Three days of travel, slowed drastically by the need to cut a path through the eastern woods while under constant attack, had worn on the combined militia and guild members. The mindless beasts of the forest didn’t pose much danger to a tactically aware group, but the corrupt woodland creatures that emerged from The Dark Woods dungeon attacked night and day.

Jim, low enough on mana to make a cast of even the less-mana-intensive Burning Touch impossible, had found himself on the front line of the rear flank. On Jim’s left, one of his earth mages yelled in defiance. The brawny man, whose skin had been encased by magical stone, smashed his viciously curved khopesh into his shield, causing the shield to glow brightly with the Block talent skill.

Attracted to the bright light, the ambushing Corrupted Fairies buzzed. Their bladed wings flashed the dusky purple of the setting sun and the eight that survived slashed through the air at the earth mage. Jim grounded the spiked end of his spear into the ground and prepared himself. Dissonant clangs struck the air as fanged, flying creatures ripped and tore at the Hoplon shield that the taunting earth mage wore.

The Block talent skill drastically increased the user’s shield block value to the point where, when combined with the well-crafted Hoplon shields, any one of Jim’s mages or hoplites would take no damage, even when eight monsters ran train on them. The militia had quickly developed a tactic that employed a bristling wall of shields and spears to break mindless mobs.

The five-mage shield wall at the rear of the formation only had Jim’s spear, though. He activated Brutal Strike and used the scant strength bonus provided to impale the first Corrupt Fairy that bounced past him as it deflected off the mage’s shield. The leaf-shaped blade of his ghost-steel weapon slid through the chest carapace and turquoise blue blood sprayed from his target’s back in a beautifully gory 44.

Along the rest of the shield line, the earth mages thrust out with their swords. Glancing strikes and shallow wounds splashed green and blue damage indicators in the low 20s. The Corrupted Fairies’ agility and flight made the short swords difficult to use effectively, and all the fairies, except for Jim’s target, who got butchered on the return sweeps of his allies’ strikes, dashed back. The First Dragon guild healers that huddled at the backs of the rear guard then used their most mana efficient healing spells, and the fight reset.

The next mage along the line smashed his khopesh against his shield. Jim repositioned his spear.

The fight at the rear of the militia’s formation ended when the flanks, consisting of Burke’s irregulars and Nate’s swordsmen, enveloped the four surviving corrupted fairies and brutally stabbed them to death. Burke flashed Jim a smile, but even Jim’s cheek muscles felt weak from the fatigue that resulted from stamina depletion.

Victory:

Enemy Casualties:

10 Corrupted Faeries

11 Corrupted Treants

21 Corrupted Woodland Creatures

Allied Casualties:

Rewards: 1092 experience points; 17 Gossamer Wings; 6 Cursed Wood; 21 Corrupted Blood.

The constant fighting had raised Jim’s base Constitution and Wisdom to 15 and 35 respectively and had brought Jim within a hair’s breadth of level 7, needing just 188 more experience. Various group members brought out knives, axes, and vials to collect the crafting materials rewarded by the exchange while others uncovered a wagon and loaded their spoils.

A young man named Connor Ewart, one of Nate’s healers, unsuccessfully wielded a flint and steel as he tried to get a cooking fire going. Jim walked over to the aspiring chef, eked out a small amount of his slowly replenishing mana, and used Burning Touch on the tinder.

“Thanks, Mr. Jim,” Connor said. Jim just waved dismissively and sat down beside Connor on the bare earth. The two of them cooked the dubious meat harvested from the Corrupted Woodland Creatures. The brief char they gave to the meat chunks transformed the unappetising crafting materials into equally unappetising food that none of them would have eaten if it weren’t necessary to restore stamina for the players and morale for the militia. Connor tried to engage Jim in small talk, but the nervous young man only asked and answered yes or no questions. Instead, Jim eavesdropped on the players of the First Dragon guild whose various topics snatched at his attention.

“…This Saturday? I can’t. It’s my weekend with Hayley and…”

“…Mr. Wong says If I can make an extra 12000 credits through the game, I can retire next year instead of…”

“…I’m worried, Jess! What if it’s cancer or...”

Jim’s cold exterior had started to crack around these people in the three days he’d been with them. When Jim compared his experiences with Nate’s guild to online gaming 20 years ago, he felt pleasantly surprised to learn that internet culture had become more sociable and less toxic as the wider public became involved. Rather than unlikeable online jocks and keyboard warriors, the interactions of the people around him reminded Jim of all different types of people he’d once known. Family problems, money problems, health problems, social: Jim empathised with the people around him.

“…Hey Mike! Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month!” A young woman, clad in leather and pointy objects, pecked at the exposed shoulders of a young man in a shaman’s robe. A bruised 1 blossomed on “Mike’s” arm. Mike turned around and attempted to smack the girl, but she darted away and poked her tongue at him. This last interaction brought back the worries that had plagued at Jim during the quiet hours of the day and night.

The date was August 1st. By Jim’s worst estimates, Platinum Interactive and its shell subsidiaries would attempt to bill Jim for his monthly maintenance fee today, in addition to his and Margaret’s daily interest. A quick conversation with Brett, who’d owed Jim money, brought his savings to a little over $3,100, with which he could afford to pay for this month… IF the company didn’t also charge a maintenance fee for Margaret. Unfortunately, even in her capacity as the System AI in charge of the Australian Platinum Online server and players, Margaret had no control over the billing system.

“There’s just no way to be sure, Jim,” she’d said in their conversation last night, “but I think it’s better to be pessimistic. We need that money by tomorrow night.”

Burke approached Jim at the end of the group’s breakfast break several minutes later.

“C’mon, Jim. No time to mope, we’re moving.” The big man held out his hand for Jim and helped him up. Burke didn’t let go of Jim right away after helping him up. Instead, Burke squeezed Jim’s hand and nodded. “It’ll be alright, Jim. We’ve come through tough battles before and I’ll look after everyone. Don’t worry about that.” Burke clasped his other hand to Jim’s forearm and gave it one last shake. Jim stared at Burke as the normally hardened veteran moved to the front of the column. Mixed emotions further pulled at Jim. Throughout the last three days, and for the battle to come, the welfare of the people that followed and trusted him hadn’t even crossed Jim’s mind.

Jim respected the militia that followed him and now felt almost like he’d lied to them. He knew that was nonsense in his head but in his heart… Over the past three days, he’d spoken to and comforted the wounded as they’d healed. Even though the people in his militia were programs, so was he and the appreciation showed by Burke helped reassure his worries. They had concerns about family and money, just as he and the players of First Dragon did, and they deserved to be looked out for. He’d just got a little caught up today, was all. Jim reassured himself again but couldn’t entirely keep down a nagging doubt that his leadership skills would suffer if he couldn’t forge a better bond with the people who he went to battle with. He jogged after Burke.

“Burke,” Jim asked, “am I a good leader?”

“You do alright, Jim,” he said. Burke patted Jim’s arm again and turned away without elaborating.

Jim bowed his head and walked to the rear of the column. He joined the combined force’s mages and healers in the halting walk that had characterised the entire journey. Earth mages, which dominated both groups due to Samouel’s influence back in Jamestown, didn’t waste the day while the stronger members cut a path. From the back of the group, paved roads sprouted as men and women exerted their magical might with the Earthworks talent. Jim’s fire magic was also put to use. Through his talented ability to affect the environment, his fireballs baked and hardened the road that stretched back west toward town. The slow pace of the group didn’t tax anyone’s mana regeneration, but it did tax Jim’s ability to focus on the fight.

What will happen if I can’t afford to pay?

Why won’t Tori talk to me?

What’s really going on with…

“Honoured elder,” Vanessa interrupted Jim’s fermenting troubles, “we’ve found them.” The increasingly competent and independent young woman breezed past Jim as she travelled toward the front of the column. She didn’t stop to chat or elaborate. She had big news, then. Jim followed behind Vanessa to the lead wagon, where Nate and Langdon squatted in an awkward discussion. Vanessa vaulted into the bed of the wagon before she offered Jim a hand to help him up. Jim accepted and sat cross-legged with the three others.

“We’ve found the slave camp,” Vanessa said. “Though it may be more accurate to say that they’ve found us. There are dozens, perhaps over a hundred, bandits. They’re also much smarter than the slavers Elder Cartwright found at the Haunted Iron Mine. One of my hunters was wounded when a bandit sentry saw him and attacked him with a crossbow. He’ll be fine thanks to the advanced earth mages’ healing, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to ambush an alert and numerically superior group.”

“Damn,” Nate said, after Vanessa finished briefing them. “We’ll have to confirm the strength and levels of the bandits and see how they compare to our new gear, but it doesn’t look good.”

“We may have to retreat if they’re too powerful,” Langdon said.

“Maybe,” Vanessa said. “The ordinary bandits can’t be too powerful, though.”

“How do you figure?” Langdon asked.

“The sentry that attacked us. Even with what appears to be a powerful crossbow fired from an ambush, they weren’t able to kill or cripple one of our hunters.”

“Mmm,” Nate mused. “Then so long as we’re not surrounded, then we might—”

“No,” Vanessa interrupted. “While we’d have a strong advantage over the bandits, the problem is that they’re not alone. We’re still pushing back their sentries, so we can get a closer look at the camp, but we’ve spotted some magic users at least as powerful as the fire wizard that Elder Cartwright killed last week.”

“How powerful was that?” Nate asked. “We only heard about him after the show was over.”

“Level 10 elite,” Jim said, before retelling the story.

“…and then we split him in two,” Langdon finished for Jim.

“Hmm. And if we’re going by Jim’s quest to recover the magical tomes, then there’s likely to be five level 10 elites in addition to up to a hundred bandits. I think we’d better head back. I’m nearly level 7 after the trip here. If we retreated and maybe cleared out the dungeon, we’d be able to come back a level or two stronger. Now we’ve cut a path, the trip will only take half the time,” Nate said. Langdon and Vanessa began to nod at Nate’s words.

Jim’s gut sank.

“I can’t,” he said. The words grated out between clenched teeth. “I can’t wait for even another day.”