A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Again this is a work of fantasy so please don't be pissed off at what this story contains. Also check out my DA profile for a painted model versions of Roshi and Desiree, links at the bottom of story.
Krikanalo: Thanks for the review, I will try to keep it up as best I can.
MadFrog2000: Thank you for your review and also the correction on that name.
Jouaint: Thanks for the reveiw
Mr I hate znt nobles: Eh, maybe
Giodan: You're going to love the later chapters then. If you want to read a 40K fic while waiting for the next chapter of WAO, why not look up Testing of Faith by yours truly?
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The Worlds Edge Mountains 9 miles from the Border of Sylvania and on the edge of Zhufbar territory
It was now day three of Roshi's trapped existence in the game of WAO and also the third day she had been hunting the mountainsides of Zhufbar. She wasn't doing it alone though, that would be near suicidal given her low level. She had joined a guild,' The Silver Seekers', they called themselves, at the gates of Zhufbar. They joined together for mutual protection in the harsh environment beyond the gates. As much as the city of Zhufbar was beautiful, with its waterfalls and stone work including its grand waterwheels for its industry, it wouldn't serve well as a place to gain experience if the players were to escape the game.
Roshi wanted to escape this world but in order to do that she and her dwarfen race needed to level up and sort out whether to become 'good or evil'. As much as she wanted to do good things if her race was going to turn 'evil' then she would join in. After all much of those choices were in the game world and didn't have any real life affects… that is if it involved player killing, that was where she drew the line. In her three days of being in the field she had seen four of her guild members die from the various mobs they had fought, but heard of no player killing amongst her race. Though that may change and she couldn't know if the other races were not killing each other off, since they hadn't come into contact with the other races yet, not even in the field.
What she had encountered though were mobs. These were mostly green skins of some kind, snotlings, goblins and the occasional orc that required the entire squad to slay. But despite the first day when she was getting used to her controls and stumbled through the fights, Roshi was now a decent enough player at level 3. She was armored from head to toe, now wearing an all iron chainmail outfit, including an iron plate helmet, she also carried with her a steel shield and hand axe. She had become what the more experienced mmo players called a tank. That was she got into the middle of combat and held the attention of the mobs, while the ranged and strikers did the serious damage. That didn't mean she couldn't do damage as well, she was at level 3 for a bigger reason than just soaking damage since she could still kill mobs.
The Silver Seekers had been back to Zhufbar only once and that was the day before since they needed to rest and re-equip. Because of their traveling further away from Zhufbar than other guilds or lone adventurers, they were able to fight high level mobs and in turn get better loot. Roshi's armor and weapons caused her to go broke and she couldn't even afford a room in her home city. But it was a good tradeoff for the protection it offered, though it put her to her weight limit fairly quickly. After spending a night in the gutter and having a light breakfast of black bread and beer provided by her guild mates, the guild was off to start hunting again.
The guild itself was fairly large in size, composing of 143 members it represented a sizeable percentage of the near 2000 strong population of Zhufbar. This was in turn just a sub faction of the dwarfen race, which numbered 13,543 in still alive members. The exact number of dwarf players, in fact each of the other races players, weren't know either to the common players. Each of the races had a 'Wall of Heroes', or some other similar sounding monument depending on the race of course, inscribed with the names of all the players in that faction. These monuments were set up in the capitals for each race, in turn there was a monument in the sub-factions capitol with each of the names from that faction. Despite the information being available for all of the races too read if they wanted to, it would take a serious effort of an organization to quantify and keep day to day track of the number of players still alive. Or maybe a certain Rat who could use that information to make a great amount of profit.
But the fact of how many players there we're didn't matter at the moment for the Silver Seekers, what mattered to them was the fact that they had discovered a greenskin fortress.
The Silver Seekers had traveled further then their fellow Zhufbarians, going deeper into the mountains then what was thought of as safe. But they had earned larger XP bonuses and more loot by being more adventurous, or reckless depending upon who was asked. The guild had four volunteer quarellers, crossbow armed dwarfs, who scouted ahead of the guild on the ill-used road. Two would be sent up ahead and one onto each flank of the guild to watch for possible mobs. The guild leader, Thordek, a man in his late thirty's with streaks of silver through his long black beard read a message in his menu. The other details of his face were obscured by a full face helm, save for his green eyes which shone through the eye slits. He raised and fist and called out." Halt!"
138 pairs of armored feet came to a halt, some of the dwarfs bumping into each other as they stopped walking. Thordek then sent a message back to his scouts and turned to speak to his guild." Alright, were going to rest now. Eat some food and keep an eye out for greenskins, you never know when AI is going to spring an ambush on us. Lieutenants up front!" As most of the dwarfs settled down resting, eight of their number walked forward and joined their leader in a conversation.
Roshi sat down on the cracked stone road and crossed her legs.' They must of found a large mob.' She thought absently, wondering what was waiting for them down the road. Then she felt a growling in her stomach that drew her mind away from what her leaders were doing and instead on her own hunger. Roshi looked at the lieutenants at the front of the guild and wished they had handed out some bread like they did earlier. She could of asked them for a loaf, but that would have been rude of her since they were in conversation with each other, she also didn't want to look weak by begging. She rubbed her stomach in discomfort and decided to wait.
She didn't have to wait long, as it turned out someone saw her discomfort and it wasn't a lieutenant. A red headed woman with curly red locks, just slightly taller than Roshi's was, walked up to her and held out a loaf of bread in her hand." Howdy there, couldn't help but notice you looked hungry." Roshi looked up at the woman, who's name was Desiree, she was about ten years older than she was and spoke with an American accent… a southern one? She took the bread, saying just above a whisper." Thank you." The woman smiled." Your welcome darlin', mind if sit next to ya?"
Roshi shook her head." No go ahead." Desiree then sat next to Roshi and asked." Couldn't help but notice the accent, you're a Brit right?" Roshi nodded." Yes, first generation. My parents and one of my brothers were from India." Desiree smiled." Well that's pretty swell. I'm from Mississippi myself, family's been down in those parts for a couple hundred years. Though I moved up north to be with my hubby a few years back." She sighed before continuing." We actually bought WAO together last week, we thought that we would be playing with each other soon enough…. But we made the mistake of choosing different races. Now's he's across the ocean playing a high elf."
Roshi felt a pang of understanding with the American. Even though she really didn't enjoy her elder brother's company much since he was becoming to much like their father, he was still the only family she had, despite him now being a wood elf and half way across the continent. With Desiree the separation was so much more difficult since she was missing the man she loved and there was an ocean separating them. Roshi now understood why the woman was talking to her in a moments clarity. So far in Zhufbar, Roshi had seen only a few dozen other women in the city and there were only two in the Silver Seekers. The dwarfs, or the ones living in Zhufbar, so it seemed were hit the hardest by the lack female players. What Desiree needed now was a companion to talk to.
She had been so nice to her and despite her shyness Roshi wanted to talk to her as well. She then spoke to Desiree." I'm sorry to hear that, my brother Nidal was also in the game with me. He's a wood elf and I don't know where he could be." Desiree's face sadden when she heard Roshi." We're in the same boat then darlin', I hope that we don't have to fight against our boys." Then she perked up." You said that you have more than one brother?" Roshi nodded, then casually said, like it was nothing." I had another brother, he died blowing himself and 32 other people up in a Lancaster football match."
Desiree was taken aback by the girls frankness." You mean your brother was-" Roshi sighed." Yes he was…." Then her grip on the bread tighten." Because of my father, I lost a brother and was on my way of loosing another until we we're trapped." She looked at Desiree apologetically." I'm sorry, my family problems are probably not what you wanted to hear right now. Since I know you have your own." Desiree shook her head." It's alright sugercube I just haven't talked to anyone yet an-"
As she spoke the two dwarf scouts arrived at the front of the column. Despite not knowing their names Roshi could tell them apart quite readily. They both were in their mid to late twenties, the one with blonde hair had a trimmed beard and the one with darker hair had a short stubbly beard, they also looked enough alike to be brothers. They wore heavy leather armor instead of the more common chainmail, since they would be able to move easier in the lighter armor. She saw them speak a few words to their guild master and his lieutenants, he then turned back to the guild and called out." Strikers, Ranged and Tank will be divided up. Listen to your lieutenants; we have a mob base up ahead."
Roshi then turned back to Desiree." Gotta go, we'll talk later." She put the bread into her inventory and stood." See you soon Rin." Roshi stopped walking for a moment, then continued on to the front.' My name is Roshi. I'm not a dwarf named Rin, I'm also a Hindu unlike my father, I want to escape this game and go on to college. I must keep telling myself that so I don't forget who I am.' She thought. Roshi had seen some of what had happen to her brothers start to take hold of the other players. It was a subtle effect, but dangerous if not handled properly. It was what would happen if a person was fully immersed into another culture, wearing the clothes and speaking a language. They would be absorbed into that society, despite coming from a different culture. In the end they had three options, they joined the new culture, go insane or escape it. She was planning on being the latter in this game.
She walked up to her lieutenant, a brunette bearded dwarf by the name of Gothric, as did the 13 other tanks in the squad." Alright listen up." Gothric began." About a quarter mile up the road is the entrance to a greenskin hold. Thordek says that the closet's greenskin fort to Zhufbar would be this place, its name is Skraklaz Ungor." Roshi listen and didn't like the sound of this place. She had fought along with her guild against some large concentrations of mobs before, at most twenty goblins and with an orc thrown in as well. But taking on a fortress, that was much more dangerous." We're going to explore the entrance, but not fight our way into the fortress proper. We'll be leading the way, so I want us to get into line now, three deep and five long, when the mobs come at us we'll hold the line so that strikers can worm their way in between the tank units. When Thordek gives the order we'll be pulling back to the road. Then we'll figure out what to do next. Are we clear?" Roshi's head as ell as the rest of her squad nodded in understanding, the plan was easy to understand and sounded relatively safe, they weren't going to conqueror the fort just explore the entrance. If things got hairy… present company excluded of course, then they would just fall back.
"Then form up into the squad and wait for the others to finish their briefing. Front rank form on me." Gothric then stood in the middle of the highway. Two dwarfs set up on his right and two others on his left. Despite the first rank forming neatly the other two were not so lucky. There was pushing, stumbling and the not uncommon foot stomping as the tanks got into position. Despite their lieutenant trying to sound like a professional military person, the dwarfs were still a bunch of gamers who would need weeks of working together before they approached anything close unit coherency. Roshi worked her way to the back of the unit in the incomplete fourth line.
It didn't take long for the other meetings to finish and their own squads got into the column. The three units of tanks were up front since they would be leading the way while the strikers were behind them and behind them filling in the rear were the ranged squads. In a matter of moments she heard Thordek at the head of the column." Move out!" As they all began to trudge to the goblin fort, Roshi took out the black bread Desiree had given her.' Well at least this body is good for something, it makes this bread edible.' She thought as her teeth ground down the tough black bread.
/
Skraklaz Ungor
Skralaz Ungor was at one time a small dwarfen hold along the World Edge mountains, much like the fallen hold of Karak Varn it had been a home for miners of the rare metal Gromil. But those days were long gone, the hold was now a small greenskin fortress. The entrance, where a stone image of one of the dwarfen ancestors once greeted travelers and been a sign of the masonry skills of the clan that inhabited, was defaced and carved by greenskin hands to look nothing more than a stylized skull. Ringing out from the sides of the entrance was a ramshackle wall ten feet tall that went out as far as twenty five yards, with a small greenskin encampment within.
Roshi over all thought that though crude the defenses were effective at keeping people out, they reminded her of her history classes were the teacher talked about how the first castles were more or less just timber stockades. She along with her guild watched the small fort from behind a hill rise two hundred yards away. They watched mostly goblins and the occasional orc walk about the encampment, they were fighting, talking, scheming and otherwise were doing what they preprogramming had told them to do before they went arggo.
Thordek walked up behind her squad and said." Gothric squad I need your time." Roshi's head turned and looked at the older dwarf." I need you to batter down the gates so that squads Dordi-" A ranged squad lead by a short breaded blond dwarf."- and squad Maurice-" A striker squad led by a black bearded and bald dwarf."- can get into the fort. You'll follow after Maurice and the rest of the guild will go after you. After that we'll eliminate what mobs there are at the gates and loot the fort."
"That's all well and good sir but I see we didn't bring a cannon with us so how do you suppose we'll get in there?" This question came from Gothric. Thordek opened his inventory window and with a press of his finger a six person battering ram materialized in thin air. Thordek held onto it, steadying the battering ram." This is how." Roshi was impressed, she didn't know that her guild was able to afford a piece of siege equipment like that so early in the game. She knew Thordek was a fan of the table top game but that didn't explain how…. Then it hit her, he was an owner of the collector's edition of the game, they had extra gold coins when they started the game so as to jump start their virtual armies. She didn't say anything though and neither did her comrades, though the realization of their leaders extra funds dawned on them. It was his gold and he spent it anyway he saw fit.
" Alright sir." Gothric took the battering ram and had six of his dwarfs grab hold of one of the handles." For the rest of you get your shields out and protect the battering ram bearers." Gothric said to his squad before turning back to the guild master." Ready when you are sir." Thordek nodded and drew his pistol with his left hand and hand ax with his right, then he stood at the top of the hill in full view of his guild and the camp below. He waved his pistol forward and shouted." Over the top and at them!" The dwarfs then started to move over the top of the hill, a few slipping as they walked over the rocky terrain.
The dwarfs were running down the hill, the lieutenants keeping their squads in formation as best they could and stopping them from intermingling with the other units. The goblin sentry's, stationed on rickety wooden towers, were finally agrro'ed when the dwarfs reached a hundred yards from the walls. Within the encampment the sounds of chaos could be heard as the greenskins readied themselves for battle. Scattered goblin arrows were fired from the sentry's and inside the fort, these arrows were inaccurate to say the least and were best fired in arrow storms, but some came close to hitting the feet of the dwarfs. Two squads stopped as the arrows impacted the rocky ground, these were the reserved ranged units.
The dwarfs in the units took aim with crossbows and handguns, taking about five seconds to aim at the sentrys, then unleashed their weapons at the greenskin sentrys. In a mix thunder claps and bow twangs goblin screams could be heard and then stopped when they were killed. As the ranged units reloaded the melee armed squads moved further to the gate." Keep running, when we hit the gate!" Gothrik shouted to his battering ram crew. His squad didn't slow even as arrows pinged off the shields of his squad. In fact they ran all the faster, the bronze rams head aimed directly at the gate.
With a crash of metal against wood the door buckled inwards as wood splintered, the gates didn't break but they were down to three quarters in durability." Heave back, heave ho, heave ho!" Gothric shouted, getting his battering ram pulled back before it crashed forwards into the gate, another tenth down. From one of the nearby strikers over hearing Gothrics orders, he called back sarcastically." Don't you mean Hi Ho!" Gothric looked at the dwarf first in anger, then his face soften and he laughed." You heard the man. Hi ho! Hi Ho! It's off to war we go!" That got laughs from amongst the guild, Roshi's own adding to the mix as she guarded against incoming arrows.
'This is so insane, we're trapped inside a video game where we can die, we're fighting an untold number of greenskin's and to top it off were a bunch of dwarfs singing a Disney song. Why not laugh?' Roshi thought as an virtual arrow clanged off her shield. The gate's durability was whittled down quickly from the repeated blows, the door splintering from each blow." Dordi there almost through, get your boys ready." Thordek ordered loudly. The ranged unit then got behind Gothrics unit as they waited.
Then with a crash the gate was broken." Drop the ram, clear a path!" Gothric shouted to his unit, leading the way of stepping to the side. His unit though either ran to the other sides of the gate or laid down on the ground. Past the gates a horde of fifty goblins lead by three orcs boyz had assembled." WAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" The greenskin's shouted as they charged at the dwarfs on the other side of the gate." Fire at the orcs!" Dordi ordered to his squad. In a mix of bullets and bolts two of the orcs fell as did several of the gobbo's , the remaining orc's health was halved but he along with his horde kept on coming." Maurice!" Thordek called out.
The black bearded dwarf hefted his great hammer over his shoulder and ran at the gates." Come on you bastards!" His squad followed after him lifting up axes or hammers as they charged the oncoming horde. At the very center of the gates the two forces met. The dwarfs were the first to strike, they smashed their weapons easily through the gobbo's bodies and heads. The kill for the orc boy went to Maurice who's hammer blow caved in the giant greenskin's head, mushing it into little more than green mash potatoes. Then the goblins struck back, their spears, swords and clubs stabbing or swiping at the dwarfs. The dwarfs blocked and backed away from the attacking greenskins. The goblins poured from the gates in a green tide, seemingly ready to surround the strikers… that was if they were not boxed in by a low wall of iron.
"Tanks hold them!" Gothric howled above the din of battle, his squad on either side of the gates. Roshi lifted her shield to protect her body and brought her ax down on a goblins neck, decapitating it in one swoop as her comrades pressed in against the horde. The strikers rallied and then started to carve a new path of green blood towards the gates." Push them through the gates!" She heard Thordek as he joined the melee, firing his pistol into the chest of one of the small greenskins.
Roshi heard the command and started to push into the rapidly diminishing horde. She pushed a goblin to the side whose body was crushed by Desiree's great hammer. At the same time Roshi sliced open another greenskins throat. The guild fought side by side as a metal reaper cutting down a harvest of wheat. Then as suddenly as the order to advance was given, they were through the gates and the fighting stopped with the last digital heartbeat of the last goblin.
In total the entire fight, from running down the hill to fighting into the fort, had taken less than ten minutes. Where fifty green skins had been only a little while ago now there was green mush and dropped items. The Dwarfs on the other hand had taken the battle fairly lightly, only three players were in the yellow of their health bars, with Maurice being at the lowest and the other players were still in the green. Roshi panted heavily, this was the most intense fight she had been in since she arrived in this world. Not just fighting against the mobs but also running across the rocky terrain in fully armor with short legs. It was exhilarating, the rush of combat, the feeling of adrenaline, it was no wonder so many people wanted to be in this game.
Roshi's thoughts were interrupted by Thordek." Alright reload, rest and start looting boys. Lieutenants with me to the center of the camp." He then walked to the center of the camp to await the arrival of his lieutenants.' Well guild masters orders.' Roshi thought as she joined in on the looting of the camp.
/
Archie Finks, or in his current alias Harnok, was rifling through the contents of a basket, throwing it to the side after finding nothing of value within the container. Archie, like every other human in WAO, was trapped in a virtual world. The ones who decided to play as the human factions were lucky, he had seen what the mirror had done to the human players at the Chaos gate, when they turned back to 'normal'. For the non-human races it was as if they were turned only half way human. He had seen the lizard men take on an appearance as if humans had been breeding with them, such as their hair, body and even faces taking on a human quality. While the elves stayed more of less the same… though so much more taller than they were in real life. The dwarfs though… the dwarfs were the least changed of the races. They had the same short well-proportioned body, beards and hair styles as they did before they were turned half way human. But the faces and races those players were underneath the beards were the humans they once were.
He hated the fact that this had happen to him, he was here to play the ultimate in sensory gaming, not be shoved into a world where he could easily die. So in order to survive he joined the Silver Seekers, a large group of dwarfen clearers so he could get stronger and not worry so much about whether or not death was right around the corner. That lead him to his current situation of rifling through goblin trash to find a few more coins or something of value to sell once they reached Zhufbar.
He grumbled to himself and looked to the entrance of Skraklaz Ungor. There wasn't any dwarfs around the entrance unlike towards the front of the fort, so he might as well see if there was any loot which haddn't been plundered by that area. He walked towards the entrance, keeping his eyes on the ground looking for anything shiny. He was told along with the rest of his striker squad and the guild not to enter the cave itself so he stayed off to the side of the entrance along the cliff facing.
Archie continued to curse his luck, still nothing, not a basket, a piece of scrap iron and not a-. That was when he saw it, it was a shadow but he saw movement from within the cave. He walked closer to the cave entrance, his eyes adjusting to the low light, one of the racial ability of dwarfs to have a heighten sense of light in the dark. There was movement again, this time the shadow was running deeper into the cave." Hey stop!" Archie called, then he made a mistake that put the entire guild in danger, he stepped over the threshold of the entrance.
/
Roshi was looting a corpse of the goblin, putting its spear into her inventory for later resale to one of the npc dealers, it wouldn't be much but at least it would be a few more coppers to buy food with. On the first day she had come to turns with looting and touching the dead bodies of mobs, it was a taboo to handle bodies in her culture, but because these bodies were not real she was sure that the gods would look the other way. As she bent over to do the same she heard a disgusting slavering noise come from the entrance of Skrazlaz Ungor. The other dwarfs heard the noise and turned to the entrance where one of their number was running away from the entrance and to the side of the cliff facing.
As the slavering continued to grow in volume so did the sound of something heavy… bouncing? Yes some things that were large were bouncing out of the cave. Thordek saw the shadows within the cave and Roshi could see his eyes widen in fear." Sweet mother of god, Squigs! Squads form up by the gate!" Thordek was running his lieutenants joining him a moment later. Roshi then saw what made her guild leader run as they bounded out from the skull like entrance.
The eight creatures were round orange-reddish colored monsters that stood on two legs. They hopped out from the cave their mouths gaped open, which were impossibly large and filled with hundreds of small razor sharp teeth. They were about as tall as a goblin but three times the ugly. But what was most frightening about the squigs were not their appearance alone, but there was also a boss amongst them. It was a night goblin who was holding onto a particular large squig by chains that pierced into its skin at the corners of its jaws. The goblin had an insane smirk on its face as it directed the monstrous mount towards the dwarfs. To make it worse this boss had a trio of health bars.
The squigs charged at the dwarfs, out pacing the reorganizing dwarfs." Don't get in front of them!" Dordi shouted as he ran to his squad. Maurice either stupidly or bravely stopped and swung his great hammer around onto one of the squids, the impact causing the squig to lose a third of its health and made it fall to the way side. Before he could swing again at another squig, the boss bounded up infront of the dwarf. The jaws of the larger squig then open impossibly wide, half again the width of its body and it swallowed Maurice nearly whole. His legs kicked out almost comically right before the squig crunched down fully onto the unfortunate player, killing him.
Roshi raised her shield and bent her legs as the squigs came on, ready to get out of the way and slash at the mean buggers." Shoot the little ones! Shoot them!" The order could of came from any of the other dwarfs, but that seemed like a good idea the players listen to. There was sporadic fire as some of the bullets and bolts hit the smaller squigs. Two of their number were felled by the wizzing projectiles and more were wounded. But the remaining squigs came on madly, seemingly impervious to pain.
They crashed into the confused dwarfen lines scrambling and chomping at the players. Another player who's health was at yellow had his axe arm bitten off and his HP hit zero, three more players were sent into the yellow and even more started to loose health from the scratches the squigs were causing. Roshi twisted to the side and brought her axe down on the side of the one of the beasts after it attacked one of the players, its HP dropping 15 percent. The creature then turned and tried to get at her, but she turned with it.' That's how we get them, just stay away from the mouth and keep slicing at them.' She thought. Again she side stepped and brought down her axe onto its side, this time 10 percent.
One of the strikers saw what she was doing and decided to help out. The red headed striker brought her great hammer down on the beasts face in a powerful swing onto its jaws which took out another 30 percent of health, which due to Roshi's actions and a bullet made its health fall into the red. With the beast districted by the strikers hit, turning to her, Roshi brought her ax down one last time onto the squigs forehead, her axe burring into it and caused the beasts HP to drop to zero.
Roshi then looked at the striker and was surprised to see it was Desiree." Thanks." She said to the American, who nodded back." Anytime." Roshi was about to smile when she saw Thordek and Gothric fighting the boss all by themselves. Thordek fired his pistol at the boss at point blank range hitting it and causing a quarter of one of its HP bars to go down. Then when the boss tried to hit him he stepped back so that Gothric could take the blunt of the blow. They both stepped back when the goblin on the squig gripped the chains of his mount, this was the tell sign for when the boss would attack with its… 'gobble' attack. Though they seemed to be making good progress with the boss as it was nearly two health bars. The problem being they would be both dead before they had the boss at a single health bar.
Gothric was in the red and Thordek was in yellow of their health bars, with the bosses attacks being so powerful they would be reduced to zero HP soon enough. With the rest of the guild occupied with putting down the smaller squigs they could go and help their master and his lieutenant, they could kill the boss afterwards but then they would be left without experienced leadership. Roshi never thought of herself as a fighter or even a brave girl back in England, if showed either of those tendencies then her father would curse and threaten her. But what she knew that she was stubborn and determined person at heart and she sure as hell wouldn't let the men who lead her in this new world die when she had a chance to save them.
"Follow me if you can." Roshi said to Desiree, as soon as the words left her mouth she was charging at the boss. She raised her shield up as she ran and watched, in anger, as the battle claimed a life. When the boss's second health bar was reduced to half strength the attack pattern changed, instead of the night goblin urging its squig to gobble up its prey, the beast launched a trio of gobble attacks to its left and right. One of which swallowed Gothrics shield and hand with it. With his HP running down to zero Gothric cursed." Goddamn Kayaba!" Then his HP dropped to zero and he fell to the ground, dead. The boss then hopped and knocked Thordek over. The Squig was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with his legs on his arms. The monster roared and saliva splattered onto Thordeks face.
Roshi gave a wordless war cry as she charged at the boss. As she did so she felt… something in her a mix between hate and a growing sense of power in her step. Then when she reached the boss she unleashed that power into a strong shield bash. Looking back at it Roshi was surprised at her own strength and that she hadn't thought about her 'weapon skills' before, up to then it was doing basic attacks or blocking, never that she could make things easier by using the gaming system to her advantage. The shield bash was powerful enough to knock the squig over and have its second life bar reduced to only one.
With the boss down and off Thordek Roshi unleashed two more attacks on the squig, reducing its last health bar to 75 percent. Then the squig hopped up onto its legs and was about to attack her, when suddenly it was knocked down by a hammer blow. Desiree heaved the hammer back over her shoulder getting ready to attack the squig again. But it didn't, at 40 percent of its last health bar the night goblin boss stood up on his own, his mount dead. The night goblin brandished a heavy great ax as it prepared to defend itself." I'll hold him, you hit." Roshi said, once again raising her shield up." Right." Desiree said, stepping to the side to get into position for the near final strike.
Roshi breathed outwards and then launched herself at the night goblin. The boss was quick, even though it wielded a great weapon, it leveled a strike at Roshi that impacted against her helmet. Had this been the real world that hit would of at least given her a concussion, it not gone through and ended her permanently. But instead the blow reduced her HP by a 40 percent, putting her dangerously low in the yellow. Roshi held the great weapon between her shield and ax, stopping it from being used at least for a moment. Desiree wasn't idle in that time, she moved behind the boss and swung her hammer, inflicting a bone crunching blow to the goblins back. The boss crumpled to the ground, its health bar just hovering at 10 percent full.
Roshi dispatched the boss with a single blow to the neck, decapitating the greenskin gobbo. Desiree looked at her and smiled." Great job sugercube." It wasn't just Desiree who complimented Roshi. There was a screen above the boss that said 'Congratulations you've beaten the boss' Below that it informed her that she leveled up. Then another screen appeared that said 'Last Attack Bonus: Acolyte of Valaya's Golden Band'. Roshi accepted the item and quickly looked it over in her inventory. She saw that it was a golden headband and that it had a latent ability to speed up health regeneration by three HP points a second. It also had the option to be upgraded five more times. She glossed over her equipment to see that her helmet's condition was degraded to almost being broken from great weapons to arrow strikes. Roshi decided to wear the headband, switching out the helmet and returning it to her inventory for later resale.
Thordek walked up behind her." Hey I want to say thank you for what you did back there Rin." Roshi turned around and bowed her head." Your welcome sir, I'm sorry that I wasn't there earlier to save Gothric." Thordek shook his head, his long salt and pepper bread following after it." It was something you at least tried to stop from happening and for that I'm thankful." He then looked at the guild as they put down the last of the squigs." I'm down two lieutenants." He spoke, still watching his guild recover from the attack." Are you two girls interested in taking over Maurice's and Gothric's squads?" He asked turning back to Desiree and Roshi.
The girls didn't need long to come to a decision. With the extra pay, better XP gathering and the potential respect of others, it didn't take a genius to understand the benefits this position offered." Yes." Roshi said a moment later Desiree added." Hell ya." Thordek's face lighten and he then opened his menu to promote the pair to sub-commanders of the Silver Seekers." Good now then gather up your squads were going to-" Thordeks commands were interrupted by a shout near the entrance of the cave.
"Hey, lookit what I caught!" Roshi looked at the cave entrance to see a red bearded dwarf dragging a goblin out from within. It whimpered as it tried to stand up, its feet dragging along the rocky ground." Harnock what have you got?" One of the striker lieutenants spoke, walking along with Dordi towards Harnock and his prisoner." Found this little dude trying to escape." The goblin spoke, not in the high pitched nasally voice of a goblin but that of a player." I was trying to hide from you, not escape."
'A player?' Roshi thought as she watched the scene unfold." Ha! Don't lie you were trying to escape after you sent that boss after us." Harnock said, pushing the black cloaked gobbo into the ground." I was trying to hide after you spotted me, y-you came after me after you destroyed the fort." That got a kick to the ribs delivered by Harnock. The dwarf drew his ax and the goblin panicked." Please don't kill me! I'm a player just like you!" Harnock put his boot onto the goblins chest holding him still." All the better reason for you to try and kill us, stopping the dwarfs from becoming more powerful." As Harnock raised his ax Dordi ran forward along with Thordek, Roshi's own feet adding to the movement towards the scene. As Dordi shouted." No wait he's-!" Harnocks axe came down three times onto the greenskin's players head, hacking the player to death. The diamond above his head turning orange.
Thordek reached Harnock first, punching him across the jaw, flooring the dwarf." The fuck is wrong with you!" Thordek roared at Harnock. Harnock looked up at his guild leader, anger in his eyes." I killed the reason why we lost so many dwarfs today." If he tried to gain sympathy for the murderous act he committed, he failed spectacularly." That is for me to decide, not you. I will not have a murderer in my guild!" Thordek opened up his screen, getting into the guild options. Harnock raised up an open hand." Please I was just trying to protect the guild, after the goblin set the boss after us."
Dordi spoke, glaring daggers at the murderer." You set it off the boss when you entered Sraklaz Ungor you idiot." Harnock looked at Dordi." How do you know?" He asked the lieutenant. Dordi looked to Thordek, like he wanted to share a secret with the older dwarf. Thordek nodded silently, giving his permission." I was a beta tester." Dordi spoke." I was here before when the test was going on and saw what triggered the mid-boss to go aggro. That would be someone walking over the threshold." Harnocks eyes widen as he gave his last, weak defense." B-b-but why didn't you warn us?" Thordek answered that question." I gave orders to every dwarf here not to enter the fortress. You disobeyed, you murdered a player and tried to blame your mistake on him. You can go fuck yourself for all I care because you're out of my guild." He then pressed a button that kicked Harnock out of the guild, banning him from entering it again." Now get out of my sight orange boy and don't ever let me see your face in Zhufbar again." He kicked Harnock in the ass to get him going. The disgraced dwarf then ran, a path being formed by players stepping aside so he could leave through the broken gate.
Thordek then sighed heavily as he looked at the remains of the goblin player, his digital body disintegrating." Such a waste." He said under his breath. Then he spoke to his gathering guild." Let this be a lesson to you all. If you kill a player who poses no threat to you, then I'm kicking you out for good. If you disobey me I'll still kick your ass." The guild was silent as they listen to their leader." Now we lost some people today, good people at that. But we're in a war to escape this hell hole of a world so people will lose their lives. In this war though we have to make a choice, it's up to each of you to make it, whether or not we stay human or we become monsters. Because if you make the wrong choice you will have to live with it for the rest of your life, even if you escape."
He took a breath before continuing." Enough speeches. I've got a pair of announcements. First off is that Rin is taking over for squad Gothric and Desiree for squad Maurice. I expect you to treat them with the same respect as you did to their former commanders. Secondly we are leaving now and heading back to Zhufbar. After today's events you deserve a nights rest." He looked at the faces of his guild and shouted." Move out!"
/
Juro Toe Splitter, otherwise known as Ashley Rose in the real world, watched the dwarfs leave the fort of Sraklaz Ungor. She, along with her friend Geets, had traveled from Crag Mere, or in the dwarfen tongue Karak Varn, over the past three days to reach the dwarfs of Zhufbar on a diplomatic mission from the greenskin guilds. She had hoped to talk to the dwarfs there and see about striking a peace deal that didn't involve them going to war with each other. She had hoped that this mission would stop any bloodshed from happening between the two races. But she had been wrong, dead wrong.
A days rest was all they needed, that was what she said they needed after traveling so far. Just a few hours rest at the goblin fort she insisted to Geets. Then they would be rested for the last leg of the journey to Zhufbar. Geets agreed to it begrudgingly though he wanted to continue on. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago they had that conversation and if she just listened to him they would of meet with those same dwarfs peacefully. But now Geets was dead, murdered because of his skin.
Juro, like everyone else in WAO had been transformed into their avatars. But unlike the other races which took on female appearances if they were that gender in real life, the orcs and goblins were asexual and resembled 'boyz' even after the mirrors. This was a bit of a shock to her, especially getting used to the… extra parts. Geets was there for her when she had cried that first day, telling her everything was going to be alright. He kept on telling her that till the damn dwarfs attacked the fort.
At first they hid in the entrance of Skrazlaz, thinking it would be safe, not being recognized as a mob and then talk to dwarfs after they did their pillaging. But when that one… that murderer decided to investigate the cave she ran deeper iinto the entrance. Then the squigs appeared and hopped out to meet their ancestral enemies. Even when the squigs had been dealt with she held out hope that they could talk to the dwarfs. Then Geets was captured by the idiot dwarf and murdered right before her eyes. She couldn't watch after the first blow. After a few minutes of waiting she turned to watch the dwarfs leave.
Now all those hopes were crushed and all that remained… was survival and revenge.
/
Roshi surprised to see a cart approaching on the stone path coming from Slyvania. Even from this distance she could see the occupants pointing up at the dwarfs. They were much more taller than the dwarfs and wore the yellow/black clothes of one of the Empire realms.'Averland?' she thought as she observed them get closer.
It had been less than an hour since she and her comrades had left the greenskin fort. They had traveled on to a fork in the road that lead to Slyvania in the west through two different routes and a single road to Zhufbar in the east. She haddn't been able to talk to Desiree since they had been promoted, both were tending to their squads. It was one of the rangers that caught sight of the wagon, calling the column to a halt when they spotted the humans a mile away.
When Thordek heard about it he told his lieutenants, herself included, to gather at the edge of the fork so they could meet with the humans. When the wagon saw the greeting party it slowed down considerable and Roshi was able to get a good look at its occupants. The two at the front of the wagon had to of been a father and daughter, the girl was in her early teens at best with bright curly blonde hair and a rounded face, while the man sitting next to her was at the very most thirty years her senior with blonde curly hair with streaks of silver and an almost similar face. Behind them though were people who were most defiantly not related to the father and daughter. All five of them were armored in steel breast plates and other bits of armor including helmets. The one that struck her as the most individual was a man wearing a not a helmet, but a headband to partially cover his unruly red hair.
As they got very close Thordek took several steps ahead of his lieutenants and waved at the wagon. The wagon driver waved back and stopped the horses, pulling the wagon to a stop. He spoke with his daughter and handed the reins off to her, before stepping off the driver's seat. The man approached the dwarfs, he was armed with a brace of pistols and a fine steel long sword at his waist, he was armored with a steel cuirass and steel greaves, his arms were covered in the red and black selves of Averland. The man's face was thin, though with a short nose similar to his daughter, he had blue eyes in contrast with his daughters brown. Thordek was the first to speak." Hello there stranger, my name is Thordek of Zhufbar, anything I can do to help you?"
The man spoke with a clear German accent." Ja, my name is Fredrik Weiss. I, my daughter Bertha and our hired men, led by that redhead man Klein, are looking for shelter." Thordek looked him over." Weiss eh… oh I know you, you're supposed to be the head of Games-Workshop Germany. I saw you once when I visited Germany's Games Day." Then he realized he was getting off track of the conversation and shook his head." Sorry real world stuff. Anyway why are you here and not in Averland? Does this have to do with why you're looking for shelter?"
Weiss nodded." Averland isn't safe for collector right now." Thordek raised a questioning eyebrow." Why is that?" Weiss spoke, his shoulders slumping as if he bore the weight of what had happen on his back." Averland… nein, the entire Empire is in anarchy."
/
A/N Well folks here we are the end of the chapter. Look down below for the links to my DA profile for the images of higher level Roshi and Desiree. If those don't work look up the link to DA through my FF.N profile and look in the gallery folder marked WAO to find some images of warhammer regiments, scenery or just individuals that will be making appearances. If you enjoyed the fan fiction or you have a problem with it please write a review, because I do try to answer your questions without spoiling to much.
Roshi
art/WAO-Roshi-389971625
Desiree
art/Reaper-Forge-Maiden-263280262
The map that I used was a Slyvanian map, this is only one showing details around Zhufbar. You need to scroll down to find it.
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