“Are you sure that is wise?”

Lady Diana gives me a questioning look as I peer into King Braxus’ camp just outside the perimeter wall of Brookrun. We’ve only just arrived back in Nasgar, returned from our stint in New London. The rapid transition from high-rise metropolis to rain-drenched fantasy world is system shock enough, but now we have King Braxus to contend with right away.

“You wish to meet with him?” she says again, sounding incredulous.

I grin at the knight in her battle worn plate armor, the remnants of the emerald dress poking through beneath. “Absolutely. It’s time Braxus knows exactly what he’s up against here.”

I mean every word of it. Braxus needs to see that I’m not the same person he was dealing with before. I’ve changed in both power and perspective and so have the rest of my friends. We’re all together atop a windmill, under an overcast sky with drizzling rain, overlooking the expanse of Brookrun village—which is now more like a town. Row upon row of cottages line the cobblestone streets, which lead like the spokes of a wheel to bigger buildings at the center. I’m not certain if this was all Gilly and I’s doing from our instructions to Wilbur before we left, but the place has grown immensely and no doubt aided by Lady Diana who’s now squinting at me with her ‘cop eyes’.

“Perhaps you need to see what we’re up against first,” she says with a hand on her metal clad hip.

As if to emphasize her point a boom of cannon fire sounds in the distance, accompanied by a plume of black smoke rising into the rain drenched sky. I turn to my comrades.

My brother Maxis, the Karate Master, looks every bit imposing with his muscular build and brandished fists. Even when stood next to his girlfriend, the half-giant Val Helena, who towers over all of us with her eight foot frame, he stands out; the two of them looking like a power couple of muscle and brawn.

Val Helena’s sisters, Aiko and Becky hang towards the back of our group. Although they are blood related in real life, their characters are polar opposites in the game world. Becky is a Halfling, looking both wizened and cute in her mage gear, while Aiko, now switched back to thief, exudes allure with her long elf legs, striking features and purple, bob-cut, hair.

Rembrandt, the baddest gunslinger in all New London, looks as cool as ever in his mirrored shades and trench-coat, his bald head, goatee and ebony skin, giving him an extra sense of uniqueness in this world. And finally there’s Gilly, my one and true love, with her slightly pointed half-elf ears, short dark hair and sparkling green eyes.

Of course, we’re all looking a little worse for wear at the moment—the drizzling rain clings to our skin while matting our hair. Even Wilbur, the town administration, a man in his 80s, resembles a drowned rat with his rain drenched clothes and beard. Lady Diana is no exception, perhaps looking even worse than us with wisps of her scarlet hair plastered across her forehead.

She continues to stare at me for an answer.

I look once again to my friends for input, but they’re all deferring to me as their leader, trusting in my response. Diana’s probably right. Braxus isn’t our only problem here and I should see which one of them is greater before making the final call.

“Fine,” I say. “Let’s go see what the Goblin Queen is up to as well.”

* * *

We descend from the windmill and make our way hurriedly through the rain washed streets towards the cannon fire in the distance. Once again I’m taken aback by just how much the village has grown. When we were here last the place was a few log cabins and some farms, but now I feel like I could be in a suburb of Stormwall.

“This place has really changed,” I say to Diana as I run alongside her.

She glances at me. “You’ve changed as well. What’s that strange garb you’re wearing?”

I didn’t give much thought to it before, but I’m still dressed in my urban chic glamor wear from back in New London. My armor is still the same in terms of stats, changed in appearance only, but to Diana’s eyes an LED lined tech-jacket, with fingerless gloves and armored plated boots probably looks odd to her. I notice she gives questioning glances to some of my other companions as well, especially Aiko who is dressed provocatively in a mini skirt, thigh high leggings and a stylish half-jacket. Rembrandt still looks much the same, save for a new tie, but my brother looks like he just came from the HUB back in Citadel; blue jeans and leather jacket with a white tee-shirt underneath.

Gilly, Becky and Val Helena went the extra step of reverting their gear back to their original forms before returning to Nasgar; looking very much at home in the fantasy realm. Becky and Gilly have matching white robes, while Val Helena looks like an upgraded version of Lady Diana in her gleaming, gold trimmed Paladin armor.

I realize too, that after unlocking level 99, that there are probably new and better gear sets for us to seek and find out there. And if the return of the Goblin Queen is any indication, we might definitely need to do so, because the increase in level cap means an increased in monster difficulty as well, accord to Lennox anyway.

Still, while I’m not yet Level 99, I’m no slouch in the combat department and I’m almost eager to test my new weapons against whatever the Goblin Queen has to offer.

Lady Diana gives me another odd glance as I materialize my new weapons in a burst of nano-dust. The Particle Beam Emitter appears on my hip, the matte-black pistol glowing with a futuristic aqua-blue aura along its sharp edges. At the same time an eight-foot-long katana called Zanbatō emerges on my back. I check my character sheet for their effects on my stats.

Name: Reece

Class: Ninja

Level: 87

Strength: 6+200

Dexterity: 99+270

Agility: 99+80

Intelligence: 29

Mind: 6

Vitality: 31+20

HP: 1762/1762

Stamina: 367/367 (+50)

TP: 221/221 (+30)

You have equipped:

Dark Shinobi Mask: +30 Shadow Magic +30 TP

Dark Shinobi Gi: +150 HP +30 Shadow Magic+30 AGL+30 Dodge

Warrior’s Tekko: +75 HP +20 AGL +20 DEX +20 STR +20 VIT

Ninja Hakama: +150 HP +30 Dodge +30 AGL

Dark Shinobi Kyahan: +75 HP +30 Shadow Magic +20 Dodge

Zanbatō: +180 STR +180 DEX +30% Critical Damage

Particle Beam Emitter: +70 Dex +40 Aim +25% Crit Chance

Less agility but a ton more Strength, plus the huge Dex bonuses means I’ll be hitting like a truck with critical attacks. It’s also nice to see my INT edging closer to 50, raised from my last couple of levels. If I want to get to my goal of 50 Int however, I’ll probably need to level some sub classes, because the XP gaps between levels is now tremendous. I check on that next.

You are 586750/2000000 Experience Points from your next Level.

Man, two million. I’m actually looking forward to some higher level mobs. I’m going to need to defeat a lot of them to reach 99. Of course I could always switch back to using my XP for Veteran points too, but looking at my ability list, I kind of want to unlock them first through leveling before getting beck to optimizing and slotting.

Level 87 Shuriken : Ranged Attack, Stuns Enemy

Level 90 Cyclone Shadow: AEO Lunge – Pulls Enemies

Level 95 Shadow Walk: Self Teleport between Shadows

Level 97 Shadow Drain: Self Buff – Absorb 20% of damage done as HP

Level 99 Muteki no Shi : +50% to all stats, immune to CC for 30 seconds

My next ability, Cyclone Shadow, doesn’t interest me much, but Shadow Walk and Shadow Drain look like must haves. Finally I check my veteran points and slots to make sure I’m ready for a battle if it comes to it.

You have earned 25/30 Veteran Points.

You have 0 Veteran Points to allocate.

You are 0/500,000 XP from your next Veteran Point.

Veteran Awards:

Attribute Point 2 VP

Ability Upgrade 3 VP

Cross-Class Ability Slot [5/6] 5 VP

Non-Class Ability Slot [0/3] 10 VP

Allocated Points

Cross-Class Ability Slot [5/5] Allocated [25 Points used]

Slotted Abilities:

Gun Blade: Stun Blade [1/5] Slots used.

Backflip [1/5] Slots used.

Paralyzing Shot [3/5] Slots used.

I consider my new set up and am fairly pleased with it, although it’s probably more suited for PvP with how many Stuns and CC breakers I now have. Back in New London, fighting against other players, those things were key. You can lock down an opponent and 100 to zero them with enough Crowd Control abilities and I now have four, including my new Shuriken ability from Ninja. But against mobs I’ll need to be careful not to overdo it, especially on the bosses. They can develop CC immunity quickly and render all those skills useless. Still, with my much lower agility from not using my tanking kunai, I may need a quick interrupt here and there to buy me more time to cast Shadow Copy.

“Look!” Lady Diana points ahead of her. “They’re nearly through the wall already!”

Flashbacks of our siege within the keep plays within my mind as the towering, thirty foot high, wooden perimeter wall buckles inwards with a violent hit from the outside. The lashed together tree trunks that make up the wall lean inward with the force of the hit, threatening to topple the whole thing over like a string of dominoes. A couple dozen men are at its base, propping it up with more logs and the health bar on that section of the walls appears to slowly replenish—but not nearly fast enough.

A few more hits like that and the wall will be down for sure.

A thunderclap goes off overhead and I duck with a flinch. I glance behind me to see a cannon set on a stone parapet just behind the wall. It ejects a torrent of flame and smoke as it fires, shooting backwards with the force of its recoil. A team of five or six soldiers then quickly move about the parapet to reload it.

“Where did you get the cannon?” Gilly asks as she stares up at the parapet in awe.

“Had some help from one of your kind,” Wilbur says, still catching his breath as he comes to a stop next to her.

Gilly looks back at him puzzled and I do as well. One of our kind? But then we have our answer as a small man with a white hair and beard looks down at us from over the top of the parapet. “Well, holy crap… about time you guys showed up.”

I laugh up at the gnome. “Blacktop? I should have known!”

“No time for pleasantries,” he shouts back. “Can you guys do something about those damn trolls? That wall won’t last long!”

I check the wall, now down to 32%. “How do we get out there?”

“The North gate!”

“Where is that?” Val Helena asks, materializing her massive sword and shield.

“This way a few blocks,” Lady Diana says, taking the lead. “I’ll show you.”

It’s going to take time to get there and double back. And by the looks of the wall, we need to stop those trolls from attacking now.

“We need to get out there sooner,” I say, buffing myself with Shadow Haste and Shadow Copy. “You guys go through the gate, Aiko and I can get over the wall with Wall Run.”

“You sure?” Gilly says.

I nod. “I can tank whatever’s out there and Aiko can use hit and run tactics with stealth. Just join up as soon as you can.”

My friends nod back at me and then disappear down the street with Lady Diana.

I glance at Aiko. “Looks like it’s just you and me, to start.”

“Just how I like it.” She draws her knives, giving me a slick grin. “Shadow Wall and let’s roll, pretty boy.”

I chuckle back at her as I cast the spell, cloaking us with invisibility. I charge at the wall with Wall run, running vertical up its slope. I land on the top of a sawed off tree trunk and take in the vantage of our attackers from above.

What the…?

Lady Diana and Blacktop mentioned trolls, but these don’t look anything like trolls to me. I imagined bulky giants like the Mountain Trolls I’ve fought before, but these are tall and spindly with slimy green limbs that look like wet bone. Their faces are likewise lean and goblin like, with huge ears and completely black eyes. Just the sight of them riddles me with an unnatural shiver and I wonder if it could be more than my imagination affecting me.

Nether Troll

Level: 96

Not a true troll, but a construct more akin to a flesh golem. Only wielders of truly dark magic can construct, much less control, such monstrosities.

Affinity: Dark

Well, that explains the creep factor.

“Pull the furthest one,” Aiko says next to me while still in stealth. “Don’t want them all ganging up on us at once. Especially not at level 96.”

I spot a troll closest to the back, lifting a boulder nearly twice its size. The sight is impressive. What they lack in physical bulk, they clearly make up for with unnatural strength.

I aim my pistol at it and pull the trigger.

You use Paralyzing Shot!

You hit the Nether Troll for 237(577) particle damage!

Nether Troll is Paralyzed!

The troll freezes with the boulder still high above its head. I leap off the wall and pepper it with more blasts from my pistol as I flip through the air. The damage it takes is minimal, barely moving its HP bar and by the time I land it’s nearly healed back to full already. What the hell…? I glance at the futuristic looking gun in my hand. It seemed a lot more powerful than this before.

The affinity, I realize. Just as my magic was weakened in New London, the opposite must be true for my Particle Beam Emitter here. The Paralyze effect wears off and the giant Nether Troll focuses its hollow black eyes on me. With a flex, it hurls the boulder at me with incredible speed and aim. It dents the rain soaked earth a few feet from me and my body shifting into Nano-dust as it bounces right through, taking my shadow with an AOE.

Your shadow absorbs the attack!

The monster bellows and charges my way and I’m pleased to see none of its brethren following it. I fire a few more ineffectual hits with my pistol as it closes the gap and then charge forward with a quick slash from my Zanbatō.

Critical Hit!

You hit the Nether troll for 345(1154) damage!

I slice with rapid succession as I dance through the troll’s quick and powerful swings. With my high Strength and Dexterity I land critical hits nonstop, but still my damage is low. I manage to take off perhaps 10% when Aiko appears behind it with a critical backstab.

Aiko Backstabs the Nether Troll for 1345(3413) damage.

The monster roars, reaching back for her, but she flips to the side out of reach. I yell at it with a War Cry to keeps its attention while swapping the Pistol for one of my kunai, going into a flurry of critical attacks at melee range. Together with Aiko, we pump out impressive damage, but the troll’s regeneration keeps the bar from going down at any more than a snail’s pace.

“Like fighting a damn LM!” Aiko shouts frustrated as she lays into the troll with a series of Power Attacks. “We need more help!”

We’ve only distracted this one out of the dozen or so trolls still hammering on the wall, now down now 24%. I glance over my shoulder, looking for the rest of our party and yell through the chat. “Guys, we need back up!”

Suddenly, as if I’d spoken to them, the rest of the trolls look in Aiko and I’s direction.

Oh crap…

About half of them leave the wall and head for us while the others continue their assault on the barrier. The action takes me by surprise. I wouldn’t expect mobs like this to display that kind of intelligence; to split half their forces on two separate objectives without even a sign of communication between them.

We get the troll below 15% and Aiko suddenly vanishes with a backflip. She re-emerges a second later, carving a huge upward slash through the troll’s midsection that sends black blood flying.

Aiko uses Assassinate!

Aiko successfully assassinates the Nether Troll!

You defeat the Nether Troll!

You gain 34500 experience points!

The monster releases a death cry as its HP drops to zero and its body dissolves into a black goo. It literally melts in the rain, forming a puddle that turns into nano-dust. Finally. I scan the surroundings. There’s something up with these trolls. Monsters wouldn’t normally act like that. Not without help.

“Aiko! There has to someone commanding these things,” I say. Her Thief level Awareness far greater than mine. “Try to spot something.”

“You want to hold onto that thought for a minute?” she says, flipping her knives in her hands. “There’s still a mob of them headed our way!”

She’s right. Five trolls are galloping right at us, kicking up mud as they close from a little over a hundred feet away. Fresh from New London, I was confident in my abilities, but against these things I’m not so sure anymore. I rebuff myself with Shadow Copy and re-equip my pistol to spray them with cover fire. Electricity sparks off their gangly bodies but it does little to slow them down.

The cannon goes off again and a huge shower of mud and debris sprays in the air just behind the advancing troll. Damn, a miss!

“Use Holy magic!” Lady Diana calls out from behind me.

I turn to see the knight charging ahead in her plate armor, already buffing herself with a swirl of golden light.

Lady Diana uses Sing Blade!

Weapon attack speed and accuracy increased!

Lady Diana uses Blessed Blade!

Attacks now do Holy damage.

Val Helena leaps over her head and right into the center of the advancing trolls. She shouts with a Mass Challenge, drawing their attention as she lashes out with a circular attack, cutting them all at once.

Val Helena uses Wheeling Blade!

Nether Troll is Stunned!

Nether Troll is Stunned!

Nether Troll is Stunned!

Nether Troll is Stunned!

Nether Troll is Stunned!

As the trolls freeze, huge blasts of white light rain down upon them, as Gilly and Becky combine their spells in a simultaneous cast.

Gilly casts Holy Fire!

Becky casts Magic Burst!

Combo attack!

Holy Burst!

Nether Troll takes 2784(1245) Holy damage!

Nether Troll takes 2784(1245) Holy damage!

Nether Troll takes 2784(1245) Holy damage!

Nether Troll takes 2784(1245) Holy damage!

Nether Troll takes 2784(1245) Holy damage!

The ground explodes and the monsters all lose a quarter of their health.

Rembrandt and Maxis engage next. Like my pistol, Rembrandt’s damage numbers are not high, but as a specialized ranged class, he does impressive damage through the sheer number of hits alone.

Maxis fists glow blue as he shifts stance.

Maxis uses Fists of Heaven!

Attacks now do Holy damage.

He lays into one of the trolls with a series of hurricane-fast blows. The monster flatlines and he moves to the next. Val Helena continues to tank the remaining four, taking the brunt of their attacks to her shield, while Gilly tops up of her HP with a Heal IV. The cannon fires again, and one of the trolls takes another quarter damage to its health as Blacktop’s aim flies true.

Nether Troll takes 2103(1734) Explosion damage!

I’m about to join in to help, when Aiko suddenly turns in my direction. “Reece, cloak us now and follow me!”

I comply without question, casting Shadow Wall and follow Aiko’s ghostly image through the rain as she leaves footsteps in the muddy ground. We travel away from both the skirmish and the wall, stopping after about fifty feet or so.

“What is it?” I ask through the chat.

“Not sure?” she says. “Something is standing right here, about thirty feet away from us now. There’s a faint outline in the rain. See it?”

I peer at where I think she’s referring to, but don’t see anything. How she was able to see it from a distance in mind boggling.

“Not sure what it is,” she says. “But I’m striking first.”

I ready myself as she leaves my side. A second later she appears again, sinking her blades into the back of a goblin that’s nearly equal to her in height. The goblin cries out with a howl as Aiko’s backstab removes half its health.

I whip my arm forward, activating my new ability, letting loose a spinning ninja star.

You use Shiruken!

You hit the Goblin Evoker for 334 damage.

Goblin Evoker is Stunned!

Not a lot of damage, but the Stun is enough to prevent the Goblin from countering or fleeing from Aiko’s attacks. She decimates the rest of its HP with three quick stabs from behind and the Goblin falls to its knees. I look behind me to see if I was right. Near instantly the trolls attacking the wall stop and start milling about aimlessly until they catch sight of my friends downing the rest of their brethren. They then ignore the wall to engage in the fight, leaving the structure standing at 12% health.

“Good call,” Aiko says, sheathing her blades. “Something was controlling them.”

I look down at the bleeding goblin, sitting on a sliver of slowly depleting health. Its eyes are wide with shock or perhaps fright. I notice it looks to be a female as well, with rain-soaked dark robes and a talisman made of bones about her neck. Her yellow eyes narrow at me with a look of hate as she raises a gnarled finger towards me. “Vuegh Sha-na shan… kumo gultz…”

I flinch away, thinking it might be some kind of spell, but Aiko quickly dispatches the last of the goblin’s HP with a kick to her side. “Vodrox dosu…”

You defeat the Goblin Evoker!

You gain 13000 experience points.

The goblin’s body crumbles into nano-dust as Aiko absorbs the corpse. I look at her perplexed. “You speak Goblin?”

Aiko shrugs. “Elven and Goblin are pretty close.”

“What did it say?”

She glances at me. “She said her queen will avenge her.”

The Goblin Queen. I look east to where the mines loom in the distance. When I was here last, about a month ago, you couldn’t see the mines. The hills that contained them were covered in thick forest, but now they lay barren and exposed. Upon the slopes of muddy earth are stone fortifications, blocking access to the tunnels and all about them are spikes adorned with what I can only guess are human bodies. It’s a gruesome sight and with how barren Brookrun is now, I can only imagine where all those bodies came from.

My stomach churns.

“Our access to Citadel is through there,” I say, more a lament to myself than a statement to Aiko. What should have been a quick trip to the lowest part of the mines to start our journey home has turned into a dungeon crawl.

And not an easy one by the looks of it.

I turn back to Aiko. “What did you say back to her?”

The elf grins. “I told her to bring it on.”

* * *

We rejoin our friends just as they are mopping up the last of the Nether Trolls. As Lady Diana had said, Holy damage works wonders on them. Between Val Helena’s Paladin abilities, and Becky and Gilly’s Celestial magic they make short work of the half-dozen trolls that are left.

We regroup just outside the wall, converting the last of the troll corpses into nano-fragments.

“Those things were strong,” I say, grimacing at the tar-black pools of goo left on the battlefield. “Is this what the Goblin Queen has been sending to attack the village?”

“Only recently,” Lady Diana says. “We lost many during the first wave of attacks—normal goblins then. But the more of them we killed, the stronger they became, using the bodies of their fallen to create abominations like the ones you saw today. A foul and dark magic is at work here.”

“We need to retake the mines,” Gilly says, staring at the barren hills in the distance. “It’s our key to getting home.”

“We need to deal with Braxus as well,” Becky reminds us.

Lady Diana pushes back her rain-soaked red hair. “So, there you have it, young Reece. You’re still the lord of this village. What do you wish to do?”

The acknowledgement almost takes me by surprise. After being in New London for so long, where everything was pretty much taken care of by Lennox, it’s a bit daunting to assume the role of leader of a township once again—especially one that is under siege from two sides. I glance back at the Goblin Queen’s stronghold. This is definitely going to take some strategic planning. My meeting with Braxus will have to wait.

“Let’s get in out of this rain,” I say. “We’ll meet at the common hall to go over our resources. Before we make our next move, I need to know exactly where we stand.”