Sneaking through the woods, Ryan Rosa spotted his prey. The two scouts were members of the Braven, the guild that had taken the village of Mara. The two players were hunting, following the tracks of the owl-bear that had been spotted in the area. Little did the two players know, the owl-bear, Hedwig, was Ryan’s pet, and the bait in a trap.
Ahead, Ryan could hear Hedwig hooting and growling. Ryan grinned, Hedwig was enjoying his role as the loud and clumsy beast lumbering through the woods.
Looking to his right, Ryan nodded at his girlfriend, Dawn, the dangerous Lilac Priestess. She grinned and readied an arrow. He knew she would react the second he attacked. Activating his Shadow’s Lover Skill, Ryan blended into the shadows. The skill was an amalgamation of two stealth skills and it was incredible. As long as he had any shadows around him, he had the opportunity to disappear. In the woods, where shadows were everywhere it made him a master of stealth.
Stalking his way towards the two players, Ryan readied one of his hunting spears. When he was in position, he threw the weapon.
Successful sneak attack! Shocker attack and critical dmg. You have dealt 180 dmg to Ruby Rod Level 19 player.
As Ruby Rod spasmed from the electric shock attack, Ryan rushed in, switching to his glaive. While he prepared to follow up his initial attack, he saw that the second player already had two arrows in his chest. Dawn’s accuracy and speed with her bow was impressive.
Slashing Ruby Rod with his glaive, Ryan made short work of the player. While he was a level higher than Ryan, it wasn’t a true reflection of their respective stats. In order to gain the boon of a god, Ryan had to forfeit three levels so that his NPC companions could be resurrected. Thankfully all the skills and character points he’d earned during those three levels hadn’t disappeared and he was now far stronger than his level indicated.
You have defeated Ruby Rod. 800 exp gained.
Putting his hunting spear back in his bag of holding, Ryan smiled as Hedwig burst through the bushes hoping to help in the fight.
“Sorry partner, they didn’t last long enough, maybe next time,” Ryan said.
Hedwig grunted and pawed at the dead player, hoping that he was only faking his death.
“Their hunters are getting braver, this is the farthest away from Mara we’ve seen any of them yet,” Dawn said.
Ryan nodded. “We’ll have to do more patrols. The longer we can go without them finding Liberty the better.” Liberty, the village Ryan had helped create was off the beaten path, but not impossible to find, and with it being located right beside a rich mine, it was a tempting target for any guild. So far, they hadn’t had any major problems, but with the town of Mara now being held by a guild of players, they couldn’t take any chances.
“At least the Braven have to keep their main players in Mara. Now that they hold the town they have to keep it. The other guilds are just waiting for them to make a mistake so they can try and take Mara.”
It was true. There were larger towns and cities that were simply too well fortified and had too many guards and soldiers to attack, so the smaller towns and villages like Mara were the prime targets of the guilds like the Braven. At first, Ryan had been disappointed when Mara had fallen to the Braven. They’d worked so hard defeating the Blackheart Guild that it hadn’t seemed fair when the Braven showed up with a group of high-level players. At least the villagers had been able to evacuate and move to Liberty, leaving the Braven with valuable real estate but no tradespeople or slaves for their town.
“You think they’ll be able to hold Mara? I heard that the Blackheart Guild is pissed at them for sneaking in behind them and intend to take the town from them,” Dawn said as they walked back towards Liberty.
Ryan shrugged. “Who knows. The Blackheart Guild has a lot more players, but most of them are lower level than the main guys from the Braven. And the Blackheart Guild has other towns they have to protect. If they go all out against the Braven then someone might challenge them for their bases. It will be an interesting couple months.”
“As long as they fight amongst themselves and don’t try coming for Liberty, I don’t really care who wins,” Dawn said.
Ryan agreed. Not that he was too worried about them attacking Liberty. His guild had a dungeon that allowed them to level up their players relatively fast, and with the villagers being able to be resurrected, they were as valuable as any player in a fight. Liberty would be a tough nut to crack for any guild that tried to take what they had.
After an uneventful trek back to the village, Ryan found his friend Terry waiting for them.
“What’s up?” Ryan asked as Terry rubbed Hedwig on the head.
“You remember Betty from the rehab center?”
“Of course,” Ryan replied. When he’d been injured in a freak accident with a semi, Ryan had gone through two years of rehab and hospital stay. It was how he met Terry, Betty and several others who he now considered friends.
“She’s in the game now, but she ran into problems with a guild. She got forced into a contract that basically turned her into a slave. She’s in some kinda mining camp, and the guild treats her and others like crap.”
Ryan frowned. It wasn’t uncommon for guilds to be assholes, but this seemed to be taking it to a new level. “Which guild?”
“They call themselves the Black Wolf Guild. I looked them up. They have a decent number of players but none of their members are overly powerful. It looks like they are just taking advantage of noobs to build up their resources.”
“We should go get her,” Dawn said. “If she’s a medi-pod player then she should be part of our guild.”
“That was the plan,” Terry said. “But now she’s stuck.”
“OK. We can’t afford to take too many players away from Liberty, it will have to be a small group,” Ryan said. “I’ll take Dawn and Hedwig.”
“You sure that’s enough?” Terry asked. “They are a small guild, but they have at least a hundred members. They won’t be a pushover.”
“You forget, we have the blessing of a goddess,” Dawn said with a grin. “I can recruit Betty and any other ladies that have been caught up in this guild's trickery.”
“We’ll level up on our way to Betty. If we take out a few more of the Braven on our way, we can be even stronger by the time we get there.”
“I guess that isn’t a bad idea, besides Hedwig is turning into a real monster. He’s probably worth a couple players in a fight,” Terry said.
Hedwig let out a grunt of approval that made Ryan laugh. “OK, where is Betty now?”