Spiteful Healer

Chapter 125: Encroaching Darkness

“How much time do we have, Lina?” Aegis called up to her.

“Uh, I’m not sure… they’re forming up at the treeline. They’re not charging yet, they might be waiting for nightfall, gnolls get damage bonuses at night.” Lina explained, causing Aegis to look up at the setting sun.

“Ok, that gives us a bit of time to prepare. Chax, round up the council in the town hall.” Aegis instructed him and he nodded, doing a waving motion to the council members he had visible to him around the town square. This included Josephine, Erikson, Yuki, Savika, and Celestian. They all gave nods and made their way towards the town hall building, north of the town square.

“Whatcha thinkin’ we oughta be doin’? We got a lotta goods sittin’ around here. If those gnolls get to the town square, it’ll be a really big loss of money.” Tullan asked as he stepped forward out of the crowds. Aegis didn’t answer him right away, instead he turned to the player who had announced the gnolls, Quiver, who was watching Aegis eagerly for instructions.

“What level were the gnolls?” Aegis asked him.

“Most of them looked to be around level 40.” Quiver replied. After hearing this, Aegis did a wide scan of the nearby players around the town square, seeing some players high enough level to handle enemies like that, and others not. He’d also spotted Farlion approaching him, making his way past several players by bumping their shoulders.

“Can you keep things calm out here for a bit, until we’ve got a plan?” Aegis asked Tullan and Farlion.

“Ay, I’ll do what I can.” Tullan nodded.

“Yes sir.” Farlion nodded, then began waving hand motions at the nearby Rene guards to give them instructions.

“Lina, can you get Darkshot, Pyri, Clara, and Rakkan to the town hall?” Aegis called up to her on the roof.

“On it.” Lina replied before shadowstepping out of his sight.

“Everyone else, please stay calm while we come up with a plan. Everything should be fine. Arallian’s, consider returning to your homes and locking the doors for now.” Aegis shouted to the surrounding crowds of players and NPCs that were still staring at him expectantly, and this was enough to get some reaction out of them as the crowd began to slowly disperse of NPCs, though the players remained around as if it was an exciting film that was about to start. Seeing this reaction, Aegis looked and saw his viewership spiking up above 60 000.

He shook his head to himself and made his way towards the town hall building, a few buildings north of the town square. It was a large, simple square structure made for practicality more than anything else. There was a small set of wooden stairs leading up to a porch half a meter above the ground, which led into a pair of plain double doors. When Aegis walked through the doors he found himself in a small rectangular entryway with a few empty frames on the walls, a plain dark blue carpet, and then another pair of doors. Beyond that, he was in a large square room with a round table in the center, chairs set all around it.

There wasn’t much in the way of decorations, it was clear not a lot of effort had yet been put into this building's construction. There were several bookshelves lining the wall with a few books on them, a carpet, and a single tapestry on the far wall of dark blue with a large yellow star of Eirene in the center, but that was it.

Already sitting in the room waiting for him to arrive were those that were at the town square a few moments ago. He saw Savika, Yuki and Celestian sitting together, then Josephine and Erikson beside them, and Chax a few seats away. Aegis looked around and saw their concerned expressions, Savika having a look of panic on her face that she tried to hide the moment she saw Aegis enter.

Aegis paced around the table on the side of the room, going deep in thought as he waited for the others to arrive. With a single window on each wall of the room high up on the wall, he found himself repeatedly glancing up at them to keep track of the setting sun.

It wasn’t long before Pyri, Darkshot, and Ruffily entered, followed by Rakkan and Amlie, and then lastly Lina, and Great Prophet Clara.

“That’s everyone.” Lina said as she entered and looked around.

“What’s going on?” Darkshot asked, confused.

“We’re being attacked by gnolls.” Chax replied.

“Seriously? But we just got back.” Darkshot groaned.

“Yeah, take a seat.” Aegis motioned everyone to sit and they all quickly complied, but he himself remained wandering around the room. “I don’t think it's a coincidence that they’re attacking as soon as we got back to Rene.” Aegis declared as he motioned up to his live streaming icon.

“You think they were waiting for you to come back?” Yuki asked him.

“That doesn’t make sense. If you wanted to attack a city, it’d be easier to do it when the Lord was away.” Chax explained.

“Yeah, exactly.” Aegis nodded at him, causing everyone to go silent and think on his words. “Clara?” Aegis looked at her, seeing a particularly worried expression on her face.

“I sense a great deal of darkness coming from the west, something very evil is traveling with those gnolls.” Clara replied to him, and this caused Aegis to snap his fingers and point at her.

“Thought so.” Aegis nodded.

“You think this is related to the Avatars of Darkness in some way?” Amlie asked him worriedly.

“Most likely.” Aegis said, then stopped pacing and let out an annoyed sigh. “Owning land is such a pain in the ass. The question is, why are they targeting Rene, and me. Why’d they wait until we were back to attack it?” Aegis said as he put his hand on his chin, going deep in thought.

“You still don’t know that all of those things are fact. You’re making a lot of assumptions.” Chax said with a doubtful expression on his face. “I mean, it’s just a game right? Monster invasions happen sometimes.” Chax answered him with a shrug.

“Chax is right… we had events happen like this quite often back in Arallia.” Erikson joined in, and Josephine, Yuki and Savika nodded.

“Okay…” Aegis paused and looked at them. “Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it is just a coincidence that they’re attacking tonight.” Aegis said as he looked at Lina, Pyri and Rakkan who stared intently back at Aegis. “Either way, we’ve got an army of gnolls on our doorstep and I’m not about to let them come here and destroy my crafting halls.” Aegis grumbled as he took a seat in his chair finally and leaned over it with his elbows.

“We’ve got about 30 minutes still until sunset, and the gnolls damage bonus will be active.” Lina said to Aegis and he nodded at her.

“Okay.” Aegis began tapping his fingers on the table, trying to think, looking at Pyri as she stared back at him with sympathy. “I’m not a war commander or something.” He sighed at his mom and she smiled back.

“Don’t think of it as a war… think of it like a hard question on a test. A puzzle, or a riddle. What would be the solution, given the variables you have under your control?” Pyri replied, and this gave Aegis a hint of confidence as he quietly went into thought again. He had to deal with the gnolls, there were a lot of them, and they didn’t have any proper defenses built in Rene yet. There were a lot of possible ways to deal with them, but he would be leaving himself vulnerable to many possible ulterior motives that might be hidden behind this attack. He didn’t have enough time to consider all the possible vulnerabilities someone might be looking to take advantage of, though.

Am I just being paranoid in the first place? Why would Clara tell me that the darkness is strong with the gnolls? I only have 30 minutes. He thought. He could only cover so many bases while still making sure the general threat of the gnolls were dealt with. He had no choice but to go after the simplest, most obvious ulterior motives.

“Okay. If there’s something sinister behind this attack, the most likely target is going to be Princess Savika, or Prophet Clara.” Aegis pointed at the Princess and Clara. “Pyri, Yuki, Erikson, Josephine and Celestian, I want you guys to take Princess Savika and Prophet Clara to a secure location and protect them at all times. Pyri, use multicast invisibility on them to keep them hidden.” Aegis ordered them.

“You sure you don’t want us helping with the defenses? We’re the highest level players of the group, no offense.” Erikson asked.

“Yes, exactly, that's why I need you to make sure that our most valuable NPCs are protected. The attackers might be trying to draw out our defenses to leave them vulnerable, and we don’t have the proper infrastructure to secure them yet.” Aegis replied.

“Okay, got it.” Pyri smiled at Aegis obediently.

“I’ll keep them safe.” Yuki smiled at Aegis with determination.

“Okay.” Aegis nodded at them once he’d seen they were all on board. “Lina, work with Farlion, Chax, and Tullan and secure the trade goods around the town square, and keep an eye on the shops. The second most likely target for this attack is thievery. They draw out the players and soldiers so that they can steal trade goods, and trade it for real world money.” Aegis explained and Lina nodded back at him.

“You still think this is related to the Harbinger of Darkness player, and abyssal invasions?” Josephine asked him worriedly, and this prompted Aegis to look at Clara.

“I’ve no idea, but I’d rather play it safe.” Aegis shrugged. “Darkshot, I want you to find the highest point, and use your tracking to keep an eye on things. You can support the battle against the gnolls, but keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Keep yourself hidden for as long as possible.” Aegis said, and Darkshot nodded back at him.

“So what you’re saying is, you want me to shoot… from the darkness.” Darkshot grinned, and Aegis rolled his eyes at him.

“Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m saying.” Aegis replied, and this caused a few people to chuckle.

“Amlie and Ruffily, get started on digging a defensive trench on the west side of Rene. We don’t have time to build a wall, but using the skills of crafting players should be able to get that much done in a short amount of time.” Aegis said, and they both nodded at him.

“Chax, you said we’ve got some gold in the treasury, right?” Aegis asked and Chax nodded. “Savika, as Mayor, can you issue a quest to all players that they’ll get paid 5 gold coins for every gnoll they kill? That should be a good motivation to get the players nearby to help with the defenses.” Aegis asked her, and Savika looked between Aegis and Chax.

“I might have to go into my personal funds to pay them for that, if there’s too many gnolls…” Chax replied to him worriedly.

“I’ll pay you back for it if it comes to that. I’ve got the gold from selling the deed.” Aegis replied and Chax gave him a nod.

“I can create a quest for other-worlders, but you will need to approve it as the land owner.” Savika replied to Aegis.

“Through the land management menu.” Erikson explained when he saw Aegis’ confused expression.

“Right.” Aegis fidgeted into his interface. “Do it.” Aegis said to Savika, and she nodded. A moment later, he got a prompt in his Land Management interface.

The appointed Mayor of [Rene] is requesting permission to utilize treasury funds to issue the following quest to all active players presently within the land of [Rene]:

Quest: Defeat the gnolls laying siege to the land of Rene. Each gnoll defeated will reward the defeating player 5 gold.

Objective: Gnolls Defeated: 0

Quest Giver: Princess Savika, Mayor of Rene, Kalmoore

Reward: 5 gold per gnoll

Difficulty: Medium

Restrictions: If the village of Rene is destroyed, the quest will not be completable.

[Approve] [Deny]

Aegis hit the approve button, and a moment later the quest popped up for not only him, but he’d seen that every player in the room got the notification and they used their index fingers to accept the quest that had appeared for them in their peripheral visions.

“Okay. That leaves Rakkan and me to handle leading the players against the gnolls.” Aegis said as he turned to Rakkan and Rakkan gave him a nod.

“Come, let’s get started on the trenches. Woof!” Ruffily said to Amlie and she nodded, the two being the first to leave the building.

“Everyone’s got their assignments. We’re running short on time, so let’s get to it.” Aegis ordered, and with that, the rest of them made their way out of the town hall together.

Once back in the streets, Aegis saw Pyri, Erikson, Josephine, Yuki, Clara, Celestian and Savika head off towards the residential buildings. Aegis thought it best he didn’t show where they were heading to hide out on his stream, so he made sure to quickly walk in the opposite direction from them towards the town square.

The square was now nearly empty, with only a few merchant players still standing around. Included amongst those players though was Tullan. The players were primarily loading goods onto carts and trying to secure them, while all the NPCs had already retreated to their homes.

“Ay, hope yeh got a plan. Not gonna be able to get all this stuff outta here if things go south.” Tullan said as he saw Aegis approaching.

“Lina and the guards are going to focus on securing the shops and their wares. Would you mind helping out with that?” Aegis asked Tullan as Tullan looked around and saw the Rene guards begin to position themselves around the shops and stalls of the town square.

“Nah, aint got a problem with it. If ye’ had a portal altar, the Night Hunter’s would be able to get here right quick though.” Tullan replied with a shrug, and his words flicked a light bulb on in Aegis' head.

“Maybe that’s why they chose to attack now, before we build the portal altar?” Aegis suggested to Lina as she walked beside him.

“You’re still being paranoid?” Darkshot asked him with raised eyebrows. “Aegis, this sorta thing happens in this game. It’s just one of the downsides of owning land. Monsters invade.” Darkshot shrugged, and this caused Aegis to turn to Rakkan, locking eyes with him as if asking for his opinion without using any words.

“I don’t know.” Rakkan replied apprehensively to Aegis’ gaze.

“I don’t believe in coincidences.” Aegis mumbled to himself anxiously.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be protecting the land from any harm. I will be shooting evil, from the Darkness.” Darkshot said as dramatically as he could, and a moment later Darkshot ran off into the darkness behind the buildings of the town square. Once he was gone Aegis turned his attention westward, down the roads past the crafting buildings where he saw that all of the other players were gathering and preparing for the battle.

“Let’s get to it.” Aegis said, and Rakkan nodded before the two of them headed west, leaving Chax and Lina behind with Tullan and Farlion.

When Aegis and Rakkan reached the west end of Rene where the road ended and the gathering of players had formed, they cleared a path for Aegis and Rakkan to move to the front respectfully. Aegis looked on and saw nods and stares of recognition from the mix of present players. Some were as low as level 10, while others high enough that he couldn’t see their levels at all.

There were fighters, wizards, druids, warlocks, thiefs, archers, priests, and many variations of their intermediate classes standing about staring at him. Some gave looks of excitement as they motioned to his viewership, now at 70 000. He heard whispers of players motioning to him and talking about becoming famous for fighting on stream alongside Aegis, others nervous about fighting in their first big PvE siege battle. Aegis wasn’t concerned with any of that, he was only concerned with protecting his investment, and the NPCs he’d worked so hard to save and get here from Arallia.

Whether this was a random, coincidentally timed monster raid, or something more sinister, he wasn’t about to lose all of the stuff he’d built up over the past few in-game months. Not without doing everything he could to protect it. As he thought this, he and Rakkan arrived at the front of the players to see Ruffily, Amlie, and many other crafting class players working together under Ruffily’s instruction, using powerful spells and skills to dig out a long, 2 meter deep, 2 meter wide trench between the defending players and the gnoll army that Aegis could now see forming far to the west.

Across the grassy fields, right at the edge of the western forest’s treeline, Aegis saw the burning torches of the army of gnoll creatures as they gathered together, forming into multiple battalions. For monsters, they looked extremely organized in their formations, each formation had a gnoll standing at the front, pacing and staring out in Aegis’ direction. They were illuminated by many torches being carried intermittently throughout their ranks.

The gnolls themselves looked like giant hairy hyenas that stood upright on their hind legs. They had hunched backs with dark brown manes going down their spines, and wore many variations of armor while wielding an assortment of weapons, primarily crossbows, swords and spears.

From this distance he couldn’t make out much of the finer details beyond that, such levels, and could only get a rough idea of their numbers. Aegis looked them over as he did a quick glance up at the sun, it was mere minutes now from fully setting and turning the games daytime status to night.

“They’re waiting on their leader. The gnoll raiding parties always have a leader, usually on a mount.” A voice said to Aegis from behind, drawing his attention. Aegis turned to see a player wearing high level iron armor, covered in Eirene stars, approaching from behind with a large sword and shield strapped to his back. He wore no helmet and had short shaved black hair and dark eyes, a few scars on his face. Something about him reminded him of Darkshot, but [Finley - Level ??] stood above his head.

“How do you know that?” Aegis asked him as both he and Rakkan eyed the player up and down curiously.

“Fought against a few raids back in Lanusk. Usually player raids, but plenty of gnoll raids as well. Gnolls usually target small settlements to steal all their livestock.” He explained with a shrug as he saw their curious stares. “Name’s Finley, I’m here to do my advanced paladin class quest. I was sent here because of the monastery. Figured I’d help out.” He smiled as he reached his hand out to shake theirs.

“I’m Aegis.” Aegis replied, shaking his hand.

“Rakkan.” Rakkan joined in.

“Yeah, I know, you’re quite famous among Eirene players now. Wish I knew about all that Hrath’mir stuff before I settled into the intermediate paladin class.” He smirked as he motioned to Aegis’ live streaming icon.

“What sort of mount?” Aegis asked him as he turned back towards the formations of gnolls.

“Uh, varies, I guess. Depends on what beasts are in their area. Just hope it isn’t a Beulgadine.” Finley replied as he joined them in looking ahead over the quickly forming trenches.

“I think that’s all we can get done, Aegis, We’re out of time, woof!” Ruffily called out to him as they finished the trench right up to the river, stretching quite a ways north.

“Okay, no problem. Take the crafting players back to the town square where it's safe, we’ll handle the rest.” Aegis called back to her, and she and Amlie nodded, motioning the other players along with her.

Rakkan and Amlie gave each other anxious looks before Rakkan watched her disappear into the crowd of players, heading back towards the center of Rene.

“Digging a trench, not a bad idea, slows down their charge, gives more time for ranged damage dealers to do their thing.” Finley nodded impressed as he eyed the trench.

“Any advice that might help?” Aegis asked him. “You know, since you’ve fought these before?”

“Well…” Finley turned and looked over the crowds of players as they began to quiet down and ready their weapons, seeing that the sun was mere seconds from setting. “Lot’s of low level players, and it’s not very well organized. I’d suggest you get everyone in a raiding party, so they can buff each other easier.” Finley replied.

“Yeah, ok, good idea.” Aegis nodded as he remembered his Aura of beauty, and how beneficial it’d be to all of the lower levels to have more stamina recovery. “Alright everyone, listen up!” Aegis shouted as he turned to face the players, getting their attention.

“Thank you all for volunteering to help defend the Land of Rene. This raid is a bit unexpected and Rene isn’t prepared for it yet. This’ll be my first time fighting against something like this, so I’m counting on all of you to help protect the buildings and the NPCs.” Aegis said as all eyes turned to him and he began pacing in front of them.

“As the quest says, every gnoll you kill will earn you 5 gold, and while we’re mostly strangers, it’ll be best if we try to work together on this. Anyone who doesn’t currently have a party and would like to benefit from auras and other group buffs, please form up a line, and I’ll invite you all to join my raiding party. I expect anyone that joins to follow my instructions though.” Aegis said, trying to sound as commanding as he could.

“As long as we work together, we should make it through this. So please join me in showing these gnolls that Kordas, and Rene, are not places they can easily mess with.” Aegis ended his speech and he got a few excited cheers from the players. He wasn’t sure how effective it was, but he got a level up in his leadership skill from it and saw the enthusiasm on many of the players' faces.

Without wasting any time he removed Lina, Pyri and Darkshot from his group to keep them hidden, then quickly began inviting everyone nearby that stepped forward. It wasn’t long before he had a raiding party filled with 132 players strong, and he turned to offer an invite to Finley.

“Oh, no.” Finley declined. “I’ve got a few friends I’m here grouped up with, but don’t worry, we’ll be handling plenty of gnolls.” Finley reassured him with a smile.

“Got it.” Aegis nodded back at him curiously, and Aegis and Rakkan exchanged looks briefly.

“Alright, ranged damage dealers form up in the back, melee fighters in the front. Players with high defense, take point. Form a line in front of the trenches and hold them here. Once they’re in range to be hit by your ranged spells and attacks, don’t hold back. I’ll give the signal to open fire.” Aegis ordered them, and as he did, he watched as all the players began to excitedly comply, moving about between one another, bumping shoulders as they all got into their positions. In the center stood Finley, Aegis, and Rakkan, and they watched as the sun finished setting, and night time began within the Shattered World. The moment it had, a loud horn began to blow from the gnoll raiding party in the distance, and a few seconds later, the ground began to shake. Then, the sound of loud stomping footsteps came from beyond the treeline, slowly getting closer.

Aegis could see the trees shifting violently as something big was clearly approaching, mixed in amongst the formations of gnolls. It wasn’t long before the big, stomping creature knocked over several trees at the edge of the forest as it poked its head out amongst the gnoll army.

It was a huge, dark green skinned creature. Its back legs looked like giant gorilla arms. Its torso then curved downward from the height of the towering back legs, almost in the shape of a slide, though its skin looked anything but smooth with gnarly looking spikes and crusty scales spread across its body. Its front legs were small, but with oversized talons extending out from them that dug into the ground as it stepped over the gnoll army to stand in front.

For eyes, it had two large toad-like bulging black bulbs on the left and right side of its flat head that barely extended beyond where its front arm’s shoulders would be, and its mouth was wide and flat, extending from one side of its head to the other with overgrown razor sharp white teeth.

Most importantly though, on its slide-shaped back, nestled between its large tall back legs and its short, small front legs, was a huge leather saddle fastened to it, on it of which sat a heavily armored, angry looking gnoll holding a horn in his hand, which he promptly blew again as he arrived at the front of the gnoll formations.

“What the hell is that thing?” Aegis said as he saw it.

“That…” Finley sighed. “Is a Beulgadine.”