The Art of Brute Force [Mentor/Invite]

[Shuwen]

Words: 404

Shuwen wanted to do something productive. It felt like he was spending a fair amount of money lately compared to how much he was earning, and seriously wanted to change that. However, there weren’t a lot of requests coming in from the Landers lately, certainly not anything appropriate for his level, however, as he was beginning to get more desperate, it occurred to him that he didn’t really have much choice unless he wanted to resort to grinding, which he didn’t, because it was boring.

He checked the billboard at the nearest inn, and looked through the open requests. The most interesting one was… not particularly interesting. Actually, it was pretty simple; clear out a cave of goblins, and return any stolen property found there. Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do I guess. Sighing, he signed his name on the sheet advertisement, indicating he had taken the quest, and left. Since there was room for multiple signatures on the sign-up sheet, it was possible that someone else would sign up for the quest as well. It was also possible someone else had already signed up. Shu couldn’t really remember once he started thinking about it.

A few hours later, Shuwen found himself scoping out the cave in question. The cave was located about an hour’s walk into Windsor. It wasn’t really a cave so much as a bunker; a tunnel dug out of a shallow hillside for the goblins to live and hide in. Even though their levels weren’t particularly high, it was still a cause for concern. As most of them were probably hiding in the bunker, he couldn’t really ascertain the goblin’s exact numbers. Also, even though he most likely out leveled them by a significant margin, he also couldn’t really identify their levels without getting close enough for the goblins to be noticed and forced to fight before he finished recon. It also didn’t help that the fact that the bunker was essentially a defensive fortification would make invading it even more difficult, as the goblins would have a terrain advantage. Dang it, this is why I want a spyglass, or something like one. I wouldn’t have to get nearly as close to get a good look at them. Not that a spyglass would really be as much use against enemies that were hiding underground. The Monk was just being catty with himself to easy his frustration.

[Firabar]

Firabar rolled his shoulders, stretching out as he strolled towards his target. It seemed like an easy enough quest, with decent enough rewards - and he had positively nothing else to do on that day - so he thought he may as well. He'd noticed, of course, that there was another name under it on the notice board.

He'd seen the Monk known as Shuwen around a few times, actually, inside the residential districts of Londinium. He seemed like a nice enough guy, Firabar guessed, and he was a Wolf Hair, like himself.

He had also been significantly higher leveled than Firabar, and may well have already cleared out the cave.

Still.

At least Firabar would've tried.


As he came up to where the quest board had said his target(s) were to be, he did, indeed, see the monk known as Shuwen, scoping out the area. He was lying on his stomach, looking to be desperately in need of a telescope or spyglass, scoping out what he had obviously taken to be his target too, commando style.

"So tell me..." Firabar began. "How are you planning on assaulting it? And, if at all possible, can I get in on some of that action?"

[Shuwen]

Words: 434

Shuwen was still thinking about how to go about dismantling the goblin’s fortifications, when he was joined by an unexpected companion. A lower-leveled guardian named Firabar, who quickly asked if he could get in on the quest. Realizing his postion made him look like someone out of a bad military movie, he quickly pushed himself to his feet. Even when standing, the guardian was much taller and better build then himself, despite being physically noticeably frailer, and unless the Monk missed his guess, several years younger then himself.

“Hi there, nice to meet you too.” Shuwen replied somewhat sarcastically. Even if he didn’t need the guy to say his name for him to learn it (thanks to the interface), a brief introduction would have been nice. “I’d have already gone in there, but I’ve no idea what we’re dealing with yet; most of them don’t seem willing to come out the bunker.” While most of the fortifications in mmos were generally little more then background set pieces, this one actually appeared to be at least somewhat functional, and the Monk wasn’t really sure how much of an advantage it would give them. At the very least, it concealed their numbers and levels. It was also possible there were traps or they actually served as advantageous terrain, either buffing them or simply giving them a non-statistical advantage in combat. Either way, Shu wasn’t really that interested in finding out the hard way.

“Well, if this was an abridged series, I’d probably suggest sending you in alone as cannon fodder to wear them out and tip their hand… but we’re not, so I won’t.” He meant it as a joke, but his tone didn’t really convey that very well, so Firabar might not realize that. “More seriously, we don’t really have any way of learning more about the enemy, or figuring out whatever surprises they have prepared without hitting the bunker head on. Unless…” He took a quick look at Firabar’s class icon on the interface, the stout shield of a Guardian, the game’s only non-hybrid tank class. “Hmm, you’re a Guardian. Have you picked up any taunting sklls yet?” It was something of a throw of the dice; Firabar had the look of a solo player, so he was probably focusing on buffing or offensive skills instead, but it was worth a shot to ask. If not, Shu might be able to use Rafting Taunt or one of his area of effect attacks to draw them out somehow. It would be manageable, but much easier if Firabar had at least a taunting skill or two.

[Firabar]

Taunts? Well, he had aggro draw skills, if that's what he meant - and yeah. Yeah, actually, Anchor Howl should do the trick. Hopefully they wouldn't have any bowmen inside the bunker capable of shooting out of the windows or anything, while everyone else just sat tight, but it would otherwise work.

"I have Anchor Howl." Firabar offered. "It's true that I usually end up soloing more than I don't, but a guardian without anchor howl is useless in a party, and there are some things you just can't do on your own."

Shifting his weight, Firabar's hand came to rest on the pommel of his sword.

"So I just go out there, get roughly in range of where they're gonna be inside that little fortress they've built, use the howl, and kite them back down here so they lose their advantage? That's the plan?"

[Shuwen]

Words: 446

“That’s… not quite what I had in mind, but close enough I guess.” Shuwen replied scratching his head. “Anchor Howl doesn’t draw aggro so much as create a penalty for ignoring the user. It’s more effective against players then monsters, since players don’t determine who they attack based on the agro counter, but it’s of little use if the target you’re using it on isn’t engaged in combat, and isn’t trying to run.” Shuwen had played using a guardian character on the North American server, so had a fair amount of knowledge regarding the class’s lower and mid-level skills. “Skills that actually draw aggro include Hammer Beat, Knight’s Heart, and Taunting Shout.” Realizing he was going off on a tangent, he briefly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and went back to explaining the plan.

“Anyways, what I’d like to do is make them sortie; to come out of the bunker to take the fight to us, so they can’t make use of whatever advantages it gives them. I don’t know if they’ve got traps, arrow slits, or whatever set up for us, but it definitely isn’t a good idea to charge in there right away. At the very least, we should whittle their numbers down first.” As he spoke, he brought up the menu on his interface and began to scroll through his inventory. "I have a skill that’s related to Anchor Howl called Rafting Taunt, that prevents any of it’s targets from attacking anyone but me for a few seconds, but if they’re determined to stay put, it won’t be of much use since it dosen’t really do anything if they arn't already to attacking in the first place. I have another skill that may be more useful; Aura Kick, an area of effect attack that draws a significant amount of aggro, but it’s range is only a meter, so I’ll get pin cushioned by arrows before I get close enough to use it.” The Monk realized he was beginning to prattle. “Fortunately, I have a weapon that increases it’s range, so if I equip that, it should cover enough distance to have the effect we need. Once they come out though, you’d best use Anchor Howl to keep them from retreating or ganging up on me. Do you think you can handle that?” As they didn’t know the enemies’ numbers or levels, it probably wasn’t a fair question, but he needed to know if Firabar was willing to go along with it. As he listened to the Guardian's answer, he found what he was looking for and equipped it, stowing away his throwing projectiles in favor of his tonfa, Red Tree.

[Firabar]

"Oh easily." The Guardian gave a grin at the shorter - but obviously older - man. In fact, it was interesting that his character should be so short in-game. Normally people went to act out their fantasies when they played things like this, but standing at what Firabar would guess was, what, 5"3? 5"4 maybe, at a push?

Well, Shuwen was shorter than Firabar had been in real life. Significantly so, in fact. He thought briefly of that one short badass from that one anime. Levi. That was it. Levi Ackerman, Humanity's Strongest Soldier. Depending on how many goblins, green and leathery and foul, were living inside of that bunker, it might well be good for the short Monk to live up to his height's legacy.

Firabar himself stood at a tidy 6"5, at least, in game. He towered over most other players, and was slightly taller than some Guardians he knew, too, but it was no big secret that Guardian players liked to go for the big height. It didn't really provide any huge advantage in the game they'd originally known (now it might be a tad different, of course) but it remained that Guardians liked to feel all big and strong and protective. It was made even better by the healer classes being played stereotypically by petite women and girls, so the 'big strong protector' got to feel like what he was doing was even more worthwhile for it.

Idiots.

Firabar gave a chuckle. His girl had never needed protecting, not once, ever. In fact, he could think of more times where she'd saved his skin by finishing off all the mobs he'd aggro'd when he was being pinned down by them, than he could of times where he'd managed to save her in return. Although he supposed it was really his aggro ratings that stopped her from being put in those situations anyway.

Oh, how he missed her. The thought of her made his heart race, just a little. Probably not even noticeably, actually - he was good at hiding this kind of thing (until she kissed him, then he was hopeless).

She was out there, one way or another.

Looking up at the bunker, he gave it a cursory glance for any obvious traps or arrow slits, et cetera. There was nothing obvious, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything.

"Alright. That seems like a legit plan, then. I'll need you to hop to it though, on the DPS front. I'm good at stabbing, but if there are a lot of them, then I don't know how long this cheap ass armour will last, if you understand me."

[Shuwen]

Words: 526

Firabar said he could handle it, as long as it didn’t require him taking on too many of them at once. “Fair enough.” Shuwen nodded in agreement. Generally speaking, it was better if the tank outleveled the DPSer, rather then the other way around, because if the tank was overleveled, it simply meant it could tank more, but if the DPS was higher leveled, the tank wouldn’t be able to maintain their attention or keep up with the DPSer. Shuwen could perform either role if he needed to, but Firabar wasn’t so versatile. And he couldn’t slack off without the lower-leveled player dying on him. He was about to make a break for the bunker, when he remember something almost too late. "Ah, we probably ought to party up." Manipulating his interface, he quickly sent the Guardian a party invitation, which he was free to accept or deny.

“Alright, here I go.” Shuwen leaned forward and broke into a run, heading directly for the bunker. He was about halfway there when he heard a THUNK sound and felt something painful slam into his right shoulder. Crossbow bolts, hmm? He thought that would require more technical skill then the goblins possessed, but he could be wrong, or they salvaged them from somewhere. He had no real way of knowing. Taking two more crossbow bolts on the way in, he finally reached the front of the bunker. To his slight surprise, they’d shut the door and apparently reinforced it to keep him from getting in right away. If it had still been just a game, that probably would have been an effective tactic, but that was no longer the case. Let’s see, if I recall correctly, if the builders know what they’re doing, the door is usually the strongest part of a fortification, since that’s the spot people are most likely to go for first. It’s also where most of the traps will be. So that’s no good. Instead of going for the door, he aimed for the wall a short distance away from the door, lowered his stance, and rammed his uninjured shoulder into it, activating the Battering Ram skill. I hope this doesn’t hurt me as much as it hurts that.

BOOSH! Brick and motor crumbled as he smashed his way through the wall, briefly burying the goblin archer behind it in debris. That should do it. The walls were too thick and the slits seemed to be too narrow to offer the archers a wide field of vision, they’d have to get closer to take a shot at him. Making a small hop forward, he slammed his foot down in front of himself, activating the Aura Kick skill the attack send out a shockwave across the ground, damaging the goblins in the immediate vicinity. Shuwen couldn’t really see them due to the lack of proper illumination in the bunker, but he could hear yowls of pain and anger. Good, time to run. He promptly turned around and ran in the opposite direction, taking another crossbow bolt in the side as he did. “Gyah!” The goblins were apparently below his level, because the individual attacks weren’t doing a large amount of damage, but they were somewhat painful to someone wearing only cloth armor, and the last one hit his lung, disrupting his breathing. Retching, Shuwen stumbled out, waving in Firabar’s general direction to indicate he should come closer.

[Firabar]

That must have hurt him. Was he bleeding? Firabar wasn't sure, and he could care less. The monk was level 34; any blood on him from those wounds would be purely cosmetic, and any pain short-lived. Besides, the world around them was about to get a whole lot bloodier anyway - it was unlikely they'd notice if they were bleeding their own blood after a little while, because the goblins were going to be bleeding a whole lot more.

Probably.

Either way, with a great roar, the acceptance of a party invite, and a good deal of effort (even if the armour was lighter than arguably it should have been, the man himself was by no means featherweight) he leapt forward, and charged the Goblin Bunker, his feet pounding against the ground, sending tremors up his shins.

His armour clanked and clattered tinnily - he would have to get some better gear soon - and his sword and shield began to crackle and fizz with that blue electricity you always see envelop guardians when they use the Anchor Howl, that brilliant azure firework and light show that draws everyone and everything wielding a blade against their friends straight to them, and them only.

He sprinted towards the bunker another few metres, using his shield to barge (and effectively throw) one of the faster, lighter goblins out of the way.

As he stopped, digging his heels into the ground, goblins spilling out of the bunker like ants out of an upturned nest, or wasps from a broken hive, he gave them a terrible grin, and his arm shot up, pointing the tip of his sword to the sky, the blue static exploding around him an a dazzling burst of electricity, harmless to all, but ignorable by none.

"Anchor Howl!" He bellowed, his voice echoing above the thunder.

As the bolts and volts of charge dissipated, and he activated his Cool Defense, looking around him, he could already see the goblins that had come out of their damaged stronghold to engage and hold their new foes twisting jerkily around to stare at him, blankly at first, but with nothing but hatred and malice after a second.

For but a moment, Firabar reconsidered his decision to charge quite so far towards them, but soon ignored the thought entirely. He had needed to make sure as many of them were looking at him as possible...

A crossbow bolt hit him, deflecting neatly off of his shoulderguard, hitting at a bad angle for piercing. He raised his shield and absorbed a few more easily.

... and besides, Shuwen's cloth armour was hardly the best thing for stopping crossbow shot, but a cleverly angled metal plate was perfect for the job.

There was no debating it, really.

Firabar was a tank, and this was what tanks were best for.

___________________________________________

467 Words

[Shuwen]

Words: 643

After what felt like, but was probably a lot less then several minutes, the crossbow bolt either vanished or slid into a spot where it wasn’t in the way, allowing Shuwen to take shallow breaths without choking. However, he had no time to celebrate; the goblins were almost on top of him, and even worse, probably taking aim at him with their crossbows again. Feeling himself panic, he made a break for Firabar’s position. Fortunately, it seemed the Guardian had gotten the message and had come forward to meet him, activating Anchor Howl To draw the goblins off of him.

Shu quickly turned around. It seemed he’d lured about five goblins out of the bunker. Most of their levels were in their low twenties; definitely a lot more then Firabar could handle on his own, but about right for Shu, due to them outnumbering him. The Aura Kick he’d released earlier had taken a major chunk out of their HP bars, but they still had a decent amount left. I’m gonna have to time this carefully then; I doubt he could take many of their attacks when there’s such a large level difference between them. Seeing he’d activated the right skill, Shu made a sharp turn that would briefly lead him away from the anchored Guardian, so any goblins who tried to follow would take the penalty. Despite the activation of anchor howl, the goblins were obviously more concerned about the high-leveled Monk then the low-leveled Guardian; they probably didn’t consider him much of a threat, as a result, they attempted to ignore the Guardian’s skill, despite the fact it’s effects were probably revealed on their interface as a debuff. As a result, all of them would probably take the penalty hit for ignoring Anchor Howl. It probably wouldn’t be enough to finish them, but it would bring their HP down into or around the yellow zone; almost beaten, one or two more decent hits would probably finish them. “Nice one!” Once the Guardian was back in the initial position he’d used the skill in, Shuwen would use the opening the Guardian had created to follow up with his remaining area of effect attack: Tiger Echo Fist As they’d all been hot on the Monk’s heels, a skill with an effected area of one meter around him was enough to hit all of them. The skill didn’t have Aura Kick’s aggro drawing effect, but instead possessed fairly strong knockback capabilities.

Slamming his fist into the ground, he used the resulting shock-wave to send the goblins flying, scattering them and disrupting their attack. One was killed outright, while the remaining four barely had any health left. “Now let’s finish them!” Normally, Shu would have probably finished them off with throwing projectiles, but since he’d switched them out for the tonfa, he’d have to close in on each one and use melee attacks instead. Jumping up, he launched himself at one of the goblins with the skill Wyvern Kick. While using the skill was probably unnecessary in regards to dealing damage, he wanted to close the distance to it as quickly as possible, and as a flying kick, it was ideal for covering ground. Taking another step, he killed the second one with a cross punch. Now, how’s he doing? He turned towards Firabar, to check on what progress he’d made on slaying the remaining two, and to see if he needed any help; even though he was a Guardian, the sheer level difference would probably make it difficult for him to finish them off on his own. If it looked like he was about to take an attack, The Monk would use Rafting Taunt to prevent them from doing so, long enough for Firabar to get a solid counter attack in, and if necessary, for Shuwen to follow up and finish them off for him.

[Firabar]

Guardians do not have a naturally high dodge rate. In fact, they tend to stay put and simply absorb damage like some kind of demented sponge. But Firabar was a man with martial arts training prior to The Apocalypse - in all honesty, he could have gone Monk with just as much success - and he knew that deflection was a better idea that matching force with force, even if you are stronger.

This gave him something of an advantage.

If he had been trying to simply sit there and take what was dealt to him, he would have died by now, but instead, his health had been reduced by only 37%.

Blinking blood out of his eyes from a head wound, he sidestepped (with all the elegance of a hallucinating elephant) a calculated spear thrust, and stomped down on the creature's weapon. The spear's shaft was carved from stout and sturdy wood, and it did not break, but goblins are not well known for their strength, and it could do little to retrieve the weapon.

Especially not after Firabar's (admittedly cheap ass) sword had made rapid and forceful contact with its eyeballs.

The goblin phalanxman reeled backwards, forgetting its spear as it clutched at its destroyed eyes, and wailed in agony. The other goblin swung a hatchet at Firabar - and made solid contact, actually.

Firabar winced as his health dropped by another 9%. The blade of the axe had sunk into the back of his knee, an area unprotected by his low quality platemail, and although the pain was dulled by the surging adrenaline his body was manafacturing, and his cool defense did take the bite out of it a bit, Firabar still dropped to one knee.

Thank God he'd been in that kind of situation before in real life.

As he fell, his shield-arm shot out, and, the shield itself missing the goblin by inches, grabbed it by its small, misshapen skull, dragging it down as he fell, and, with lightning speed, slamming it into the ground by his fallen knee.

Its HP bar didn't fall very much, but when Firabar grunted, lifting his leg and sliding the goblin's stunned head under it, it really began to panic. It kept on panicking, leather green hands grabbing and clawing up Firabar's arm in the unprotected places, until the guardian's knee came down on it.

It took about three good crunches with all of Firabar's considerable weight behind it to finish the bugger, but it died without much further event, and Firabar's sword tore through the blinded one (which he noted had actually recovered its vision - the status effects given by bodily injuring, like Shuwen's lung hit, seemed to be temporary) shortly after, rendering it first into two bloody bits of goblin, and then into dissipating orbs of energy and loot.

He got up, and waved amicably at Shuwen, panting hard and wiping an awful mixture of blood and sweat out of his eyes with is other gloved hand.

"All good fun, right?"

If he had been able to do this kind of thing in the real world, for fitness, he'd never have been out of shape. Ever.

The whistle of a fast moving crossbow quarrel, however, stopped his amity, and forced him back into a defensive stance. He raised his shield quickly, with olympian speed and godly accuracy, but by then the bolt had already hit him, and a good hit it was.

Firabar looked down at his chest, to see the bolt sticking out of him. Now, the armour had taken most of the blow, but he did not doubt that the bladed head of the stout little projectile had lodged itself in his sternum. Thankfully, this was a game still (kinda) and he was unlikely to be suffering from any severance of arteries (and there are many in the human chest, don't doubt it) because of that, as well as the bolts being goblin-sized, and so not dealing as much crushing damage as simple piercing damage, so his sternum was probably still intact too, if a little notched.

He breathed a curse, one of the worst he could think of, and he had lived in London, so he was pretty imaginative with these things.

HP was at 40%.

"How many more do you reckon are in there, Shuwen?"

_______________________________________________

723 Words

[Shuwen]

Words: 622

Surprisingly, Firabar somehow managed to overpower one of the goblins, which was a surprise, considering their level difference; it ought to have crushed him, yet somehow the opposite occurred. He decided to pass it off as a strange phenomenon and move on. He had his own enemies to fight.

Shuwen was about to regroup with Firabar when he remembered something very important, or rather, he was reminded by the impact of something small and painful hitting him in the bum. “Take cover; the archers are still in there.” He jumped behind a tree as another crossbow bolt whizzed past his ear. They hadn’t been able to fire while their allies had engaged in close combat with the two adventurers.

Firabar asked if he knew about how many goblins were left in the bunker. “I don’t know. We took care of the fighters in the immediate area around where I busted in, but there’s still the archers and whichever ones were stationed deeper in. Uh…” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “You should probably stay behind cover for the next part of the fight; you don’t have enough health left to last.” Shu figured if he sat the next part out, he could probably count on the guardian’s passive regeneration to bring him back up enough to come back in before the end.

Okay, time to take care of the archers. Too bad I didn’t bring a smoke grenade or something like that; it would have made fighting them much easier. I guess my next best option is to use a rush technique. Without any decent cover between where he was currently hiding and the bunker, his best option was to simply cover the ground between them as quickly as he possibly could. Wyvern kick probably won’t be enough though, which means I’ll have to use that one instead. Oh well. Stepping out from behind cover, Shuwen anticipated and dodged the next two projectiles, and activated the Lightning Straight Skill. After a brief moment of standing still with sparks appearing around one of his fists, Shuwen suddenly shot forward in a blur, moving at a speed of several meters per second, or something to that effect. The archers tried to hit him again as he came in, but they weren’t able to track him properly and their shots went wide as a result. Before he knew it, Shuwen was back in the breach in the bunker wall he’d previously made. The two archers were stationed on either side of him, and started panicking when they realized he’d gotten too close for comfort. Taking several steps forward, he activated the skill Iron Skin and beat down the first archer with a right jab, left cross, right hook, finished by a left uppercut. A fairly typical boxing combination. The remaining archer managed to reload its weapon and shoot him with it, but the damage and more importantly, the pain was reduced thanks to his toggle skill buffing his defense. He managed to cross the distance before it was able to fire its weapon a second time, and kicked the crossbow out if it’s hand. When it tried to draw a knife take him in close combat, Shuwen blocked the forearmof it’s knife hand, and threw it over his hip into the nearby wall. A quick stomp and elbow were enough to finish it off.

Now, what’s hiding deeper the bunker? He could hear noises coming from the other side of the door that he presumed led farther in, but he couldn’t ascertain how many of them there were, or what they were talking about. Shrugging, he headed back towards the breach and signaled to Firabar that the archers had been taken care of.

[Firabar]

"Right. Thanks man. Ugh." He groaned, massaging a sore and bruised shoulder.

He could tell that Shuwen was surprised by how he'd handled the other two goblins - particularly the one that had crumbled under the force of his knee. To be totally honest, he'd surprised himself with that one; he should not have been able to kill it so easily, let alone with an unlisted weapon like his kneecap. It had been more of an act of desperation than a calculated move, and although in the real world his rather terrifying weight would have had a similar effect on whomever was unfortunate and stupid enough to start a bar fight with him, in this world, things were meant to be different.

"I can tell you were surprised by the ol' knee crush back there. If I'm totally honest with you, so was I. I'm not entirely sure what I was intending to do with it - maybe just keep it pinned for a little bit - but killing it wasn't what I'd had in mind."

He had no idea why it had died so easily. To be fair, it had been very low on health, thanks to the high damage fist fighting etc of Shuwen and The Monk Class, but still.

Maybe he was getting some kind of mentor buffs from Shuwen. There had been a similar system in the old game, called the Teacher System. It had brought the teacher's level down and buffed their allies slightly, or something. Shuwen was not being downleveled, of course, but the buffs might be being applied anyway.

No buff icons though.

"I guess I'm just better than my level might persuade you." He grinned. "I'm hardly worldly, but London is a great place for drunken university students and the like to fight without being caught. Some of them were... Diminutive enough that they could be mistaken for overgrown kobolds - and just as a aggressive." He smiled.

"Still. Thanks for the time to regen. I don't wanna miss what comes next."

Health at 50% or so now. Not too long to wait. Thank god that guardians are designed for this.

[Shuwen]

words: 336

It didn’t seem like Firabar’s health had risen enough that he could safely participate in the fight. In Shuwen’s opinion, that was a bummer. He did consider feeding the guardian one of his medicinal pastilles to help him recover his HP faster, but the only ones he had on hand were meant for his own use; due to his crafting level being higher than his main, the food items he could make with comparatively powerful restorative effects were particularly potent, even for someone of his current level. Considering their potency, and the fact they weren’t exactly cheap to make, he thought they would be effectively wasted on healing someone who hadn’t even reached level ten yet. It was selfish, but he had his own limited resources to keep in mind. If people wanted their own restorative items to heal themselves with, they could pay him or another leveled crafter to make them.

Since Firabar had apparently gotten the message, he turned back towards the opening to the next room, where he presumed the other goblins were waiting. Or so he’d thought. He’d figured he could get the drop on them at his own leisure, but that had been a grave mistake; they were more than aware that their first line of defense had been defeated, and they’d been hatching their own plan regarding how to deal with him; when he turned around, he found another archer at the doorway, taking aim at him. Shh- Shuwen tried to fall back through the makeshift opening he’d made, but the archer still managed to tag him in the shoulder. The action caused him to lose sight of most of the bunker’s interior, but now he was focused on them, he could hear the sounds of panicked footsteps, plenty of them, as he assumed the goblins were taking formation in the first area. Shoot, I may need some help with this. He frantically made a pulling motion with his free hand, indicating he wanted Firabar to get over to him.

[Firabar]

Being a man of experience, if not levels, Firabar knew that it was important to keep an eye on the fight, even when not actively participating - especially as a tank, because, like it or not, you may well be called upon to soak up more damage, even without a comfortable amount of health left to do it.

Thank God for Shuwen Firabar had not forgotten to keep an eye on his less stereotypically durable monk comrade. I mean, Shuwen actually had tons more hitpoints than Firabar did, but Firabar had a shield, capable of completely negating damage when used right - even a cheap little thing like this.

"Alright buddy. I'm coming." Firabar got up from his sitting position, and hoisted the shield up.

57% HP.

It would have to do, he supposed.

And then, like a true hero (if heroism gave damage buffs then he'd be outclassing the assassins right now) he charged into the bunker, and up to Shuwen's side, barreling through a few outflanking goblins as he did so. He noted, with a mental sigh of relief and a physical grunt of exertion as he landed by Shuwen, that most of these goblins were much, much lower leveled, and that those that weren't still had exceptionally low defense, wearing the almost negligible bare chest, fur trousers, and war paints of beserkers.

Of course, that meant that they would deal a lot more damage, to compensate for their low defense, but it did also mean that the guardian class adventurer stood a chance of dealing some major damage if he played his cards right - and avoided most of what they threw at him.

From his experience both in the real world and in the game, beserker types liked to throw wide, powerful punches, so to speak. In other words, their attacks are long and telegraphed, making for easy blocking, but extremely powerful if not blocked in time, and usually followed up by two or three more coming right after it.

Think of an idiot flailing at his enemies, only he's flailing with titanium knuckledusters, and actually kinda knows how to aim.

"Alright mate. Seems to be a right cock up we've found ourselves in. I'm fairly sure my shield can take the damage - but I'm gonna be needing a new one after this, I guarantee it - and if you get to using some of your shockwave-generating abilities when we're getting towards being overwhelmed, to push them off, I reckon we should be ok."

He slashed out at an errant beserker, wielding a pair of cruel looking bone knives. His sword tore a furious red gash across its chest, and its health dropped by a surprising sixth, but it didn't seem to notice, lashing out violently with the jagged pair of blades.

Fortunately, it was a particularly little beserker, and stopped protesting when Firabar sent it sailing into a wall with a nicely placed kick.

"Oh, and do remember not to rely on pain making them back down. They're probably hopped up on mushrooms or pheromones or something awful and obviously narcotic."

_________________

517 words.

[Shuwen]

Words: 454

With Firabar backing him up, Shuwen turned to face the goblins coming after him. There were far more of them, but they were lower leveled, low enough that the Guardian could probably go toe to toe with them and not die almost immediately. Of course, that’s assuming they don’t swarm us. Time for some crowd control. At the Guardian’s suggestion, Shuwen fired off his two area of effect attacks; Aura Kick and Tiger Echo Fist The first would simply damage them while drawing agro to himself, while the second scattered them and prevented them from counter attacking them right away. As long as a Monk had enough time to fire off both of them, they were a pretty solid combination, one he frequently relied on for fighting multiple opponents. Since the remaining goblins had high numbers but low levels, several of them were killed outright by the combinations, while the others received heavy damage. With that, they were a lot closer to finishing up the fight then the Monk had expected. Maybe… that was a bit much? He thought, feeling a bit awkward at how suddenly most of their opponents were close to dying.

Firabar made a comment about them being apparently immune to pain, and speculated that they were using certain abuse able substances to achieve that. The Monk shook his head “It isn’t due to drugs. Their HP simply gives out long before they have the sense to run.” One of the goblins had recovered and charged at him with a sword and shield. He blocked a diagonal slash and a horizontal cut, then stepped in before it’s next strike, staggered it with a knee strike, then killed it with a hammer fist to the chest. Okay, this is getting boring. He thought, feeling a little embarrassed at needed help to not get swarmed by these guys. Now that I think about it, I probably could have taken these guys on by myself pretty easily.

It only took a little bit longer before the goblins were completely wiped out. “We should probably check around the back of the bunker to make sure there aren’t any more.
As Shu hadn’t actually seen more than the outer room, he couldn’t be sure they’d actually taken out all of them. However, while they did find plenty of signs that the goblins had been living there, they didn’t find any more of them. “I guess that’s that then.” The Monk said, feeling relieved that the job was finally over. “I’m heading back to Londinium via Call of Home. Want to come with?” Assuming that the Guardian agreed, he’d activate the skill once it’s casting time completed, they’d vanish and reappear in front of Londinium’s cathedral.

[Firabar]

"Yeah sure, why not?" Firabar agreed. He could use a bite to eat after that anyway, and teleporting back would undoubtedly be safer than trekking on his own. He also needed to take stock of whatever experience and levels he'd gained in that fight - and a bloody great fight it had been.

He took a cursory look at his health, and grinned. It was back at 70% now.

"Well, I think this has been successful." He sheathed his sword, and put his shield on his back. "I think I might buy some better gear after we get back. It's about time I got an upgrade, after all. What are you gonna do when we get back?" He asked the shorter, older monk, rolling his shoulders and working clicks out of his back.

Placing his hands against his back and flexing them, he got a satisfying series of pops from his spine, and then went on to essentially do the same to his neck.

As he stretched out, his body was filled with that pleasant freshly-exercised feeling, coupled with the relief of stretching out after a long day. It was positively glorious - and if he'd had a drink, he'd have been drinking by now.

Note to self: Buy alcohol.

Note to self 2: Check that this world has alcohol.

"Hey, Shuwen, does this world have alcohol?"

[Shuwen]

Words: 450

Firabar agreed to come with him, so Shu nodded and activated the Call of Home skill. After the cast time was completed, they both promptly vanished and reappeared in the last town they’d visited; Londinium.

The Guardian commented on needing to buy better gear when he got back. The Monk replied as he loosened himself up after the fight. “Hmm, normally it’s best to upgrade your gear every ten or twenty levels. I’m sure it’s frustrating, especially since you’re of a class that relies heavily on gear, but if you get in the habit of buying new armor every few levels, you’ll probably run out of money fairly quickly, especially at the higher levels.” Shuwen was a bit lucky in that respect; since Monks relied mostly on unarmed combat, which was automatically proportional to their level without using a weapon. Between that and their reliance on evasion rather than defense, monks weren’t very reliant on their gear for the most part. As he thought about it, Shu brought up his menu again and switched up his equipment; stowing away his cloth armor and weapons for his casual vanity wear. “I would suggest getting some regular clothing first; it’s a lot cheaper for one, and you won’t have to go around wearing your armor twenty-four seven.” Even though most of the inconveniences of wearing heavy metal armor that would have occurred back on Earth didn’t seem to be an issue in Elder Tale, it was still uncomfortable at times, and somewhat awkward. Again, since Shuwen only used cloth armor, it wasn’t as big a deal for him, but it might be for a Guardian like Firabar. "As for what I'm gonna do..." He thought about it for a moment. I probably ought to get started on making dinner. And checking to see if I have any requests."

Soon after that, Firabar changed the subject, asking about alcohol. “Well, yes, but unless it’s made made using about the same method as food, it won’t have any taste or effects; it has to be made by a brewer or a chef, otherwise it might as well be water.”

“It used to be that only chefs could make food and only brewers could make drinks that weren’t water, but for some reason the classes were partially merged on this server, the developers probably thought that it wouldn’t be very useful here.” Regardless of the reasons, it was certainly a convenience; since you only needed access to one person who’d taken one of those subclasses to get tasty food and drink, as opposed to two people, one of each class. Shuwen, who had chosen to take the chef subclass, could make food and mix drinks.

[Firabar]

"Well, to be honest I don't mind the armour that much, honestly. I've got a high enough strength stat that it doesn't really bother me at all - although I guess I am pretty lucky it doesn't rub anywhere awkward." Firabar scratched the back of his head as they walked.

He had a point. It might be an idea to buy a new set at level 10 instead of while he was such a low level still. He'd be able to go straight for a higher tier then instead of wasting money on armour that was still quite low level. There was a good reason, after all, that scrubby investments in scrub gear made you look like a scrub.

"I think I might take your advice about not buying armour quite yet, though. It seems like a pretty legit piece of advice you're givin' me there. I guess I never really had much troubles with money, though, so it was never an issue - my girlfriend was a samurai on the Japan server with me. Their class is a bit less reliant on gear, and she kept getting 'presents' from nerds who didn't realise I was with her anyway, so when we pooled our loot at the end of a night out in the dungeons, she didn't mind me using it for better gear."

He sighed.

"Jeanne always was pretty chill."

He thought about her for a moment, desperately hoping she was ok. He'd read that the samurai class was unique to japan - almost everywhere else it was known as the Paladin class - and he knew she was an expert with it... but he couldn't help but worry.

His Jeanne, out there alone.

Well, probably not alone, to be fair. She was very charismatic, and made friends easily, so of all the things she could be, she was probably not alone - but he knew how she felt about him (because he felt the same way about her) and it would really suck being away from him for as long as they were probably going to be apart.

The moment he saw her dark hair and blue eyes again, he's probably burst into tears of joy.

And then spend the next week holding her tight.