Dota
Sven
ARDM
by Aditu
The town had two circles. An inner one, which was the safe zone, and an outer one, both surrounded by walls. In the outer circle was the heart of the town that held the town with all its buildings alive. It was guarded with two towers. Around the heart were several houses and barracks, all on higher ground than the area outside the town. The inner circle was only used by merchants and as regeneration point for the top soldiers, the heroes. The merchants sold mostly weapons and armor suited for everyone, who would fight for their home. And fighting they did.
They were in constant war with their neighbour town and had to defend themselves endlessly. So everyone, male or female, was trained to fight and then sent into battle. It was the only thing they could do, otherwise they would have nothing left. If the heart was destroyed, all buildings of the town would fall apart and they would be completely at the mercy of their enemy. Not very desirable, such a fate.
The main goal was to keep the heart of their town safe. And the second one was to attack the enemy, maybe even to destroy the heart of their town, so that they could life in peace afterwards. But it was not easy. They had skilled fighters as well and it was an endless struggle, who would become victor of this war. You could not tell, who would win, because the two towns with their soldiers and heroes were equally strong. The balance of power always shifted a little. Depending on which hero was on the field it shifted back almost every time a hero was replaced by another after his or her death.
At the present, both towns had still all their towers, in and around the high ground of the heart. There were three ways between the two towns and on each way were two towers of each party. And one more at the three entrances to the towns. If you wanted to destroy the heart you had to get the three towers on one way down and then the two in front of the heart. Five towers minimum. That was not easy to do, because they had some kind of self-defense system, which started firing, as soon as an enemy soldier got into range. Those shots hurt and could easily kill someone, if he or she wasn't strong enough.
Most times, two or three heroes would try to destroy a tower with some soldiers together, to divide the fire power between them all. That way everybody would get injured, but nobody would die. The problem here was, the enemy had soldiers as well, and heroes as strong. They had to kill them first, preferably not under the tower, but outside of its shooting range. Then they could destroy the building.
Well, it was not as easy as it sounded, obviously, since both towns still had all their towers.
Sven stood inside the safe zone. He had to go out in a minute but wanted to buy a few things first. He didn´t know when he could be back to get more supplies, so he would get the most necessary items before he headed outside. He was assigned to the first tower on the bottom road, together with someone called Demon Witch. They would help the soldiers to defend the first tower and try to kill the enemy heroes, to get their tower down.
They were advised to go always in teams of minimum two heroes when roaming the landscape, because some of the heroes were hunters and if someone was spotted alone in the woods, he was an easy kill for a hunter. So in teams they went. Only the hero on the road in the middle was allowed to travel alone. Meant, he or she had to be extra careful.
Sven was still browsing the items of one of the merchants, when the Demon With approached him.
"Hey Rogue Knight. I will try to support you in our fight. I can fire from a distance, while you", he glanced at Sven's sword, "have to be close to attack. I will focus on the ones trying to hit you. And I can stupefy them. I can conjure spikes from the earth, which stun them. I will skill that ability of mine first and hope it gives us an advantage. I will also take some mana for us to replenish our lost magic after casting a spell. Good luck, I will wait for you at the entrance." With that he vanished between the other heroes.
Ugly fellow, Sven thought. But who was he to judge? They would fight side by side for the same goal. Who cared about good looks there? And it seemed he was determined to be a good support for him so that they were a team rather than two heroes fighting side by side.
He concentrated on the wares on display and decides to take a shield, to block incoming attacks, something to heal himself and maybe his supporting Demon Witch and a ring of protection. It was an ordinary grey thing, but the merchant promised it would heighten his armour and give him a minimum more of protection. He believed the merchant. They would not cheat them by selling things, which would not work. They lived in the town and would die like everybody else, if the heroes failed and the enemy destroyed the heart. Maybe they took too much money for some of their products, but Sven doubted even that.
Looking into his now nearly empty purse he left the safe zone with his new belongings and headed to the entrance, where the Demon Witch was waiting.
He gave him an acknowledging nod. "Let's go." And off they went. Some way behind them, soldiers gathered to follow.
"Do you wield some kind of magic?" The Demon Witch asked as they passed second tower.
Sven nodded. "A little. I can stun as well. I am able to throw a Storm Hammer, which will immobilize everyone it hits. But what´s better is my Sword. It can cleave through the enemies, damaging all units in an arc around me." He faced his support. "We will get them. I am strong. If you support me properly, we will survive and dominate our lane."
"Yes, we will."
At first tower they stopped, waiting for the soldiers to arrive. They would come in waves, always gathering at the entrances of the town and then heading to the first tower of each road. Somewhere between it and the first tower of the enemy, they would meet the soldiers and the heroes of their adversary and the fight would begin. Their soldiers would come in waves as well and normally they would send two heroes to this road.
Sven laid the blade of his sword on his shoulder and scanned his surroundings. Nothing to see, jet. The first wave passed the tower and he moved with them, right behind him the Demon Witch.
He was confused for a second, as his support vanished in the woods to his right, but was relieved when he saw him placing an Observer Ward on a juncture of paths. That way they had vision on this point, could see, when someone tried to sneak up on them. Good job, this. It seemed as if he had done this before, supporting someone. Could be possible. For him, it was the first assignment. He had been in training before, but they were not sent out all together from training. They were sent, when one of the other heroes had died. It could happen that a whole team of five new heroes was sent out, but usually only one or two had to go. The way the Demon Witch acted, he supposed he was in the fight for a longer time now or had done something similar before. That was good for him. He could adjust while his support knew what to expect and how to react. He was aware that his stun could even safe him, if he made a mistake at the beginning. Not all of them had such luck. It was the most critical part, the being knew on the battle field. The learning how things were different here than in the training area. A good support was as good as he could get.
The two groups of soldiers crashed and behind them he could see the enemy. One man and one woman. The man was a red spirit, with a red and orange glow around him, one who was surly able to cast magic. The woman had a dark bow drawn and started shooting at the soldiers from a distance. She wore a dark cape, her face in the shadows. He had to learn the skills and weaknesses of them fast, to counter them. The woman sure as hell wasn´t strong. She should be their first target, even if she stood some way back.
Sven swung his sword and joined the attack of the soldiers. He felt an arrow from the archer, but only one and his shield blocked some of the damage. He didn´t have time to turn around, but he suspected that his support had taken matters into hand and had fired at the woman. Which left the Fire Spirit. Sven had decided to concentrate on skilling his sword first, to improve the Cleave of the weapon. The more kills he made, the more skilled he would get. But he could not divide his experience on all his skills to the same degree. So first his Cleave it was. The advantage of that was, he hit the fire spirit, as soon as he came near him. And it did damage to him. Good to know he wasn´t really strong, either. If they worked together, maybe they could kill both of them soon. He needed to be able to use his stun, but it would not take him long to skill it.
The Demon Witch did a good job, because the archer didn´t shoot him again and soon the first wave of enemy soldiers was down. It had taken some lives from their own, but they had still three standing, an advantage. They marched on in the direction of the first enemy tower. They met the second wave of soldiers right outside the shooting range of the building. Hell, it was a bloody business. One man down, the next man there to attack. One wave killed, the next would follow. Only the elimination of a hero would give them a little time to breathe. Sure, since this was their goal. The first minutes passed like that. They made more ground than the enemy but as soon as they got to close to the tower, they lost it again. The damn building did really much damage to them and they always had to retreat.
Additionally the archer started to shoot frost embedded arrows, because near the tower, his support couldn't get far enough ahead to keep her on distance, and the Spirit started casting some kind of fire that jumped over and through them. The fire was painful and the frost slowed him down. Not very funny. They stayed clear of the tower than, though it meant their soldiers would all die and they had to go back and wait for the next wave. But the soldiers were only meant to help them, not the other way round. The heroes never helped the soldiers because they were way too valuable to die because of an ordinary warrior.
When they had to wait again, the Demon Witch showed him a shop of a neutral merchant on the side of the road. He would sell both parties his supplies and would not take sides. But they could spend their money. The money they got for their fighting as some kind of wage and the money they got as extra for every kill they made personally. He used the time they had to dally, before the next wave was with them, to improve the ring he already had. He let the merchant fuse it with soma kind of mask that improved the replenishment of his mana. Good to have, so he could cast his stun, which he had skilled now, more often.
The Demon Witch shopped as well, getting something that cast an aura of healing around him. Sven took a deep breath. Faster healing and faster mana regeneration. It was time for them to initiate an attack on the archer woman. Two stuns and his Cleave should get them the kill without her slowing them with her frost.
"When they are far enough away from their tower, I will through my Storm Hammer on the woman. I go after her and want you to spike her, when she moves again. Ignore the man, while he is casting his fire jumps, we can't see him anyway. I hope he won´t be able to do too much damage. But we have to try something and the woman is an easy target. Ready?" The Demon Witch nodded. On the road the soldiers strode past them and Sven joined, a little ahead of the first one, to get near the female hero. They neared with their own wave, far enough away from the protection of the tower. At first, Sven did like the minutes before, attacking the creeps. His support stayed a little behind and sure enough, the woman started to shoot him. Lucky to have that shield.
Sven turned and threw the Hammer, hitting the woman right on. He ran toward her, ignoring the sting of the fire, which was cast by the spirit. It didn´t do nearly enough damage to stop him. Swinging his sword in a wide ark he hit her, the same moment his stun faded. But the Hammer had already done damage, his blow with the Cleave as well and in that moment, the Demon Witch cast his spikes, splitting the earth and stunning the woman again. More luck, the man had manifested that second and was standing in the path of the Spikes, sharing the same fate as the archer. Both immobilized, it was easy for Sven, to swing his weapon and hit her a second time. His support started firing as well and it only took two more strikes, even as she started to move again after the third one, she wasn´t fast enough. His blade cut her in half and she fell to the ground, blood splashing everywhere. He took one deep breath, staring at the dead body to his feet, the dark hood fallen back and revealing a beautiful face with dark skin and now empty eyes staring up in the sky. The bow had fallen from her hands, lying on the earth, an arrow still on the string.
Determined he turned only to find the spirit rushing past him, behind the tower, some kind of shield cast around his glowing form. He was badly injured as well and if Sven had reacted fast enough, they might have gotten him as well. He knew it, without the Demon Witch telling him so a few seconds later.
"What do you think you were doing, standing there and staring? Now the spirit got away!" He was nearly yelling but Sven only stared at him blankly.
"We got one, didn´t we? So stop shouting. I go to the shop, I need some boots. Thank you for the support though; your spikes were exactly the right time."
The new boots were good. He could move way faster with them and they had a better fit. They were looking better, too.
"You can enforce them with strength and attack speed, if you want", the merchant told him. He nodded. Later he would do that. He needed attack speed. His sword was big and swinging it took a long time. Granted, it did a lot of damage, when it connected, but he could be more deadly, if he hit faster. So that would be his next items.
He joined the wave of soldiers passing by. The Demon Witch was standing on the other side of the road, staring at him. "Sorry I yelled at you. You are new, after all. You did a great job killing her. We both took nearly no damage and that is important, too. We will get the other one later. Just have to be careful until we know what the new hero can do. Don't want a surprise there. Maybe next time, we could first push the tower a bit before you go shopping. Would have gotten a few hits on it, if you stayed. Now, let's keep going."
And like at the beginning, Sven used his Cleave to fight against the soldiers, while the Demon Witch held his eyes open and scanned the surroundings. The fire spirit stayed away from them, wide outside of the range of the Storm Hammer, only sometimes doing his fire jumping thing. But the healing aura from his support counterbalanced the damage of the fire. No problem there.
"We have to start ganking soon", the Demon witch said. The second hero hadn´t arrived on their lane and they were able to start destroying the tower. But the tower still did too much damage, when it hit one of them and so they were not able to take it down. They couldn't kill the fire spirit, because he was too far behind the tower and they stood around more time, waiting for their soldiers, than they were fighting. Not very good. They would get less experience and less gold, when they could not fight. "Or you could go into the woods, kill some of the beasts inside. You get experience and gold from them as well and as long as only one single hero is on my lane, I can hold it. Maybe you should get a Morbid Mask first, from the shop. It will give you the ability to steal life, to regenerate as much life for yourself, as you do damage to your opponent."
"A Morbid Mask next? Will do. Call if you need help down here. I will see what lives between the trees."
"Be careful, especially since one hero is still missing on our lane. Take this ward, you can place it near the river." He pointed in a direction. "When you go this way, you can see a way down to the water. It's a good place to place the ward since you can see everybody who´s passing by and maybe heading into the woods to look for you."
Sven took the ward and headed in the pointed direction. He found the way down to the river, which was more like a wide creek, shallow, only ankle deep but with tiny fish swimming by. He placed the ward and was astonished about how much vision it granted. He would´ve never guessed that.
Than he headed back in the woods, not really sure what would await him there. But it was no big deal. There were beasts everywhere and of course some were easy to slay and some weren´t but he figured out quickly, which ones to engage and which ones to leave for later, when he had more experience in fighting. He gained skill and he did buy the mask, as his support had suggested, first. He used something like a delivery service, to get it without going directly to a merchant.
He could feel how he got stronger with every kill he made and when the hero from the middle lane made his way to their first tower, certainly to gank with them, he followed the little Fairy Dragon. They neared the road and he could see that the enemy heroes, tow again, had pushed the Demon Witch back to their first tower. He was wounded and surly wasn´t able to keep them away from the building. He gave no indication that he knew where he and the dragon were but Sven was sure it was only to keep the enemy from noticing them. Sven didn´t know what skills the dragon had and the second enemy hero on the lane was also new, but he was confident that they could take them. They were three against two and they had their stuns. He would engage, like before, and hope their fellow hero would have enough experience to be of help. Because the fire spirit had gotten stronger as well and was able to cast his fire jumps more frequently now, while doing a lot more damage. And the other one, a big man with a curved blade in a greatcoat, seemed a worthier opponent than the archer woman from before.
Sven was ready for this fight and as soon as the two stepped into the firing range of their tower he threw his Storm Hammer, hitting both. The Fairy Dragon cast some kind of orb, flying above the trees and hopping into that orb as soon as it had reached the enemy. Sven ran towards them, letting out a thundering war cry, which enhanced the armour of himself and his allied heroes. Swinging his sword toward the first enemy in his line, the fire spirit, the Cleave cut through both and their soldiers, killing two heavily injured ones directly. Good, he loved that weapon. With it he felt absolutely invincible.
The man with the sword turned as soon as he could move and engaged him with raised weapon. When it connected, it created some weird splash, similar to his Cleave, damaging all units nearby, almost killing the Demon Witch in the process. He expected his support to turn around and run (which would have been the sensible thing to do) but he remained where he was and cast a spell, which transformed the man into a little white chicken. He attacked the chicken immediately, since the spirit had started his jumping again and he couldn't see him anymore. Unfortunately the man stayed not an animal for long, only giving him time to hit twice. Damn, he had to improve his attack speed, it was really lousy. But next the little dragon, not a big help until now, did some things that glittered and sparkled and did something to the two heroes Sven couldn't see, but must be there because they seemed to panic. The man tried to run past him and the spirit went the other direction, where his heavily injured support was standing. It was a decision he had to make in less than one second: chase the man, who might still get away or save his support by killing the spirit, who would die anyway, because he was alone under their tower und not strong enough to survive its fire. It was an easy decision. His Storm hammer was ready and he took aim. Time seemed to still. The spirit was only one meter away from the Demon Witch and Sven could see he expected to die, when he threw it. He struck him between his shoulder blades, stunning him although he was instantly dead. He stood there, clearly mushed to death by a hammer, until the spell abated. Then he collapsed into a red puddle, not glowing anymore and since the hammer had broken all bones in his back, it really was a puddle. A man could never have laid in such a pose. All three stood frozen for a second, Sven the first one coming into action again. He had saved his support, now he had to get him back into town, without some other hero taking the chance of killing an almost defeated support.
He turned to the Fairy Dragon first. "Stay here or go back to your road, I don't care. But I will bring the Demon Witch to our safe zone, until he is healed. I will guard him into town. Then I will be back. Be careful, the man could come back, together with the one from your road." With that he took the arm of his support and guided him, as fast as he could go, along the road. They passed some soldiers but encountered no enemy. Nonetheless Sven couldn't breathe easily again until he was in range of the guarding tower of the entrance.
"My name is Lion", the Demon witch said. The healing thing he had bought earlier had given him back some energy. "Thank you for saving me."
"Lion. I´m Sven. No problem. Would hate to be responsible for the death of some fellow hero. Regenerate, then meet me at first tower."
They parted ways and Sven headed back to the front. He went through the forest first, to get some more of those beasts. The bigger ones were easier now and he got a few of them as well. Back at the tower he saw the Fairy Dragon still hovering near the tower.
"Didn´t want to go back through the woods alone. Not until we know if the new one against us is a hunter. I didn't want to risk encountering one of those sorts alone. Was a close-run thing we did here. Lucky your support got away. I wasn´t so sure ´bout that."
Sven ignored him and made his way to the shop on the side. He scanned the road and the way into the woods, seeing nothing. The ward had expired and his vision was limited. He hoped the Demon Witch, Lion, brought new wards with him. He upgraded his boots, now giving him attack speed and strength. Way better. Weary, because he didn´t know if the Fairy Dragon was as good a support as the Demon Witch, he joined their soldiers again. They were in the middle between the enemy tower and their own again, like at the beginning. As if nothing had happened meanwhile. He could see the man with the curved blade, probably waiting for a second hero on his side, before partaking in the fight. Sven didn´t care. His Cleave took the soldiers down one by one, leaving their own able to attack the enemy tower. It were only two or three attacks a time, because the man always engaged them and the splash he created did enough damage to clear the region of their tower. Even when Lion arrived at his side again, they could not do much. And then a second enemy hero appeared. He seemed to glide above the ground and held a lightning whip in hand, with which he attacked. And he was fast. Sven shuddered. Lightning with an armour made of steel? He would try to stay clear of that one, because he sure as hell didn´t want to get buzzed in something that would amplify electricity.
"I have placed a new ward and given the Fairy Dragon one to place at the river. He left for the middle road again", Lion told him.
With their soldiers eliminated under the tower, they retreated and waited for the next wave of soldiers.
"Maybe we should gank now. It worked with the Fairy Dragon at our side and we can't do much here. Maybe we can push the tower at the top road, when we are four heroes against two up there", Sven said. "You know some faster way up there than by foot?"
"Sure. Let's kill the next soldiers first and then we can buy us a Scroll of Town Portal. With them we can teleport directly to first tower on the top road. We don't know what is happening up there, so we have to be extremely careful and ready to fight instantly. You have enough mana for minimum one of your hammers to stun?"
He nodded.