NPCs in Carrethen were open to attack just like anybody else and behaved predictably. There was no reason for Alfrin to be laid out on the ground like this unless someone had killed him. And that meant that D and I were no longer alone…

Thunk!

A crossbow bolt embedded itself in the wall of the tower behind me. Instantly, D and I were back to back, scanning the landscape for our attackers. But there were so many trees surrounding us, that they could have been anywhere.

I looked in the direction of the arrow and saw a flicker of movement beside a large boulder.

“There!” I shouted as a figure emerged from behind the stone, a crossbow in his hand. I instantly recognized him as one of the three men that had passed us a few days ago.

Twang!

A bolt streaked towards me. I barely had time to react, but I managed to duck out of the way as the bolt soared harmlessly over my head.

D fired back in reply, his arrow shaft cutting through the air like a bolt of lightning, striking the man in the chest.

“Ah!” he shouted, taking cover behind the rock.

“Come on!” D shouted, rushing forward, sending more arrows in our attacker’s direction. I raced after him. My quickness was much higher than his, and I passed him easily. My heart was pounding. This was our first conflict with another player, and I knew what the stakes were.

The electronic void… The Ripper’s voice echoed in my head as I advanced, slowing my pace as we reached the large rock.

“Come out!” I shouted, holding my sword high. Whatever level they were, it wasn’t going to be high enough to take me on. One of them had been level 5 a few days ago. For them to be close to my level was just completely impossible. “Surrender now, and we’ll let you go!”

No answer. There was no answer. D and I looked at each other. I tightened my grip on my sword, taking the right side of the rock as D took the left. My blade was held high, ready to strike as I tried to keep myself calm. Fighting off Horngrins was one thing. Battling a real player was something else entirely.

D’s bow creaked under the tension of his drawn string. The grass crunched softly beneath my feet as I slid forward. I readied myself for a strike and leapt around the corner of the rock.

I’d expected to find our attacker cowering in fear or taking aim with his crossbow, but instead, I found myself face to face with a group of five. Two of them were armed with bows, and another two with wands. The last held a massive battle-axe above his head.

“Yah!” he roared as he brought it down with all his might. I stepped aside and deflected the blow with my sword. I could tell by the force behind his blow that he wasn’t too high level.

The mages fired in succession. Two low-level fire balls struck my breastplate, dealing barely any damage.

“Shit, dude!” our original attacker shouted, firing another bolt. This time it hit, but the damage barely registered.

“He’s too high level!” one of the mages shouted, firing again.

I had to do something, but there was no time to inspect my attackers and determine their level. If they were low enough, there was a good chance that using one of my skills would kill them.

I swung out at the guy with the axe who was standing closest to me. As I expected, just a simple blow was enough to shave off way more than half his health. His eyes almost fell out of his head as he staggered back and pulled out a Health Potion. I swatted it out of his hands and kicked him to the ground as I turned to the rest of his friends.

“Run!” the first attacker with the crossbow shouted as he turned tail and fled in the opposite direction. Funny that the one who started everything was the first one to run.

I activated Warrior’s Charge to close the gap between me and the mages but avoided hitting them with the attack. I swung out with my sword, cleaving both of them across the chest. Their HP plummeted so fast I felt a surge of panic in my chest when it looked like they were going to hit zero. Thankfully, a sliver of health remained.

“You realize only one of you gets a ride home if you kill me, right?” I asked the two wounded players in front of me. By the expressions on their faces, I could tell this was a minor detail they’d overlooked. “Now, get the Hell out of here.”

For a second, neither of them moved. I could hear the last member of their party, the other archer, stir nervously behind me.

“And you,” I called out, without bothering to turn to him. “Don’t even think about shooting me in the back.”

The mages still didn’t move, so I raised my sword like I was about to strike. That did it. Scrambling over each other, the two players got to their feet and ran off, followed quickly by the other two archers.

I turned to D who had his bow aimed at the backs of the fleeing attackers.

“Don’t,” I told him.

D sighed and lowered his arrow. “You know… they can just go level up and come after you again.”

“Yeah, well I won’t have to worry about that for a while,” I scoffed. “Did you catch any of their levels?”

“One of them,” D replied. “Level 10.”

“Level 10,” I remarked, shaking my head. “Coming after a level 20.”

“They must really want to go home.”

I looked back at the Bandit Tower, Alfrin’s corpse lying motionless in the doorway.

“What do we do now?” I asked him.

“You know the answer to that question,” he replied grimly.

“You don’t know of any other NPCs in the area?”

“Nope.”

I sighed and twisted my sword in my hand. My first real battle with another player—players, but I couldn’t help but think it was the first of many to come. We had to return to town, and town meant people, and people meant those looking for a way out—me.

“Come on,” D replied, turning and heading off in the direction of Stoneburg. “We have no choice.”