Event: Relona Bandit raid

The bandits led by the Dragonian criminal Tristan “The Red Claw” are planning to invade the town all players inside the town have been drafted to help protect the town. It is important that they are repelled because the city is placed on an important trade route between the capital and other main citys.

Contribution: 0 points

I run to the plaza that is filled with players. At the end was a man that looked in his late forties and next to him a similar man but much more muscular and armored in full plated armor, a kite shield on his left arm and a long sword on his waist.

The normal man, most likely the city lord, walks up and addresses the crowd.

??? : please quiet down, we would like to thank you for joining us in protecting our town from these bandits, they are currently outside to the east setting up siege weapons, we have time before they begin we would like to take names of you who will be participating.

The knight walked up and began directing them. It moved quickly warrior classes were sent to the barracks. Archers and mages went on the wall and towers. I allowed Proto to go to with the knight but told him to not speak with anyone if possible and keep his mask on, while I took Magi with me and headed onto the wall. I stayed half way between the east gate tower and the next one so I had full view of the clearing. I prepared myself sending out half the amount of strings I can control, at (basic 9) I can create 3 strings at a time and control 150 strings as long as I have mana, so I sit and meditate while I let the strings out further and further, including 10 strings from my finger tips to use to attack. All my strings are nearly invisible but if someone is powerful enough they can feel the mana used to make them so I had one or two NPC mages looking at me in amazement.

When I was satisfied I got up from my meditating and just stood there waiting, I could see from far away the catapults and ballista being built. I look down towards the plaza and see it had emptied and everyone was buzzing around like bees getting ready. I then walk up to one of the NPC captains

Sting: sir how much time before we will begin the fight.

NPC: well we normally wait for them to start since they are under cover of the trees.

Sting: if I could damage them would there be a problem.

NPC: not at all, if it raises the moral of out solders then be my guest.

I nodded then walked to Magi while having some people star at me strangely.

Magi: do you have…a plan master?

Sting: yes, get ready to use magic to attack ready as many spells as you can.

I then pull the huge diamond while hiding it in my cloak then make a link from it to my and one directly to Magi’s core.

Sting: there now you can access the large amount of mana in here go all out.

She nods then I walk up to the walls edge and pull one hand back with my hands open as if about to claw something. In a quick swipe of my hand on the air I whip the five strings in a long horizontal arc. The players next to me begin to giggle looking at me as a weirdo but after exactly 10 seconds the strings reach their intended targets. The entire tree line is cut as if something clawed it. The trees collapse onto the bandits and the strings also cut into the siege weapons.

The players and NPC stared wide eyed at the attack, it was something they had never seen or heard about and as many were mages they want to know.

Tristan POV

Tristan: so how are the preparations going?

Bandit officer: quite well, the siege weapons should be finished in another two hours we already have the ammunition and since we are under the trees we don’t have to worry about possible atta…

*Crack!!!* *Bang!!!* *Bomb!!!*

The sudden sounds of something breaking drew the attention of the bandit leader and he left his tent only to find disarray.

He grabbed one of the bandits that were working on the catapults

Tristan: what happened here?!

Bandit: we don’t know one second everything was calms the next the trees and catapults were cut by something around 30 of our men were also cut and injured and about 8 died; we don’t know what did it.

He let the man go; rage was boiling up inside him at the inconvenience, now they were exposed to attacks as well as having no siege weapons.

Officer: sir this looks like something we spotted at the area your brother was found in, I think it might be an attack from the same person that killed him.

Tristan made a menacing grin that was filled with malice.

Tristan: so this is what he is capable of, no wonder my brother couldn’t handle him, for him to be able to do so much… ready the men we are advancing without the siege weapons cut down logs to make rams we will push our way in, mages get ready we will be under heavy fire from magic and arrows.

All the bandits began scurring around and picking up the largest logs from what remained from the catapults and the trees that were cut. While the mages put up barriers along the line to keep out attacks until they needed to advance.

Sting POV

I was watching the bandits as they scurried around and picked up the logs, when the barriers rose up I had already guessed they were making time to get ready for the raid. Behind me many players were cheering the destruction of the siege weapons and some laughed at the bandits who were hiding behind the barriers.

The NPC captain near me approached and thanked me for helping out.

For clearing out the siege weapons before damage could be done you have gained 1200 contribution points. (All actions done by your puppets during the battle will be considered you’re doing both good and bad and you will be rewarded the points)

I grinned when I looked the message; it was a wonderful message that shouted “siege battles are made for puppeteers.” After the NPC left, a few mages approached me and asked what I did but I didn’t give them an answer I just said I have a hidden mage class; this kept me from answering more questions.

I then sat next to Magi and to rest since there was time before the bandits attack.

Sting: how many spells have you prepared?

Magi: I have 20…ice spears spells…ready, 10 Fire… bombs done as…well, that is my… limit.

I pat her on the head for her good job. Then I begin meditating and send my strings out over to the bandit area to see what’s up, with 1/3 of my strings I can expand up to 300m and easily scout the area. After a bit I find them making the rams and ladders much deeper in the trees, which was a good call on the bandit leaders call, with so many bandits they would have normally gotten to the city walls though that would be if there weren’t any players here. I had heard some talk that a group of level 100+ players are currently here and with that I could tell this would be an unfair advantage to the bandits.

After a half hour of waiting we hear one of the archers shouts that they are coming so I get up. The archers were already in place waiting for the barriers to drop so they could bombard the bandits but much to their dismay the bandits pass through the barrier, its most likely a kind that blocks enemies while allowing allies free passage. I don’t worry me much, why?

Sting: Magi please get rid of the barrier.

Magi: sure thing… master.

She holds her hand out and several of her prepared ice spear spells appear around her hand. Then in front of her a large number of ice spears form and rain down on the barrier covering it in ice. To finish up she activates two fire bomb spells and throws then onto the shield which causes a humongous explosion three times the normal size of a fire bomb. Seeing this, mages around me press me for questioning, so I just tell them about physics of heating a very cold object. One of them seems smarter than the others and understands the concept and calls the rest over and explains.

Back to the fight, the place the explosion happened was clear of both the barrier and of bandits, they were all blown away and were laying on the ground either dead or knocked out.

Due to your puppets impressive display of power and taking out part of the barrier guarding the bandits you gain 200 contribution points.

After I read the message I hear a large amount of battle crys. When I look I see the army of bandits rush out. As they get near, the mages and archers bombard them with arrows and magic spells. At this point I hear the gates open and a large amount of warrior class players and NPC knights rush out. Thanks to my mana string sense, I quickly found Proto as he left the gate and ran towards the incoming bandits, when he reached the first one he sent if flying with a punch to the gut before having to dodge the incoming swords from the others near him. As more grouped up, the players began backing him up and they started to push back a bit at least until the bandit mages began attacking which caused us to be pushed back.

The mages retaliated with their own spells to counter the spell which caused the fight to reach a stand still. During this i was just watching the fight getting a feel of the bandits ranks. I searched through them to find the officers and captains. My search found 80 officers and 10 captains, i found them thanks to the better armor. Officers had leather armor with iron chest plates, iron gauntlets and iron boots, similar to the first set of armor i gave Proto, while captains look like knights in full iron armor which chain mail underneath.

After ten minutes Magi began poking me.

Magi: you're not going... to fight master?

She tilted her head innocently, after a few seconds she turned her attention back to the battle. The reason was because my puppets are linked to me so they knew were my strings were, knowing that she felt 100 of my strings fly out in to the field.

After a few minutes the bandits began to be pushed back. I was grinning for each kill that happened because i was assisting in over 100 battles by stopping the movement of the bandits and was gaining some contribution points for the assists.

As the fight continued the bandits were on the defense now while they tried to protect themselves and their allies that froze up when they were trying to dodge. Their numbers that started at 600 were now at a bit over 450 while our numbers that started at 700 with npc and players had only dropped to 600 and none of the npc has fallen.

Suddenly I hear something coming from the forest and when I look a large flaming rocks where flying towards us.

Sting: GET DOWN!!!!

I push down an archer next to me and when the strings on my hands I swipe both hands diagonally drawing an X. When the strings connect with the rock it turns into small rocks and hits the walls. The damage was widespread but since the rocks were cut down the damage wasn’t as extensive as what it would have been but some players were hit by the smaller rocks.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljr2vh-WBSQ at 1:42 you can see what I’m trying to explain)

New Skill Spiders Web

Spider Web (basic 1)

Using the strings on her hand you make a net similar to a spiders web form them.

A smaller version can be done by simply crossing both of your hands in an X to make a smaller net.

Can cut anything below iron in hardness at this level.

Cost 150 MP

Sting: Magi go heal the injured, it’s going to get busy now and they will need more help.

Magi: yes master.

I was looking at the spot that the rock came from. I sent a few strings to check it out what I find doesn’t make me happy. In the spot instead of a catapult stood a dragonian, two and a half meters tall with a muscular build, he was holding the boulder in one hand like it was nothing, next to him were a few mages, preparing fire magic to light the boulder. Just for fun I took control of the mage and had him fire at the dragonian then let him go. Watching from the sense I saw that the man picked up the mage but dropped him when another bandit came up and said something to him.

Sting: “heh seems he got saved by a hairs breath.”

I watch as he finishes preparing and throws the rock but it was too late I had already sent my strings to cut the rock up. After it flies about five meters up in the air the rock gets destroyed and falls all over the bandits. I was laughing as the dragonian stomps on the ground in anger and yells at the others around him as they bring another rock. This one I send, with great accuracy, a single string downward which slices the rock in half before it could even be thrown. He smashes the rock and begins running towards the town. I drop my sense and call the captain.

Sting: prepare for the bandits boss he is coming.

NPC: how do you know?

Sting: I can see him from here.

I point right at the spot he was going to appear, the captain looks that way but doesn’t see anything, he looks back at me conflicted I had done some incredible stuff and he didn’t know if he should believe.

Sting: Sir, please send the message he isn’t a normal opponent we need to be ready for him.

He just nods and walks off to send a messenger.

***

Tristan POV

Anger boiled inside him. After seeing the rock get spliced up after he threw it and the second that he couldn’t even grab, his anger made the air around him bend as if heat waves were being released.

Right now he was in his Dragonian form, as a warrior this form helped a lot because of the racial skills, Dragon’s strength, Dragon’s scales and Dragons claws. These three skills are what made him so powerful and what rallied so many men but now even with his strength he was being toyed with by some unknown fighter, he was nearing his limit of patience and decided to take things into his own hands.

When he finally appeared onto the battlefield all he saw was chaos. He saw two or three bandits group up and some noobs and when they were about to deal a blow they would stop and get hit instead. A few bandits were yelling to get away from them while they attacked their own allies. Tristan’s patience reached its end after seeing this he took a deep breath before shouting.

Tristan: YOU WORTHLESS IDIOTS!!! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES AND FIGHT BACK!!

***

Sting POV

Even before he appeared my eyes were fixed on the Dragonian that ran towards the battle. When he appeared he looked over the battle and a few seconds later he shouted out.

Tristan: YOU WORTHLESS IDIOTS!!! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES AND FIGHT BACK!!

Sting: “Well he sure has a way with words…hmm I can’t control them as well… wait did he just do something”

DING!!

The Dragonian Tristan has activated unknown skill. All allies are protected from all forms of manipulation magic of any form. This can only be countered if another Dragonian activates the same skill. Thanks to the appearance of him in his Dragonian form moral of Relona’s army has dropped significantly.

the effects were instantaneous, I lost control of the bandits and with the lowered moral they began pushing us back towards the town.

Sting: “unknown skill…could it be a racial skill…come to think of it I never did look at my racial skills”

Racial Skills

[window]

Dragons Strength

In your Demi human form this skills will increase strength and agility by a third of its original power.

Dragons Scales

The scales of a dragon, known to be the one of the hardest materials in the world few attacks can penetrate this natural armor.

Dragons Claw

The claws of the greatest hunters, this is one of the few weapons that can damage a dragons scales.

Cost 20 stamina

Dragons Will

The will of a dragon, when displayed in battle it can prevent your allies from being manipulated by an enemy mage. This skill can also be used to dispel the same if used by your enemy.

Cost 500 MP

Sting: “large cost for a large effect I guess”

I take a deep breath as I revert to my Dragonian form, which startles some of the people near me. Now standing a bit over two meters tall with sapphire scales gleaming the same way the blood red scales on Tristan’s did. I activate Dragons will and begin thinking of what to say.

Sting: MEN DON’T FALTER!!! THEY ARE ON THERE LAST LEG EVEN THEIR LEADER HAD TO APPEAR JUST TO GET THEM TO FIGHT!! WE WHO HAVE FOUGHT FROM THE START SERIOUSLY DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT SUCH AN ENEMY!!!

My voice echos through the battle field, many people look my way to see me standing on the wall watching over them just like Tristan was doing for the bandits.

You have used Dragons Will, thanks to the respect the Dragonian species holds you have raised moral and dispelled the effect which prevent manipulation magic. Moral of your allies has risen while enemies have dropped. You are now seen as the city leader by the bandit and they will target you more.

Almost instantly arrows began flying my way from the rear of the bandit army. I started chopping all of them up with my strings which greatly amazed the players and NPC alike. At the same time Tristan rushed into the battle and started doing impressive maneuvers as he fought the players and knight.

A common though had passed through all the players’ minds at the moment, “are all Dragonians this overpowering”. I didn’t blame them for thinking so, considering the strength Tristan was showing and my skill at manipulating my strings, which the skill for String mastery was now 9 and mana strings itself has gone to Intermediate 2 already thanks to how much I’ve been using them.

After a bit I got bored of cutting up arrows and looked towards the archers, once I found them I quickly took control of them and had them fire at the officers and captains, it was a really great result to drop the organization of their army I was able to take out 10 officers and 2 captains before the archers where pinned down to stop them.

I grinned as the army was still in disarray and turn towards Tristan in the middle of battle. Though he was fighting a player he was looking at me with disgust and rage like looking at a bug. The look pissed me off so with on string I shot it at him and hit him below the eye where there weren’t any scales. The opening allowed for several players to get a hit in on him dropping his massive health pool to 70% but since they also go to close, when he regained he sense he destroyed all of them in his rage. I saw Proto about twenty meters away and sent him a mental image to get away from the boss as he was to strong. He follows my orders and heads towards the western side of the battle away from the center where Tristan currently stood. As he stared at me he began shouting…

Tristan: come down here you bastard and fight me like a real Dragonian, I know it was you who killed my brother.

Sting: …I don’t know who your brother is and don’t care, also if you want to kill me come here and do it, I’m of a mage class and it would be stupid of me to fight close up.

I tried sounding a bit arrogant as if I’m looking down on him. Veins pop up on his head and his red scales reflect his anger clearly. In his anger he didn’t notice when suddenly a barrage of ice spears hit him and around him followed by two large fire bombs.

After the explosion cleared he looked up and saw Magi who stood next to me while she prepares the next barrage of spells. The last attack took a tremendous amount of his health and he was now at 40%. When the smoke and dust cleared he was at the center and was bleeding but the air around him was like it was on fire.

Tristan: THAT DOES IT!!!

He turned towards the forest and walked about half way.

Tristan: MEN RELEASE THE BEASTS!!!

I felt a sense of despair fall over the men. On the wall I started to feel the walls vibrate. After a bit I started to see trees falling. A little bit later I found out what it was when they ran into my strings and burst out into the open. What stopped at the edge of the forest was a large stone covered boar, it was easily 4-5 meters tall and 10 meters long and looked extremely powerful but nothing I couldn’t cut but when I looked at the npc mage next to me he was pale.

NPC: my god…they tamed Stone Hide Boars…where did they find them near here.

Sting: what are those things exactly?

NPC: you’ve never seen one, they are called Stone Hide Boars but in truth it feels more like Mithril or something as strong as that, they live underground in complex caves, dwarves can normally breed some of them but there aren’t any large dwarves cities around here.

I turned a little pale, but to test out I tried cutting into one of them while they stood still. It was terrible it didn’t scratch the hide at all; my mind began racing trying to think of something so I took control of two of them as they began charging towards the city. That was successful so I had them ram into the other boars and with its amazing strength I damaged the hide of the others.

I suddenly got an idea and found Proto and led one of them to him. I then sent instructions to him.

Proto POV

As I was fighting I noticed the destructive animals that appeared I felt fear seeing those things I could tell it was much more powerful than anything I would face in a long time. Suddenly I got instructions from master and a few seconds later one of the boars stopped in front of me.

Sting: use this animal to clear the others out, its important to keep them from reaching the wall.

I hoped onto the beast that had lost its rider thanks to master and took control of the reins as master let go of his strings from the beast. They seem to be trained to follow the rider not a specific person.

Proto: KILL THE…RIDERS AND YOU… CAN USE THE BEASTS… AS YOUR OWN.

With that i rushed of and slammed onto the side of the closest boar cracking the hide.

After seeing me ride the beast so easily the lost moral reappeared as mages and archers fired at the riders trying to kill them or knock them off. As I continue my battle with one of the boars I spot another one running towards the town. On it I see a person similar to master in appearance but he looked like he had lost his composure. With my opponent stunned and on the ground I steer my boar towards the other one and tried hitting him to divert the direction of the beast. I was able to draw his attention from the gate to me and we began our fight.

Sting POV

Sting: Seems Proto was able to stop him, damn that crazy bastard, I wonder what other things he is hiding?!

As Proto began fighting Tristan who had a mad man’s look on his face I tried helping him. This proved disastrous because out of nowhere another of the huge boars rammed into the tower to my left and I fell a good 6 meters from the wall.

I was able to twist around and land on my feet though painfully I lost 20% of my health from that fall. Now in the middle of the melee fight I couldn’t concentrate so well on controlling the numerous strings I had so I retracted a large number of them and armed myself with 20 meter long strings on my hands to fight with. From my position I started clawing into the bandits and killing them off trying to protect the hole that had been made. Luckily some players had jumped on top of the boar and were attacking the rider so the boar wasn’t moving much. i look around and find where the other boars are some were near the back to provide cover for the mages, there were 7 in total in the battle, 1 was with Proto, 1 with the bandit leader, 1 was being fought over, and the other 4 were guarding the mages. I get in between some NPC knights and as them to cover me and proceed to take control of one of the backup boars and make it rush into Tristan’s boar knocking it down and be trampled my Proto. I took this chance to direct everyone over there to try and kill the leader.

Basic tactic is best followed, take off the head and the body will be useless, with that I lead about 20 players to the boar crash site. Proto was still making his boar stomp onto the other one to make sure it died. On the ground Tristan was dazed and was getting up with many bandits guarding them. I clear a part of them with a few swings of my strings leaving them with claw marks all over their bodies. When I stop about 20 meters from Tristan he looks at me.

Tristan: So you decided to come down and play

Sting: not much I could do when that giant pig you brought slammed into the walls.

Tristan: good pets aren’t they; those dwarves we caught sure know how to train these bastards well.

The players shuffled around a bit when they heard about the dwarves. Its common logic that main races can’t be enslaved, even Demi humans, thanks to a special treaty between all races that players have access to play with. When he said that with a smug grin on his face which pissed me off so i gathered a bit of magic at the tip of my finger and pointed at him. I concentrated on making numerous strings, just the tips then launched the small mana ball out as strings. It hit him like a bullet piercing his stomach which makes him knee coughing blood.

String Bullet (basic 1)

By condensing mana at your fingertips while making small strings appear then releasing at once, you can make small densely packed string fly out like a bullet.

Ignores defense up to iron armor at this level

Cost 100 mana

Sting: “so this works as well”, so what will you do bandit, as you saw I can control the beasts you came with and we even captured a few for ourselves.

Tristan: heh, I guess it’s my end, it’s like they said it takes a dragon to kill one.

I wasn’t convinced in his sudden surrender, I saw in his eyes determination to kill. That kind of look isn’t something easy to hide, so not take chances I swiftly slash him with Spider web, the small version since I don’t know yet how to the real thing, that something I need to learn from using the system guidance first. His torso was cut with need claw marks but his arms and legs come out unscratched thanks to the scales.

As he staggered I could see he got annoyed again at me doing that his current health 25%. Seems my attacks are very effective against him, no surprise in many fantasy games and stories mage users are always the bane of warrior class. He jumps towards me while holding a sword and swings horizontally. I duck to dodge and go give him a cheap shot in between his legs. He crumbles after getting hit and I could see all men, both allies and bandits flinch when they see that. Effectively stunned I do something different instead of killing him. i connect as many strings to him and capture him, even though he is much higher leveled then me in his weakened state it works if I add a lot of strings. I order the players to go kill the bandits and I take him to the nearest captain.

Sting: hello sir, I captured the boss, do you want him dead or alive.

I grinned and so does he, it was clear that this battle was over and the players were now decimating the bandits after having captured the second boar.

Tristan: your weak boy, can’t even finish me off properly

Sting: I think it’s better to have you jailed, you lost your right for a proper death as a warrior when you became a petty bandit.

He just laughs a bit while the captain shackles him with special anti-magic chains, once the first was one his form changed to human form. After he did so I did the same but I held onto him, as a leader he must be powerful I didn’t trust the NPC to be able to contain him. We headed inside as the bandits desperately tried to fight back but only ended up getting beaten. After about 10 minutes the bandits signaled for retreat, but the players weren’t so forgiving and chased them. Not many got for enough but mages and such were able to get away.

Event: Relona Bandit raid complete

after a long battle your army has repelled the bandits without letting much damage happen to the town the citizens will be most grateful to all who participated in the event to protect them

In town there was celebration for the victory, the captain I walked with came up to me with all of Tristans gear and handed it to me saying I get them since I captured him and handed me a small back with 70G which was his bounty. After about an hour the regular citizens began appearing, I waited for Alice to appear. This took about an hour she was glad we didn’t get hurt. We walked back to her shop and gathered then carts and horses and began to leave when I solder appeared before me.

Solder: you are Sting correct, you are asked to attend the awarding ceremony as you contributed the greatest during battle.

Sting: sorry I don’t want attention to come to me.

Solder: sorry but we aren’t allowed to let you leave town until you come.

Sting: fine but I will go in my other form.

I walk into the plaza in my dragonian form, without my puppets or Alice to keep them safe. The ceremony was to award the players, for me I ended up with an astonishing 7460 points. Thanks to destroying the catapults, helping with the fights and capturing the leader of the bandits. I was given a bag with 200G, a title and a unique sword. This sent murmurs through the players but the NPC cheered and clapped at their biggest benefactor.

New Title Relona’s Hero

With your great power you lead the army to success and kept the casualty to a minimum and even spared the leader of the bandits to be trailed by the kingdom. The truest act of a hero is thinking of giving an enemy a chance to pay his debts without his death.

The people of Relona can recognize you in either forms but players will only know of your Demi human due to your greatest actions being in this form.

Ark Blade

A unique blade, unlike normal magic blades this one was made for the use of a mage. Its remarkable craftsmanship shows the care that was done to make this weapon. It is adorned with many different gems though none have mana the owner can use the sword to store it as reserve.

Damage: 50-70

Restrictions: Be the top contributor in any event that requires you to protect Relona, Mage class, Level 50

I thanked them for the items and left on my way. I return to Alice, Magi and Proto who are ready with the carts. We leave towards the east towards the bandit’s hideout.

Alice: I hope you haven’t forgotten about the sap I want.

Sting: as if ill forget something I’m interested in.

***

Inside Relona Prision

In one of the cells, with both arms and legs chained with large heavy shacks that prevented magic from being used, sat on the floor the beat up Dragonian Tristan. With his head hung down and his body bruised from the beating he had received when they tried to make him tell the location of the hideout he sat there in a silent rage.

As time passed he suddenly hears footsteps. It’s not the normal footsteps of armored knights it was different, light steps normally someone of nobility would have. As he looked up he sees a man clad in a black robe and holding a staff in his right hand walk up to his cage, his hood blocked all light from reaching his face so it wasn’t possible to see.

??? : good afternoon Mr. Tristan.

Tristan: what do you want, you here to interrogate me as well?!

??? : as fun as that sounds no, im here to offer you a proposal

Tristan: for what exactly?

??? : I free you but from today you work for me, you see I’m after the man that placed you in here, he holds some valuable…items I’m interested in and I need someone capable and that has no ties to me to do the job.

Tristan: you want me to kill that brat *grin* why didn’t you say so I want revenge and I would even accept the devils offer if he came to me with it if I could get revenge.

??? : Good to hear but for safe measures I will make a blood contract, this will prevent you from hurting or even attack me while you hunt down that man.

Tristan: fine now get me out of here.

With a swipe of his staff all the locks of the shackles and door unlocked and Tristan walked out.

Tristan: it’s good to be free, now let’s go “Boss”

??? : Yes, lets.

The two vanished from the place like shadows and the alarm was only signaled after it was too late to find them.