Will Fitzgerald

Health: 83/100

Stamina: 65/100

Mana: 100/100

Status:

Level: 1

Experience: 237/1,000

Rank: None

Title: None

Class: None

Role: None

Party: Unnamed

Alliances: None

Allegiances: None

Stats

Strength

10

Perception

10

Charisma

10

Endurance

10

Intelligence

10

Poise

10

Agility

10

Wisdom

10

Constitution

10

Dexterity

10

Fortitude

10

Luck

10

Skills:

First Aid – Level 3

Field Dressing – Level 3

Poultices – Level 2

Herbalist – Level 2

Herb Lore – Level 2

Hunting – Level 1

Butchering – Level 2

Animal Skinning – Level 2

Looting – Level 4

One-Handed Melee – Level 3

One-Handed Sword – Level 4

Ranged Weapons – Level 3

Archery – Level 4

Scan – Level 2

Abilities: None

Spells: None

Enchantments: None

Attributes: None

Three days had passed since he’d parted company with his friends. Three days and seventeen raids later, and Will was still a level one newb. Not only did the game now require a thousand experience points before leveling up, the Orcs were only dropping half the experience points they would’ve before the update. At this rate, it’d take a year to reach level hundred, probably longer. At least skills weren’t affected by the update.

They hadn’t spent much time hunting, only enough to keep themselves fed. Most their time had been spent tracking down and ambushing Orc patrols. The orcs were scouting the area in groups of five or six, a manageable number as long as none of them were above level four. They’d tried to attack a patrol with a level five Orc in it on the first day, but it had almost ended in disaster. Ben and Voodoo had weathered the brunt of the level five Orc’s attacks, each having their health drop to the single digits during the fight, and none of the party had made it out above fifty. Thankfully, they had enough healing potions on hand to heal everyone above eighty points, but the party had to stick to softer targets from then on.

Will’s attention was brought back to the present as the sounds of Orcs filtered up through the forest. He leaned his head back, enough to see around the large bush he was hiding behind, and signaled to Doc, who was hiding behind a tree a dozen paces from Will’s hiding spot, that he’d spotted the enemy.

There were six Orcs on the path below them walking in pairs. They were talking as they walked, barely glancing around, and one was slashing at anything within reach. He couldn’t understand them, he wondered if their harsh, guttural language even had a translation or if it was just a bunch of gibberish the programmers had given them to sound menacing.

Once they were a few paces from the ambush spot, Will stood up and drew the arrow to his cheek. He sighted the front Orc nearest him, breathed out, and fired. He heard a twang as Doc fired beside him. On the other side of the path, he saw Ben and Voodoo step out and fire.

Then, Raven and Ghost stepped out in front of the Orcs, weapons drawn and attacked the front two Orcs. Will drew a second arrow from his quiver, notched it and drew it to his cheek. A twig snapped behind him.

He turned around, spotting an Orc a dozen paces from his hiding spot staring down at the broken twig underneath its boot. It looked up at him, their eyes locking for a split second, before it roared in defiance and charged. Will fired his arrow on instinct, striking it high on the shoulder. He dropped his bow, and jumped forward to grab the orc’s forearms, stopping it from swinging the sword. The impact knocked them sideways in a full pirouette before they pitched over. Will held onto the Orc’s arms as they tumbled down the hill, miraculously keeping the sword from hurting him, before they tumbled over a rock and separated.

He slammed into someone at the base of the ravine before landing face first in the dirt. Dazed, he rolled over and glanced around. The Orc he tumbled down the hill with had been impaled on its own sword and didn’t move. He’d fallen into a different orc, that was starting to get on its knees. He grabbed his hunting dagger and fell on it, stabbing it repeatedly until its arms gave out and it stopped moving.

Panting, he sat back on his heels and pushed himself to his feet. He drew his sword as he surveyed the scene. Ghost was dancing quickly around a group of Orcs as he wielded his sword in one hand and his hunting dagger in the other. He’d deflect an attack with the sword, twist into a crouch as rolled past the Orc, slashing it in the side with the hunting knife in the process before turning to face the next Orc. He looked for Raven next, but couldn’t find him anywhere, along with Doc up on the ridge. He heard swords clashing on the other hill, letting him know that Ben or Voodoo were alive, maybe even both.

Will drew his hunting knife, flipped it so the point was facing down like Ghost was holding his, and hefted his sword in his other hand. He ran at the nearest Orc attacking Ghost, hoping he could distract at least one of the Orcs.

He stabbed the Orc in the back, earning a critical hit, and twisted as he slammed the hunting dagger into the shoulders of another. He yanked his sword out, continuing to twist as he did so, and stabbed the second Orc in the back. He kicked it as hard as he could, dislodging both of his blades as it died, and turned to a third. The Orcs had spotted him, and three turned to face him.

It was the opportunity Ghost needed. He feinted one direction, before racing at the three Orcs now turned to Will, and danced through them, his knife flashing in the midafternoon light, causing blood to spray.

Meanwhile, Will launched himself at the Orcs’ Ghost had just feinted, and caught them off guard. He tried using both hands effectively but could only concentrate on one at a time. It still gave him an advantage, but with nowhere near the same capabilities as Ghost.

Will exchanged blows, feeling deep cuts across his chest and thighs opening as the Orcs pushed him back. The pain shot through him, a scream fighting to push past his clenched teeth, as he tried to ignore it.

From nowhere, Ghost rushed past him and attacked the remaining orcs. He finished them off in a matter of seconds. Grinning, Ghost turned to him, “Ah, hell kid. That weren’t half bad. Keep it up, and we’ll make a ranger out of you yet.”

“How do you do that?” Will asked as he tried to catch his breath.

“Do what?” Ghost asked. Will held up his hands, still holding both weapons, and mimed attacking with both. Laughing, Ghost said, “Nah, it’s easy enough once you practice it up a bit. Want me to teach you?”

“Please.” Will said. His stamina bar reached halfway. He still felt sluggish and tired, but he’d be alright. His wounds stung, throbbed slightly as the adrenaline wore off, but he glanced at his health, just above fifty points, and knew he’d be fine. Ignoring the pain as best he could, he asked, “Do you know what happened?”

Ben answered as he walked sideways down the steep hill to keep from falling over, “They ambushed us. Ironic, isn’t it.”

“How’d they get past the other two?” Will asked. Animal and Digger were supposed to be keeping watch for a potential ambush, but neither had alerted them.

“They’re both dead,” Voodoo said pointing back the way he came. “Looks like they were taken by a couple of arrows.”

“And Raven?” Will asked. Ghost shook his head. “Shit. That’s three dead. Where’s Doc?”

“Here,” Doc appeared a few seconds later, limping his way slowly down the hill. “Almost didn’t make it, but you falling down the hill with that Orc alerted me to the one about to stab me in the back. There were two more, actually. Two for each of us.”

“Same on our side.” Ben said.

“Fourteen total?” Doc said, “We haven’t seen that many together yet. They must’ve caught on to us, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“You mean we can expect more of this?” Will asked. It was hard enough staying alive when they were doing the ambush. Another one like this, or even one with higher level Orcs, and they’d be dead. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

Ben said, “You haven’t mentioned that we just lost all the supplies those three were carrying.”

“Do you enjoy giving bad news?” Will retorted.

Ben shrugged, “Just keeping it real.”

Ghost replied, “Don’t go killing the messenger. Ain’t his fault he telling the truth.”

“He’s right,” Doc said, “It’s not Striker’s fault those three died, or that we’ve lost their supplies as a result. We were being reckless, not going back to town to unload supplies, and now we’re paying the price.”

“Fine,” Will sighed, “Then let’s loot these bodies and head back to town. We can pass them on to some players heading south, and maybe see about picking up a few others to help us raid the orcs.”

“The othes can loot the bodies,” Doc said, “First, we need to tend some of those wounds before you bleed out.”

Will just nodded as he limped over to a nearby fallen log and lowered himself gingerly onto it. He sighed with relief when Doc applied a healing salve to them. They weren’t as good as potions at restoring health, only five points each, but they cleared away the pain almost immediately, and started healing the wound within seconds. It was a small blessing, but right now, he’d take whatever he could get.