Van nodded at the plan and quietly followed after Sang. They approached the noisy battle with caution; Van was careful not to make a sound as he slowly peeked his head out from behind the branches of an overgrown shrub. He could see that there was a ruckus going on in the road. A massive lion creature with the wings of a bat and the tail of a scorpion was hissing and roaring at two people. One other player was lying on the ground, already dead. The words Manticore Level 10 hovered above the creature’s head.
The Manticore was moving quickly, leaping, pouncing, and slashing at the other two players’ heads with its massive stinger. One player was wobbling and looked weak, and he was some kind of a barbarian character wielding a massive club. The words Kraggoth Level 8 were hovering above him, as was the label HP:10. The other character, a tall man in plate mail, was taken a beating from the Manticore, too. His name was Vengar and his Health was dropping faster than Van could keep track.
“Well?” Van asked, glancing back at Sang.
“Distract it while I line up a surprise attack!” Sang said as she prepared her bow.
Van immediately leapt into action. He burst out onto the scene with his trusty flute. “Behold! Foul beast! A flute most fine!” he called out as he held the magical flute up to his mouth. He began to play it, eliciting a very shrill piping noise that caused everyone in the area to put their hands to their ears. The beast snarled and lost all interest in the other two characters, instead beginning to advance towards Van, snarling and shrieking. Van glanced at his display, seeing that it said INPUT FLUTE COMBO. Crap! He’d completely forgotten that magical instruments needed to be played in a certain way in order for them to work. The combo was in the item description, but he’d completely forgotten to check for it. He backed up as he frantically looked at the item description of his flute.
Flute of Enchanting
Effects: Charms up to 8 people or creatures, causing them to become docile and uninterested in you unless attacked. Lowers guard and increases surprise attack damage by 100%.
Combo: E F E G A.
Van watched as the small finger chart appeared in front of him, reminding him of where to put his fingers in order to play the combo. The beast snarled and slashed at Van with its massive tail, but Van was able to effectively dodge out of the way, narrowly avoiding the blow. Van began to play the song then, but this time it worked. It didn’t sound half bad either. The melody almost immediately caused the beast to stop and cock its head, staring at Van with a curious look on its face. The spell would only last as long as Van kept playing, however, so he continued to pipe into his flute while making sure to get out of range of the Manticore’s slashing attack.
“Now!” Sang shouted as she unleashed a torrent of flaming arrows at the creature. The Manticore’s health went from 500 to 150 in a matter of seconds. The beast snapped out of its trance and attacked the first thing in front of it, which happened to be Van. It roared and slashed at Van, striking him in the chest hard and dealing 50 points of damage to him.
“Ah!” Van cried as he dropped his flute and rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding another attack. Before the monster could savagely murder Van, however, the barbarian and his ally moved to flank the Manticore, stabbing and smashing it. The creature had soon fallen to the ground dead.
“Hurrah!” everyone cheered as Van watched his experience bar climb up by 3,000 points. That was a lot of XP!
“Whew, that was a close one!” said Kraggoth. “We were so close to losing that fight! Thanks for the assist!”
“Hey, no problem,” Van said as he cautiously looked the other two over. They were beaten up enough to the point where, if they attacked, it wouldn’t be much of a fight anyway. Sang would easily be able to kill them. “So, hey, while we’re here, we want to—” Van’s words were interrupted as two fiery arrows nailed the barbarian in the chest, killing him instantly.
“What the hell?” the other one shouted as he went to grab his longsword. He wasn’t fast enough, however, and two more arrows lodged themselves firmly into the knight’s armor, dropping him to the ground. Van looked around in shock at how fast everything had moved. He saw his experience bar go up another 2,000 points.
“Perfect!” Sang said as she emerged from the trees.
“Perfect? What are you, nuts? You just killed those two guys!” Van shouted.
Sang shrugged. “Oh well. We’re in the wild zone, so it’s not like there’s going to be some kind of penalty. We need the items and the experience points.” She bent down and began to loot the freshly dead bodies.
“That’s not cool, Sang! You can’t just go around killing innocent players! They were thankful for our help!”
“And if we were playing this video game because we wanted to have a good time and play fair, I would certainly not have killed them. But the fact is that we’re both on a mission, on a literal job with a ticking clock and a need for the best items and gear, so I see no reason why we shouldn’t pick off some injured players. It’s not like they’re losing anything other than time. And by that logic, we just gained some time. And items. Hey, look—a Potion of Safe Fall!”
Van couldn’t believe his ears. He watched as Sang cheerfully looted the dead. “That is completely unethical, Sang! You can’t just go around killing players just because it’s useful.”
“Yes, I can.”
“And what if those players decide to follow us and kill us? What then?”
“Doubtful, since this place is dense and the loss of all their gear should slow them down. Come on... it’s not like I kill everyone in my way, but I saw an opportunity and took it. Weak players, nice items. It’s for the CIA, Van. For America.”
“I’m not player-killing for America, okay?” Van nearly shouted. “It’s bad behavior, and only what Trolls do.”
“Well, I don’t know what a Troll is exactly, but I think I like the sound of it,” Sang said as she stood up. “Let’s get moving.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Van mumbled as he followed after his companion. And yet, while it had been a markedly insane thing to shoot those players, he did understand the logic of it. They needed the gear, and while it wasn’t the best thing in the world, it made some level of sense. At least it hadn’t just been mean-spirited. Although... saving people and then immediately killing them was a really bad way to get a reputation. Not like it mattered, though, since a reputation required you to be playing this game long enough to warrant other players’ interest. They wouldn’t be here that long.
They continued walking in silence as Van considered their next action. Suddenly, however, there was a rustling of bushes in the distance and Sang slid to a stop, putting her hand up to halt Van, as well. She crouched down and went translucent. Van tried to do the same, but without the Stealth skill, he couldn’t do much other than crouch low near some bushes.
“What do you mean they were just killed? It was a Manticore—not a big deal!” said a female voice. There were more than a few people’s voices chatting as the footsteps continued to get closer.
“I don’t know... we just got a message from Kraggoth, who said he was just killed and he’s mad. Said he’s gonna log for the night. The others aren’t responding either,” replied a stern voice.
“Well, if we lost Kraggoth, we might as well kiss this mission goodbye!” said a higher pitched voice. It sounded like a twelve year old.
“No, none of that kind of talk, team. We’re going to complete this mission, no matter how many people we lose. Besides, Kraggoth always comes back after he rage-quits,” the leader of the group said.
The rustling was growing worse, and Van felt his heart rate increasing when he realized there were legs right next to him. He had lain down in the shrubs and been perfectly still, but if anyone saw him, they’d probably just kill him.