Escape from Darom, page 45
Climbing the building Töten told me about was easy enough. Half of the outer wall was missing on two sides so I had to climb up the central stairwell partly out in the open. Luckily, that side of the building faced away from the center of the city while still giving whoever was on the roof ample time to see who was approaching. As I reached the rooftop, a friendly voice called out to me.
“Nice style you’ve got going on there,” Töten jokingly said, “is that a part of the Respawn Underwear Collection?”
“More or less,” I agreed, walking over to him as we shook hands, “I like to call it part of the “I didn’t want to lose my shit” collection.”
Alanah hadn’t been joking, the guy was huge as hell, I thought, looking up at him. Though I had to say, he had some sweet-ass armor and gear. Not to mention, the horns coming out of his helm were pretty badass. I’m sure some players would’ve been worried about someone like him trying to gank them, but if he’d really wanted to, I couldn’t have stopped him without being fully geared anyway. Besides, he could’ve ganked me coming up the steps easily enough if he’d really wanted to.
“Eh, I’d go ahead and get geared up if I were you,” Töten said, jerking his chin towards the graveyard, “Otherwise, you might end up like those low-level losers.”
“What do you mean,” I asked, walking up next to him to see what he was referring to.
For a along moment, I could only stare down at the scene before me in horror. Nightwing Slasher Mosquitos had flooded … er … infected, might be a better term, the central graveyard where all of the Chaos Storm Alliance players were currently spawning back in. It was in response, I was sure, to the horde of Orcs filling the plaza and the lower-half of the city.
Whatever the reason didn’t matter now because these same Nightwing Slasher Mosquitos that had paralyzed our ranks earlier and had nearly been the death of us were now… I paused not even sure how to describe the horrific sight. They were definitely feeding on the players’ corpses but it was much much worse than that. It was like the insects were pumping their bodies full of larvae, pupae, or whatever the fuck those squirming worm-like things were. Not that I was exactly a mosquito expert or anything but no matter how you sliced it, the entire situation looked bad.
“Any way you look at it,” I said, nearly gagging as I watched the elongated insects pumping their ovipositor into the players’ every orifice, “that can’t be good.”
“At least, they’re all dead,” Töten said in a disturbed tone as I began getting dressed, “I just thought those players would’ve been fighting back more.”
“Their claw-tips have a slow-acting paralysis poison,” I said, strapping on my breastplate and pauldrons as I talked, “but when they hit us earlier, they were simply trying to eat us,” I waved my arm down at that nightmare freak show below, “not whatever the fuck that is.”
“It looks like a system bug,” Töten stated with a knowing nod as he curiously eyed my helmet, “I bet none of the developers expected the Crevice of Shadows monsters to be attacking a bunch of low-level players inside a town like Darom.”
“Huh,” I said, noticing an all too familiar group of Dread Pack players being violated in the corner of the graveyard, “It looks like Bungholio and his ass-boy lackies Shuuk and Pettman didn’t get that memo about suiciding from the HUD.”
“Serves them right,” Töten exclaimed, leaning over the rooftop to get a better look, “Look at that PokeU Pettman guy’s eyes,” he shivered and looked away, “that’s gonna leave some stretch marks.”
“Does that mean V-MMORG is going to get sued?” I curiously asked, unable to look away from the gruesome sight.
“Oh, hell no, man,” Töten said, letting out a dark laugh, “That’s all part of the legal agreement that all of us signed upon agreeing to play. It goes into specific details about all of this shit.” He shrugged as we watched. “Just because they didn’t bother reading the fucking manual doesn’t mean V-MMORG is at fault.”
“Yeah, you would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard about all of that,” I agreed.
“Not just that,” Töten nodded at something I couldn’t see, “those boys are Advanced and Nightmare start players, so that meant they had the extra interview when they got their body scanned and agreed on video that they knew and understood the rules. Besides, V-MMORG could probably successfully argue that the boys have some sort of odd fetish.” He shot me a wink. “How much you want to bet they’ve done some nasty stuff in-game they thought wasn’t being recorded?”
“Oh, I know they have,” I said without hesitation.
“Why, do you know them?” Töten curiously asked.
“Naw, I ran into the losers two different times now,” I said, shaking my head in disgust, “That PokeU Pettman guy killed my soulmate earlier in the plaza.”
“I hope you were able to pay him back in kind,” Töten automatically said.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, grinning at the memory, “I triggered Corpse Explosion and blew Helgath up in his face.” I shrugged. “It was just enough to kill him too.”
“That sounds pretty … hardcore,” Töten quietly said, eyeing me thoughtfully.
“My soulmate will appreciate how I did it,” I assured the larger man, “It was actually her suggestion in the first place.” I nodded back towards the group being brutalized. “Besides that, they were part of the crew that raped and pillaged Darom before murdering all of the children.”
“Figures.” Töten stated nodding.
“Yep,” I replied, nodding sagely, “It made me wish that I’d done more than just busted that Bungholio guy’s kneecaps.”
“So, being the greatest asshole isn’t just part of his name,” Töten said, shaking his head, “and all of the Carebears on the forums kept going on and on about how messed up that was until the screenshots of the pile of children’s bodies started showing up.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of hard to defend even in an MMO,” I snarled, remembering that shit-show all too well. Clearing my throat, I continued a bit more calmly, “At least, we were able to resurrect them.”
“Yeah,” Töten said not put off at all by my odd sense of justice. He suddenly bellowed, “Is that a Hulking Monstrosity?”
Following his eyes, I saw the familiar lumbering shapes of the high-level monsters entering through the shattered gates. They were easy enough to see since they stood higher than the outer defensive walls.
“Yes, that sure is,” I confirmed, letting out a low whistle, “I still can’t believe the Orcs trained them all the way back to Darom.”
“What did you idiots do?” Töten asked, letting out a rumble of laughter, “Pass through the Crevice of Shadows at night?”
“It wasn’t like we had much of a choice,” I grumbled back unhappily.
“Hey, I’m not criticizing, but damn man, that takes some big balls,” Töten said, laughing at the annoyed look on my face. Standing up, he swung his two-handed hammer to his shoulder and nodded towards the Cavern Death Maw Spinner making its way down the main street below, “Though, we might want to start thinking about getting the hell out of here. This city is starting to fill up fast with monsters that neither one of us wants to be fighting.”
“Yeah, about that,” I said, embarrassingly rubbing the back of my neck as I stood up and drew the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden, “Do you mind if we head towards the western graveyard outside of town? I need to pick-up my soulmate and mount when their timeouts are finished along with two others that will be meeting us there.” I choked back a sudden yawn with the back of my hand. “And, I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna need to crash soon before I fall asleep on my feet.”
“Naw, that’s cool,” Töten said, yawning too, “I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for the last three days trying to keep Darom from being overrun by these assholes.” He got a faraway look in his eyes. “You want to setup camp and meet up Monday morning at around seven?”
“That would be awesome,” I agreed, shooting him a group invite, “I really need to do a Publix run when I wake up and a bunch of my friends were going to meet up at the Boynton Beach Ale House for dinner.” I paused, realizing that might not work with his schedule. “I mean, as long as that’s not gonna mess up the timing for getting your stronghold back. We could have problems getting it to pack up if they’ve been holding for it more than seven days.”
“I still have fifty-six hours left before it hits seven days,” Töten assured me as I added Phoenix, Neristhana, and Helgath to the group, before removing it from the rest of the raid, “We should be good as long as your friends have their own mounts.”
“Yeah, they do, I got that set up once I realized that I might have to stay behind to make sure my people could get away,” I assured him as Töten tilted his head at me curiously, “Eh, I figured if I was going to get stuck behind, then I might as well knock out a few things while I’m here.” I flashed him a grin. “You’re welcome to travel with us if you’ve got nothing else going on.”
“I just might do that,” Töten harrumphed thoughtfully, before looking at me pointedly, “Ready to move out?”
“Uh, give me a sec to get some Ghouls up,” I hurriedly said, digging in my pouch for soul stones.
Glancing at my HUD, I saw that three of my Apoxsee Ghouls were still alive somewhere. I got the impression from them that they’d managed to slaughter their quarry three different times. Not bad at all, I thought, pulling out thirteen soul stones. The worst-case scenario was that they’d go feral which should still give Apoxsee a headache if he was trying to loot his gravestone. Töten watched from the depths of his helm as I began casting my spell. As thirteen level 48 Elite Orc Warrior Ghouls rose up out of the rooftiles a minute later, he gave them an appreciative nod.
“Neat trick,” Töten said, before turning toward the stairwell and simply jumping down to the ground level in one leap.
“Show off,” I called after him, taking the stairwell. Jumping large distances was always somewhat dangerous in MMOs and I wasn’t willing to mess around too much in a combat situation. The last thing I wanted to do was shatter my legs because I was trying to show off.
Our path led us through a lot of the burning debris. Töten didn’t seem to be affected by the heat or, in some spots, actual raging fires. I tucked that bit of knowledge away for posterity in case things ever went south between us since that probably meant he was highly vulnerable to Frost magic spells. That was MMO logic 101. If a game gave you a powerful strength or resistance, it usually came with an opposing weakness.
When we were nearing the “kill zone” between the city and walls, I blanched as we hit our first resistance. There was a massive battle going on between the monsters from the Crevice of Shadows and the horde. I saw a number of Jagged Assassin Beetles, Giant Armored Toxicpedes, and Scaled Shadow Hunters intermixed between five massive Cavern Death Maw Spinners that seemed to be feeding on the lower-level Orcs in a brutal display of pure savagery.
“We should be able to pass through that without too much of an issue. Our goal is that guard tower on the wall,” Töten confidently said, nodding towards the defensive tower across from us as I came to a stop beside him, “Don’t try to fight anything that aggro’s us in that chaotic mess. We’ll get ass-raped if we do.”
“That shouldn’t be an issue, we’ll be able to deal with anything that aggro’s us in the lower room of the guard tower,” I said, nodding towards the defensive walls where more Orcs were busy fighting off the flying monsters, “as long as we keep an eye on the stairwell in case we get any unwelcomed company from above.”
“Good point,” Töten agreed, before continuing, “All that we need to do is be able to drop down to the other side of the wall.”
“Let’s hope it’s not like this outside the walls,” I grunted in agreement.
“Yeah,” Töten grunted in reply, “It’s too bad your mount is still on cooldown.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Eh, it doesn’t matter. We’ll just have to make a run for the edge of the forest and fight whatever aggro’s us there. That’ll stop us from aggro’ing more mobs than we have to.” He gave me a thumbs up. “Sound good?”
“Works,” I agreed, with a tired shit-eating grin, “I guess all of that means you don’t have Stealth?”
“Dude, look at me,” Töten said, waving the head of his hammer at his heavy bronze plate mail armor, “Does it look like I can Stealth in this?”
I didn’t mind letting Töten take the lead. It allowed me to get an idea for the large Warrior’s skills. Not only that, if I were being perfectly honest, it was nice letting someone else take the lead for a change. Besides, if things went to shit, I was flexible enough to work with most players game styles. At least, I was if they knew what the hell they were doing.
“Just checking,” I replied as we both chuckled. Waving an arm towards the “kill zone,” I gave him a wink, “Lead the way, Kemosabe.”
“For the record, you’re helping me,” Töten called back to me as he took off into the scrum, “so that means, you’re the sidekick, not me.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” I teasingly shouted, following after the big guy as I yanked the Vicious Executioner's Axe of Cruelty from my belt going full DPS mode.
As I ordered the Ghouls to move out in a formation to either side of us, we sprinted for the tower attacking everything in our path. While the Ghouls hacked at any Elite Orc Warriors that tried to stop us, I worked with Töten to clear a path through the monsters and demi-humans. The Warrior’s two-handed hammer dealt out crushing blows to the monsters and Orcs alike, while they were momentarily stunned, I went to work with my blade and axe, ripping away their health.
We made a good team, clearing thirty of the fifty yards to the wall in no time. The hardest part that I had was keeping the Ghouls moving. They kept wanting to continue fighting whoever they were battling and it forced me to constantly make sure they kept moving with us. That’s when we got too close to one of the Cavern Death Maw Spinners that was trashing everything in its path.
“RRREEE!” the Giant Spider roared as Töten hit the monster upside the head with his two-handed hammer.
“Shit,” Töten gulped as the Cavern Death Maw Spinner whipped around to the large Warrior with insectoid quickness, “I don’t think that even hurt it!”
Four of its massive legs shot forward like battering rams as Töten threw up his heavy shield. There was a deep metallic bong as the large man was picked up and thrown the rest of the distance into the wall of the guard tower. As the Giant Spider flexed to jump, the Ghouls under my command launched themselves at the monster’s legs, hacking and slashing for all they were worth as I hit it with a Light Word of Censure, before tagging it back-to-back with Zombie Hands.
Töten luckily hadn’t been able to pull too much aggro with his hit. Otherwise, that would’ve never worked. As the Giant Spider began ripping my Ghouls apart, I raced over to Töten’s side and sheathed my Dark Blade of Lord Kayden so I could loop one of his arms over my shoulder to lift him up.
“Dude, why the fuck did you attack a level 70 elite fucking monster?” I screamed, dragging the Warrior towards the open doorway of the tower. My Ghouls were getting slaughtered fast as I tottered us into the main guardroom, “I thought we agreed we weren’t trying to get into any major fight in the “kill zone!”
“Sorry about that,” Töten slurred as the stun started to wear off, “I turned around and it was right in my face.”
“RRREEE!” the Elite Cavern Death Maw Spinner shrieked as it ripped apart the last of the Ghouls and launched itself at the open doorway.
I’d barely managed to push Töten towards the back of the room, when the entire guard tower shook from the impact. Turning around, all that I could see through the open doorway was the Giant Spider’s immense fangs snapping at the empty air. Even more horrifying, its tentacle-zombie lips were blindly lashing around the room, crushing tables and chairs.
“Gah,” I screamed, hacking at the thick tentacles with my axe, “get your fat-ass up and give me a hand!”
“Damn, that must be what getting hit by a moving train feels like,” Töten grunted as he climbed to his feet.
“Less talking and more helping,” I shrieked, barely dodging the inner jaws that shot out into the room and nearly snapped me in half.
“Rrraaawww!” Töten screamed as he came charging along the wall at full tilt. Catching the edge of the iron-bound door with his forearms, he thrust it closed with all his strength, before slamming into it with his shoulder and the weight of his entire body.
“RRREEE!” the Elite Cavern Death Maw Spinner shrieked in pain as its inner mouth was smashed in the iron-bound door with its tentacle lips tearing at the wall.
“Fuck you!” I screamed, chopping the Vicious Executioner's Axe of Cruelty down on its inner jaws and snapping the end of it off into the room.
There was an ear-splitting shriek from the Giant Spider that made my ears bleed as it ripped its inner jaws and lips back through the doorway. The immense force behind the act threw the door back open as Töten tumbled across the room. Not waiting for the monster to recover, I rushed the iron-bound door as it bounced off the backwall and threw it closed with my shoulder. Thinking quickly, I slammed my hand axe into the gap at the bottom of the door like a doorstop as the Elite Cavern Death Maw Spinner launched itself back at the closed door.
“Get the crossbar in place,” I yelled as dust rained down from the stone ceiling. As the iron-bound door creaked ominously from the pressure being put against it from the other side, I heard the Warrior behind me stumbling to his feet.
“Where is it?” Töten anxiously hollered looking around the room.
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” I asked as the Giant Spider threw itself against the iron-bound door.
“Got it,” Töten shouted, hauling the heavy bar over as the door slid back partly.
“Hurry it up,” I screamed, backing up to throw my shoulder into the door again. Not that it budged an inch, “I don’t think my hand axe is gonna hold long!”
