Earlier that evening
“So, what’s the plan?” Charles asked.
“A pincer movement!” Isaac explained animatedly. “Charles, you and Walter will lead a full-on frontal assault at their gates, while Jace, Marie and I sneak around back and rescue Tenshi!”
Drawing a rough square in the dirt in front of them, Isaac tossed a handful of pebbles, pinecones, and other objects from the forest floor into place, marking their respective areas.
“This is the gate here,” Isaac explained, placing a leaf over the dirt line on one side. “No clue how thick it is, but unless its paper thin, no chance of us breaking it down as we are.”
“But then how…” Charles started.
“Sh-sh-shush, I’m still explaining!” Isaac hushed him, resuming his rough replica. “I saw guards at two of the three wall corners visible to us, so it’s safe to assume there’s one on each of the other two as well,” Isaac continued, marking each corner with an acorn. “Ideally, Charles and Walter’s frontal assault should distract the guards for a moment, and a moment should be all Marie and I need.” Isaac placed green pinecones to mark their position.
“What about me?” Jason asked. “Am I part of your “sneak-and-rescue” team?”
“Nope. After you get Marie and I to the back wall, you’ll circle back and help the frontal assault,” Isaac explained. “They’re both defensive classes, so they should have no trouble buying for time holding the gateway. You on the other hand can use your stealth to attack the bandits from behind while they’re busy with Charles and Walter.”
“Just warning you, I’m not too into stealth,” Jason explained. “I like to take on guys hand-to-hand, blade against blade.” He pulled a weapon from his back that resembled two swords joined at the hilt and swung experimentally.
“Then you’ll die,” Isaac confirmed. “Worst-case scenario, there could be over forty to fifty players inside there, you want to use everything at your disposal to stay alive.”
“Fine, have it your way,” Jason grumbled, replacing his swordstaff on his back.
“Perfect. So, while Jace sneaks back to the main fight, Marie and I scale the walls at the southeast and northeast corners respectively,” Isaac continued, pulling two spools of rope with grapples attached from his backpack. “I picked these up back in town once I heard we were storming the castle,” he explained. “If we wrap some cloth over the prongs, we should be able to scale the walls before they notice us.”
“Okay, I’m following you.” Marie nodded in agreement.
“No, you’ll be taking the opposite corner,” Isaac corrected. “After we dispatch the guards, we’ll meet up and find out where Tenshi’s being kept. Jace, it’s on you to make sure we don’t get spotted. Stab anyone you think sees us.”
“With pleasure,” Jason avowed.
“Okay, but you still haven’t explained how we're breaching the gate, or how you’re somehow sneaking to the back wall,” Charles queried.
“That’s where your extra skill points come in!” Isaac explained. “I know just the skills we need to get inside.”
“Actually, I already spent all my skill points, sorry,” Jason admitted.
Isaac glared daggers at his friend, seething.
“I kid, I kid,” Jason retracted quickly. “What’d you want me to learn?”
“You’ll need a skill called CLOAK OF THE NIGHT,” Isaac explained. "It works similar to my SNEAK skill, but it instead renders you near-invisible. The cloaking power is stronger the slower you move, but the main benefit of it is that it allows you to share the power with anyone as long as you maintain contact with them.”
“Yeah, I think I see where this is going.” Jason nodded.
“And what about breaching the gates?” Charles asked.
“Charles, you’ll need to learn a skill called ENDURE,” Isaac continued. “It’ll absorb the damage you take from one damaging effect, keeping you from falling below 1 hit point. Then, it adds the damage you would've taken to your next attack, provided you hit.”
“Sounds good to me,” Charles opened his menu. “Still not sure how this helps with crashing their gates.”
“Marie, I don’t especially need any of your skills, so pick a good one you think will help in the coming fight. Same for your second skill, Jace,” Isaac clarified, turning to face them. “Actually, I’ve noticed that most of you don’t even bother using your skills in combat. Is there a reason for that, or…?”
“Well, honestly, it’s just more fun bashing faces the old fashion way,” Marie admitted. “Using skills and letting the game take the reigns kinda feels like cheating.”
“Yeah, exactly!” Jason agreed.
“Well, hate to break it to you, but that ain’t gonna cut it against other players,” Isaac explained. “Not only do skills have much higher damage and crit rates, but they add a level of strategy that’s missing with just basic attacks. Look at Charles, if he didn’t use his electromagnet and EYE ANCHOR, he wouldn’t be half as effective as a defender.”
“Plus the skill points I put into passive skills,” Charles added.
“Right, point taken,” Marie opened her menu. “I probably couldn’t’ve killed that Wyrm without my WHIRLWIND KICK. How’s DOORCRASHER sound for a new ability?”
“Perfect, just the thing we need.” Isaac gave a thumbs-up.
“How about GUTSPILLER for me, Zach?”
“It’s very “you”, Jace.”
“What about me?” Walter asked. “Should I start spending my skill points?”
“Actually, it’s key that you don’t spend any points until you get inside the fort,” Isaac returned. “I’ll give you some suggestions, but this mission relies on a near-glitch power your class grants while you’re in the middle-ground between your two class paths.”
“I don’t really get it, but if it’ll help rescue Riley, I’m down for anything!” Walter replied, slamming a fist against his chest.
“There’s one last thing I want to go over,” Isaac continued, his face growing serious. “These are real people we’ll be up against, not monsters. That changes the rules somewhat.”
“They still die the same.” Jason shrugged.
“Well, yes and no,” Isaac cautioned. “Firstly, anticipate that every player is as good, if not better than you. We’re a small team with a spur-of-the-moment plan. They’re an organized group that may have been practicing a coordinated defense since long before BRYZ started, if they're already familiar with MMORPGs. Unlike monsters which focus on simple reactions, these players will plan, adapt, sacrifice themselves for others, and in general, act very like yourself.”
“Noted.” Charles nodded. “Anything else we should know?”
“Well, firstly, they’ll almost certainly have healers, and we do not,” Isaac admitted. “That puts us at a major disadvantage, so be careful to avoid getting hit, and use your healing potions conservatively. But that’s not the main difference here.”
“Oh?” Marie asked.
“The big difference is in the dying,” Isaac replied. “When a monster kills a player, they die, and unless revived in a short space of time, it’s game over,” he explained. “However, player-vs.-player combat was an expected but not encouraged feature of BRYZ. When a player “kills” another player, they’re "downed" instead, falling to 0 health, but remaining in a non-death state until revived, or until combat ends.”
“Hey, that’s kind of good, then,” Walter quipped. “I don’t think any of us have reviving skills, but at least we won’t die, right?”
“Actually, that’s the second part,” Isaac continued. “If a downed player is then damaged again, they’re immediately killed as if a monster had dealt the final blow.”
A silence fell over the players.
“And as I mentioned, you are completely defenseless while downed. Unless another player can rescue you, you’re as good as dead,” Isaac explained. “However, that means we all have a choice to make: when combat starts, do we kill the bandits, or do we let them stay downed?”
It was Charles who responded first.
“You already said it, Isaac,” he returned, drawing his sword and planting it in the ground. “These are real people, not monsters. I’ll show them the same kind of mercy I’d hope for from them. After all, according to any captured players, the bandits haven’t actually killed anybody yet.”
“That's a big "yet"," Jason muttered. "Unfortunately for you, not killing them doesn’t mean they won’t kill you when the chips are down."
"It's still the right thing to do," Charles shot back.
“Alright, that’s all I have to say.” Isaac smiled grimly. “Let’s go over it one more time, then take our positions!” He held his hand out in front of him. “Let’s do this. For Tenshi and Riley!”
“For Tenshi and Riley!” the others echoed, placing their hands on his.
*******
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Marie asked, peering out from behind a tree at the edge of the forest. “There’s a lot of open ground to cover before we even reach the bridge, and that’s long enough as it is.”
“Trust in the game mechanics,” Isaac replied. “All right Jace, lets give it a go.”
“CLOAK OF THE NIGHT!” Jason intoned, suddenly fading from their sight.
“Woah, it's better than I expected!” Isaac grinned. "I can’t even see you, Jace!”
“Cool!” Jason exclaimed, as he fizzled back into view.
“Oh, I forgot to mention, the effect ends if you talk or when you activate any kind of ability, power, or item," Isaac explained. “Not to mention attacking or opening your menu. That’s to prevent you from just knifing anything in the back with no warning. You also can’t perform any actions in the brief period where you’re becoming visible again.”
“Why do all the cool skills have these party-pooping restrictions?” Jason complained.
“It’s called game balance,” Isaac retorted. “Otherwise, you could just go invisible and kill us both right now without either of us having a chance to stop you.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Jason chuckled.
Suddenly, a small bang erupted from inside the walls of the fort.
“Did you hear that?” Jason asked, looking back towards the source of the noise.
“Hey, the guard on the southwest corner just left his post!” Marie exclaimed.
“Alright, let’s do this guys!” Isaac exclaimed, excited. “It’s a bit early, but we might as well take advantage of this! Jace, would you do the honours?”
“CLOAK OF THE NIGHT!” he repeated, grabbing the two of them, as all three players vanished.
Isaac noticed the effect of the invisibility immediately. Not only was his vision dimmer and slightly blurred, but he also experienced the disorienting effect of being unable to see his own limbs. Stumbling a little at first, he increased his grip on Jason’s arm, as the three of them began to move across the empty field at a slow walking pace.
Isaac tried not to focus on the bizarre empty feeling of seeing neither his own body nor his friend he was holding on to. Closing his eyes and trying to focus on his sense of touch alone, he half-tripped on and uneven bit of turf and immediately snapped his eyes open again.
They had made it only a little ways up the path when an explosion rent the night air. Isaac gaped in surprise at the sudden blazing ball of fire in the sky, and judging by the immediate stop in the motion of the other two, he assumed they were equally taken-in.
Thankfully, this meant that when little flaming caltrops began to arc off in random directions, they were immediately aware.
Isaac felt Jason tug him back a little as an errant fireball thudded into the dirt a few feet in front of them. After waiting for what felt like hours, they cautiously continued their advance, convinced that the rain of fire had stopped.
Isaac desperately wanted to check his clock to make sure they were still on time, but knew that if he did, he would become visible in an instant. Biting his lip, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
Nearly there, he told himself, as the sentry reappeared on the battlements, looking well over their heads at the forest behind them.
Then, disaster struck.
Not watching where he was stepping, Isaac trod on a charred black caltrop, the nail-like tip slipping through his boot and into his foot.
“Frickin’…” Isaac started, gasping as he began to fizzle back into view, right in front of the sentry!
Isaac felt himself grabbed and shoved from behind as he flew over the last stretch of the bridge, stumbling to a halt just short of the fort’s smoke-coloured stone wall.
Barely daring to breath, Isaac whispered the command for SNEAK under his breath, hoping that the sound-dampening effect would be enough. His heart nearly stopped when he felt himself being grabbed by the arm and hustled around the side of the fort.
His fears dissipated as the familiar sensation of invisibility washed over him. Walking on tip-toes to avoid sinking the caltrop any deeper into his boot, Isaac followed Jason’s lead around to the back section of the wall. He had barely made it to the southeast corner when a massive crash split the air, heralding the success of Charles’ and Walter’s mission.
As Jason and Marie faded back into view, the three hid under the lip of the southeast corner’s battlement. Looking from one to the other, Isaac released a deep sigh of relief.
“Well?” Jason asked. “Ready to start?”
ns3.144.99.0da2
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