The faster we can get to full health, the better."
"Should I go scout somewhere?" Sang asked. "My stealth should keep me alive."
"No, we can't afford to split up," Van said. "This place is way too dangerous for anyone to be alone. Alright, Fredlin, cast your locate water spell."
Fredlin nodded and grabbed up a clump of dirt. He muttered a few arcane words and threw the dirt into the air. Wind began to blow behind Fredlin, scattering the dirt across the ground. Van watched as the dirt began to glow. The dirt particles moved across the ground then and formed together into an arrow that was pointing southwest.
"It's that way," Fredlin said as he lined up his hand with the arrow so he could follow it exactly. "This spell will always point to the exact location of water, so as long as we go in that direction, we'll find it."
"Good," Van said. "Let's move in formation. Fredlin, I want you invisible. Save your magic points on turning the rest of us invisible, though. We might need that power later. The rest of you, clump together and get as many rocks as you can."
The team complied and quickly assembled, moving quietly through the forest in search of water. Sahara held the sword up and was shaking a little as she walked. No doubt she was scared out of her mind, but she'd had every opportunity to bail. Van was thankful for her desire to stay and fight anyway – a warrior of her skill level would be incredibly useful.
As they walked through the forest, Van heard a rustling in the distance. The entire team stopped moving and ducked behind several trees. Van peeked around the edges of the tree to see Peterson and his team walking through the area. Peterson made eye contact with him. The man was armed with a bow, and Van felt his heart stop for a moment.
"Uh, this way, team," Peterson said as he gestured in the opposite direction from where Van and his team were. "Maybe we can find something useful over there." The team didn't seem to disagree with his instructions, and followed after their leader.
"Whew, I guess he isn't a total bastard after all," Kylian said.
"Still can't trust him," Sang said.
"Did he see us?" Sahara asked.
"Yeah, he saw me," Van said. "We'll give him credit for that. I still think he's up to something."
"Well, as long as his scheming keeps him over there, I'm all for it," Fredlin said.
They continued moving toward the source of water. Eventually, they reached a small depression in the ground that led to a babbling brook. The brook was a few hundred feet away from them, and they'd need to go down the depression in order to reach it.
"I really don't like the fact that those trees are hanging right over the water," Sang whispered as she crouched down. "An archer could have a field day just picking people off as they go for water."
"No bodies around," Kylian said, "so that's a good sign."
"Maybe no victims have shown up yet," Sang countered. "Let me stealth down there and look around."
"Be careful," Van said. "Check the area and give a whistle if things are safe." He checked his private messaging system then and saw that it had been disabled. The words Only VOIP enabled in survivor mode hovered above his private message box.
Sang nodded and turned translucent as she crept down the slope, reaching the water in a matter of minutes. Van couldn't see her at this distance, so he merely waited, holding his breath in anticipation. After a minute of waiting, he heard her whistle sharply.
"Alright, let's go," Van said. "One person drinks at a time. Get as much as you can; we don't have any containers, so this will have to be it for a while."
"Roger," Sahara said as she rushed down to the water. She knelt down and began to lap away at the brook, drinking it as quickly as she could. Her health bar steadily began to climb back up until finally she was at full health again. Van noticed that even though her character had originally had close to 800 points, she only registered as having 100 now.
Van was next, and drank up, taking note that his own health bar also increased only to 100.
"Ah, man," Kylian said as he knelt down to drink. "I think we all have the same health in the name of realism."
"That means damage is going to be way more realistic, too," Sang said as she rejoined the party. She was carrying a pair of daggers in her hands. "I found these suckers just sitting on a log. Who wants one?"
"I'll take one," Van said as he reached out. Sang abruptly pulled her hand back.
"I think we should give this to someone who's going to use it."
"I'll use it if I need it," Van replied as he put his hand out angrily. "I don't need you to treat me like a child."
"Then maybe you should stop acting like a child," Sang hissed. "We are in a life and death struggle, and we don't have the option to play nice here. That option is gone."
Van leaned forward and grabbed the knife from her. "Let me do things my way, and you do things your way. I thought we agreed to stop fighting about this."
"We did, but then, of course, it becomes a major issue," Sang growled. "I just don't want to see you die over a false sense of a conscience."