ALL NOVEL Guards
We moved forward in a formation after the temporary camp was finished. Instantly we set out towards the not far off Greying tree. Our quest location should be nearby since this was the first hint of it. As I played this game, the one quest with the demon, I learned that you could just finish a quest before knowing anything. I could go back and show the corrupted deer remains and get the minimum. Investigating it would increase the rewards. This brought incentive to play to survive longer, I think. If the going got tough, we could just leave with the knowledge we had.
When we got to the tree, there was a hole in the ground into the tree's Root system. Another cave, I thought sardonically. These seemed to be a favorite of Victoria's game designers. I didn't have enough information to know if it was across the board. The darkness seemed to fill it in, and we all looked at each other. "Into the deep," I said with a smirk. I received nods in return as we stepped into the darkness.
I cast an illusion light spell bringing light into the darkness. We stepped inside only to learn that the spell was unnecessary. Torches started to drape the walls after the first turn, and I stopped my spell. It wasn't that far when we noticed that there are guards. Two humans sat in the torchlight, sitting on box crates. This was a surprise, and I approached about to speak when the guards turned to us, surprised. They then instantly tried to attack me.
Suprised, I jumped back, and Iona leaped forward, taunting the guards quickly. Fidel started to cast as the fight started. Iona dodged each attack as Gloom transformed into a jaguar. The guards were not weak as Viccy shot one with an arrow in the face cutting a large portion of his mouth. The guard groaned and continued to attack Iona as she continued to dodge. Iona would cut them with her Katana, and they would try to parry or dodge. The fight continued as I brought up an Illusion while Fidel sent a simple lightning bolt twice to the first man.
These men, though, took it like a champ as they seemed to emit smoke but never stopped fighting. Blood sprayed as we hit them, and without any mistakes, we killed them. The battle seemed like a marathon, though. Gloom turned back into a Cat-kin and healed everyone up. We were all surprised at the tenacity of the two guards. I looked down at my notifications to see the experience and received a surprise.
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You have Killed a Retainer of Darkness Guard 5000 XP;
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You have Killed a Retainer of Darkness Guard 5000 XP;
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Quest Notification:
You have found that in a tunnel near a Corrupted corpse of a dead deer, a Retainer of Darkness Guard.
Report this to the guild to complete your quest or continue to investigate.
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That was an amazing amount of experience after killing wolves for only five hundred each. The contrast wasn't something we were expecting. Viccy had a happy expression as I could tell she had leveled up. I went to loot the bodies and didn't get much.
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You have received a coin purse x2;
You have received a small lockbox;
You have received a Steel Sword;
You have received a small hunting dagger;
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That was the end. I would save it all in my large bag and went looking for more around. The camp was done, and things went deeper. I looked at the time, and we still had a couple more hours. I motioned everyone to eat quickly in the light before we moved forward. Viccy passed out the dry rations, and we ate in silence. I only asked everyone's condition after the fight.
Fidel looked at me with a condescending look. Gloom just smirked at me while Viccy told me she was good to go. Iona said that Gloom healed her already and was ready to go. It was a good time as any, and we stood up, going deeper slowly. We just left the touch light when we heard footsteps in the silent cave. We were in formation, and I pointed at the walls. I flattened against it as the dark covered us.
"John! Joe?!" He called out as he was turning the corner soon to pass the darkness we were hiding. "Come on, guys, your late. You always are out here saying you want your alone time. Are you playing games or humping!" He finished his talking when he stepped into the vision of the bodies. We all pounced just as the Guard had one last sentence to say, "OH FUCK!" An arrow in the throat followed by a lightning bolt and a sword severing his spine. He fell to the ground, and another load of five thousand experience entered our coffers.
I quickly looted him, only getting a coin purse and another small lockbox. It was a modest gain, and we started to move deeper into the cave. We did not want more guards at this point to notice the missing ones. We moved forward under periodic torches. One of the things I noticed, though, as we moved through was the lack of smoke. I paid attention and noticed the smoke going into holes in the cave. I realized they must have a vent somewhere. I wondered where since I hadn't seen smoke when we entered.
The realization that this was an engineered tunnel was then shoved into our face as we found a group of guards around a small campfire. They were lounging, playing card games and Dice. Coins were being exchanged as people won and lost. On the other side was a bricked wall with a wooden door.
We had not been spotted. I counted the guards in the light. There were six in total. This would make an easy nine in total guarding the outside of this door. We backed up for a quick discussion on how to tackle this problem. We came to one quickly to blitz them while they were still confused. Gloom, though, would stay back to heal us as we battled. I would control the situation and start the battle with an illusion of confusing them. That is when Iona would dive in, killing as many smaller guards as one was wearing a set of steel armor. This made him look more powerful than the others. We would then kill the Steel guard. I would keep up the illusion that the door was gone and mess with their perception to stop them from retreating, allowing us to kill them all.
With the plan in place, we got ourselves ready. Viccy readied herself with a smile. I was prepared to enter, coming up with the illusion I wanted to confuse the guards with. At first, I wanted to start with complete darkness, but something told me that it would be a bad idea based on their name. Instead, I had a smirk on my face as I decided to go big or go home.
I started to chant, readying the scene as I couldn't do a neutral cast to start. I would be going for one of my largest tries since I practiced back on prisoners. When I nodded, we all moved forward as a group. Iona trusted me and just ran in as my Mana moved forward. All the guards were stunned at the sudden running sounds. The sound sounded urgent as Iona ran towards them. The cards, dice, and coins were brushed aside as they were about ready for battle picking up weapons when the world changed. The running came from a Brightly shining sun, blinding them as the Sun was rising into the sky. They were now in a meadow far away from where they were guarding. The Steel-suited man yelled out, "It's an illusion be on guard!" He yelled out. Iona burst forward from a shrub and cut down towards a surprised guard. An arrow hit the guard's sword arm just as he was about to block, allowing Iona to cut open his throat, spraying her in a stream of blood. The man fell, clawing at his neck, hoping to live.
The other Steel guard was about to intercept when Lightning, in stark contrast to the Bright shining sun, had a Lightning bolt rain down from the Sun and hit him square in the chest before hitting each other guard one after the other. He was numbed, making him move slower for a second as Iona jumped towards the next guard. Arrows rained in backing Iona up as she tried to separate the men. I kept up the Illusion making it, so they only saw Iona. Lightning continued to Chain off the Steel suited Guard to the others. Soon a guard went down one by one, leaving the Frustrated Steel guard to let out a yell of frustration. To my surprise, it destroyed my concentration, and I felt the urge to run towards him. I ran towards him with bloodshot eyes when I felt like a water bucket was poured on my head.
My head cleared, and I ran back as the Illusion was broken. It seemed to have been a taunt from the steel armored man. Iona blocked the man, and they began to dance in a symphony of clashing swords. Fidel was the only one who could hit the man without hitting Iona. Another drawn-out battle as Iona was hit several times. Gloom healed her while I would cast an Illusion that would split from Iona. This would confuse the man for a couple of seconds only as he would destroy the Illusion in two hits. These two hits were not at Iona, allowing Gloom to keep up with her health loss. Soon the Man tried to run. He turned and ran, grabbing at the handle of the door only to smack his face into the brick wall giving himself a concussion. It was an easy kill from there.
When he fell to the ground dead, I knew tonight we wouldn't be able to enter deeper. We were exhausted and at the last of our legs. "Look, ladies. We need to clean this battle up loot and go back to camp. The ward will make it, so they cant enter our camp. This way, we can rest, eat and be prepared to enter the base tomorrow." I said. All the girls nodded.
"You are right; we are tired after a day of fighting. My only regret is we didn't start diving into the depths in the morning instead of at night." Gloom stated with a serious expression. We all nodded gravely, knowing that someone might find the remains warning the lab.
"That is a risk we have to take. If we continue now, someone might die. We are all exhausted after these hard fights consecutively." Viccy agreed with the general sentiment. I started to loot, getting something interesting.
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You have received a coin purse x5;
You have received a small lockbox x3;
You have received a Steel Sword x2;
You have received a Steel armor Set;
You have received 45 silver coins and 92 Copper coins;
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An entire steel set was amazing to get, and I looked at the notification for the last guy we killed.
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You have Killed Retainer of Darkness Head Guard 10000 XP;
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The amount of experience we were getting was amazing. After clearing the battlefield, we left the cave to our temporary camp, where I set up a ward where Viccy and I heard the Alarms telling us to log off. We were on time for the first time and Logged off, going back to the real world with happy smiles on our faces.
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Thank you for all the support. If you help me get this story above rank Five hundred I will release a Second chapter over the week. Thanks again.