Khaliss’ POV

I looked around, seeing what we had to work with. The land sloped and formed a natural funnel, with a fair smattering of trees for cover. Oh, it was no forest, but there would be plenty of cover. Perfect.

“Inkler. I want you to let them get past you, and attack from the back. I have a way to force them to dismount.” I said, striding into the trees. I started randomly making shadow tripwires, with a lovely field of caltrops just beyond them. Just to be different, some areas got caltrops only. I didn’t have the time to fully hide them, but it was dark enough that unless they had vision enhancement they wouldn’t notice. The blades of shadow at shin height would be much more effective.

Traps set, I settled in to wait. Less than three minutes later, and I heard the lovely chorus of pained screams. I used cover where I could, conserving mana. Dwarves, elves, and humans. All fell to a swift spear from the shadows, the silent death unnerving them further.

“What the hell? Where are those attacks coming from?”

“Connie’s down, they’re at the rear!”

“Impossible! Dorian just got killed, he was leading the charge!”

“How many are there?”

Ah, panic. These fools were too focused on the hunt, and they paid with their lives. Our fun was just beginning this night though, as I saw a much larger group approaching. Once again the fools were riding pell mell, and would pay. As the group was just entering the trees, I saw a massive paw come down and blast a passing mage in the face. I couldn’t help but smile at Inkler’s antics.

“Donna? What happened to AAAAAhhh!” Someone wasn’t paying attention and got flipped from the saddle onto their face. Too late for many of them, the traps started to become effective. I headed towards the leader, not liking his shiny armor.

“Light our path through the endless night. [Guiding radiance]!” I hissed in annoyance as the paladin released a glowing orb that hovered above his head. It destroyed most of my shadow wires, but they had done their job. A jab to the throat should have ended the paladin, but he flinched at the last moment.

“What the? Enemy front! [Shield wall]!”

What an annoying skill. An ethereal shield doubled his shield’s size, though it still managed to stop the flurry of blows I tried to use. As others started my way, I knew I had to take him down fast. I picked the five most annoying targets: the paladin, two hunters, and two healers who got separated from the rest of the mages. “[Piercing shadow dance].” I started moving through the enemy lines, each teleport taking another target in the throat. A barrage of ranged skills tried to follow my movements, but they were far too slow.

“What the hell? Are we fighting a displacer beast or something?” Someone yelled. I tsked in annoyance, as the death of the paladin didn’t stop his light spell.

“We need more light! Quickly.” Several mage spells activated, further depriving me of concealing shadows. Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one capable of detecting flashes of Inkler’s movements. He was doing a wonderful job of sowing chaos in the ranks. Smoothly moving among them, I lashed out with blade and butt of my spear.

“Watch what you’re targeting!”

“Not my fault!”

I smiled as I dealt death, the multiple lights playing havoc with the lightsiders depth perception. “[Miring swamp]!” Suddenly I was caught in a massive mudpit, along with several of the adventurers I was attacking. “Got him locked down! Quick, everyone blast him!” The same voice shouted, and anyone with a ranged attack unleashed it. I saw several skills that I knew would be area effects, I guess they didn’t care about their comrades.

“[Dancing shadow steps].” I escaped, though not without a few arrows striking me. The explosions of arcane power didn’t end any of the adventurers, but they sure as hell weren’t happy. I slew the one who summoned the swamp, but took several more arrows in the process.

“He’s over by Andrew! I managed a [Hunter’s mark], let’s get him.” Ah, that was how they found me so swiftly. Targeting the hunter, I charged through the woods, spinning my spear to deflect his panicked arrows.

“[Shadow strike].” I said, lunging forward with my blade enhanced with shadow.

“[Intercept]!” A knight appeared between me and the hunter, saving the latter’s life. A twist of my spear that was piercing his shield removed it from his hand, and I dropped into a combat trance as I systematically disabled differing parts of his body. A part of me heard their frustrations as I barely dodged spells and arrows, but they got intelligent right as I took the knight in the throat.

“[Fireball]!” Instead of targeting me, the mage cast an explosive fireball right at my feet. The spell disrupted my trance, and I took several direct attacks from differnet directions.

“That’s got him! [Freezing ray]!” Time slowed as the mage had me dead to rights. My footwork disrupted, my teleport unuseable, I watched as the blue ray that would limit my movements even further inexorably crawled closer. And then a black blur stepped in front, deflecting the ray away with his armor plates.

“Let’s do this Inkler.” I snarled, having gotten my feet back underneath me. With renewed vigor, we crashed into the enemy. Inkler’s gambit had not only saved me, but smashed their morale as well. Hunter’s tried to protect the mages by slaying the armored nightliger, while I danced among their ranks. Rogues fell at random as Inkler would strike at them despite their stealth. The mages tried to focus on me, but lacked the skill to cast while running away from Inkler. I matched Inkler’s savage growl as the group was slowly whittled down.

And then my world was tossed upside down in a burst of light. I rolled over to see another group had arrived, and a second volley of arcane power heading towards me as well as Inkler. “[Last stand]!” I cried, activating my skill and letting Inkler know of the danger at the same time. Last stand was a double edged sword. My movement speed increased drastically, though I would gradually lose power as my muscles were torn apart. It was named because the user had a less than 1% chance of surviving the encounter. “[Shadow eruption]!” I burned a large chunk of my mana so that I could disrupt this one last group. Emerging from their feet with a flurry of blows, I used the last of my mana to combine several skills. “[Shadow strike][Whirlwind of blades][Vital explosion]!” With an enhanced blade, I slashed around me in a flurry of blows too fast for the eye to see. Fueled by what little health I had remaining, vital explosion doubled my damage while constantly draining my life. Landing on my feet, I was pierced several times by weapons. As the world went grey, I saw a cloaked figure standing before me, with his hand out. I smiled, as for the first time in my life I willingly dropped my spear and took his hand. “I’ve kept her waiting long enough.” I said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Angus POV

Your pet has died!

Your pet has died in battle. If you wish, you may resurrect him now for a loss of three of his character levels. For every hour you wait, the cost will drop by one level.

Resurrect? Y/N?

“They’re done.” I said twenty minutes later, as I got the notification I had been dreading. I dropped into the party chat to warn the city.

Angus_MacG: Ok guys. Khaliss and Inkler held off pursuers for twenty minutes.

Rock’mSock’m: . . .Does that mean?

Angus_MacG: Please inform Shrik that he is now Captain of the Guard.

Angus_MacG: We’ll be there in an hour.

Illyora: I’m so sorry Marty.

JonnyBGood: We all are.

Angus_MacG: I know, thanks guys. Let’s get through this, I can grieve later.

“Simply incredible. To last twenty minutes against waves of enemies? Even the Do’urden savants would be hard pressed to manage such a feat.” The priestess muttered, unsure of if I was paying attention or not.

“All the more reason that this must succeed.” I said in a dark voice.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

An hour later, and we finally crossed into the city. We had a few times where single players would get close, but a well placed [Dark bolt] was enough to scare them off or end them outright. Pursuit dropped off when we crossed a canyon via spidersilk, as the adventurers were forced to go the long way around.

“So, what’s the plan?” Shrik asked as we entered.

“We hold off all assaults. I’m sure we will get a notification soon.” I said. Sure enough, seconds after our entire party entered the city there was another server announcement.

Server event update!

Darkest Deeds on Darkest Night!

New information has come to light! The party that raided the main church of Pelor has safely arrived in the drakeling city. The divine artifact that granted the main church it’s sanctity was stolen. Will you journey to the city and retrieve it for the church of Pelor? Or will you steal it for yourself? Whatever your choice, time is against you. Once the object is held within a controlled stronghold for half an hour, ownership will change. At fifteen minutes, a mass teleport will leave from Ascencion to as near the city as possible.

Time remaining: 29:59

“SEAL THE GATE! DEPLOY FIELD LIGHTING!” Shrik yelled. “Double and triple check the automaton charge. Mages should have ten mana potions. Archers should have no less than three full quivers.”

“Khali-. I mean Shrik has this well in hand.” I said to the group. “I think we should hold off until that fifteen-minute timer hits. Think you could target their landing point with something big Rocky?”

“Think they will be dumb enough to only have one landing point?”

“This is a rushed venture. They won’t be thinking strategically, they just want everyone here.”

“Good point. Hey Jonny, got a curse that will lessen lightning resistance?” He asked with a grin.

“I do. Are you being devious? Because I love devious.”

“While you guys are plotting, I’m heading out.” Illyora declared. “They’ll never expect a rear assault, and my changed form can wreak plenty of havoc among the mages.”

“Sounds good.” Jonny said. “Angus, you’re going to have to sit this one out, ya’know?”

“Much as I hate it, I agree. If I die, the item is a guaranteed drop.”

“We shall protect you.” The priestess declared. “There are no rogues alive that can sneak past the watchful eyes of the drow.”

“You have my thanks.” I said.

“And mine as well.” Shrik said as he walked up. “Head to the palace. The royal guard will assist.”

“Yes sir.” I said, and headed out to follow orders. It was going to be a very dull half hour. I just hoped I didn’t develop an ulcer from the stress of waiting.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rock’mSock’m POV

“Incoming teleport!” I bellowed, sensing the massive influx of mana. “By that lone tree Jonny.”

“Gotcha.” He said. As the glow of incoming mana intensified, he started his chant. “Powers of shadow. Powers of night. Weaken their souls, their will to fight. [Weaken resist]!” His spell hit with perfect timing, seconds after their teleport.

“Lord of storms, unleash your fury. I call down destruction upon my foes. [Lightning obliteration]!” I loved this spell. An upgrade of thunderstorm, the amount of lightning strikes increased with the amount of mana you could put into it. In addition, each bolt had a 20% chance of chaining to other targets. At nearly a thousand mana, there were 130 lightning bolts dropped within a circle a hundred and fifty feet wide, in a ten second window. The chaos was amazing. The only thing that could be improved was the lack of screams. That many lightning bolts, the only thing you can hear is continuous thunder. Before I could cast a second spell, Jonny interrupted me.

“If you do that, Illyora will never forgive you for taking away her fun.”

“Good point. I already hit max level with that anyway. If they get close, they’re fair game though.”

“Of course.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Angus POV

The final half hour was as mind numbingly boring as I assumed it would be. The priestess and I made small talk, and I smiled in the middle of it when I saw Rocky’s level jump up to maximum immediately after the fifteen-minute transport happened. I heard some distant sounds of battle, but nothing ever got close.

Server event concluded!

Darkest Deeds in Darkest Night!

For having the divine artifact in their possession for over a half an hour inside their stronghold, possession of the item has now been transferred to the raiders. Congratulations to Angus_MacG, JonnyBGood, Rock’mSock’m, and Illyora for being the first monster players to successfully launch a raid upon a stronghold of light siders!

Congratulations!

You have come into possession of a divine tier material, and are available for evolution! Would you like to evolve now? Y/N? (All party members will be evolved as well.

After confirming with our group in the party chat, I hit yes.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Unknown POV, outside of drakeling city.

We all got the message about the failure of the server event. I was glad I hadn’t taken the teleport option, as those fools ended up on the receiving end of some massive lightning magic. To add insult to injury, a dark shadow started laying into the survivors, showing no mercy. Before we could form up and make one last push to retake the artifact, a gigantic pillar of light rose up from the city. We had lost.