“Alright everyone listen up!” Standing once more on the tavern steps, I gather everyone’s attention.

They all stand up, fidgeting slightly at the news that the village will be attacked in less than 4 hours. I wait a few minutes to let them sit down, still looking a bit fidgeted.

“We’ve got 3 hours to set up defenses for these goblins so I suggest t-”

“How about you stop suggesting and sit down, let someone else dig us out from the mess you put us in” Some brown rat-beastman with a sniveling face looks distastefully up at me, as well as a few others.

Guess being forced into such a situation makes some people angry…whoops

“So do you want to do it then?” He might have a whole bunch of good ideas for all I know.

“Pfft no, I’d prefer someone like that Zzoid fellow or that Squirrel girl”

I turn to Zzoid as he stands up for everyone’s clearer view “Zzoid, would you like to lead us out of this mess?”

“I would love to” Well I was actually enjoying leading this time though… “But that’d mean I’d be responsible when it fails?”

“Obviously” What's he playing at?

“And I have to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they’re all doing their jobs?”

“Mhm”

“AND I have to allocate jobs to everyone, actively participate in every form of planning and care about the entire group learning everyone’s names at least?”

“Well you don’t have to learn their names but sure” Wow Zzoid, stop making leadership seem like such a bad thing…even if it can be really annoying to do sometimes.

“Then why would I ever want to lead the group? I’d rather have the freedom of being the subordinate while helping make the most important decisions and take almost no responsibility at all for them” He looks confusedly at everyone, as if they’re all idiots of wanting to lead.

Guess not everyone knows how great it is to not be the face of the group...because you get blamed for everything...

“So you don’t want to be leader then?”

“Hell no, being right hand man is way more fun” He looks content with himself…after completely dissing my temporary job mind you…though I get to keep it for now thanks to him.

And I’d much rather solve the problem by leading than following the orders of someone I don’t exactly know (even if he's a brother in harm).

“Tikari how about you?” I point towards her and once again she stands up.

“I won’t do it…I will not let you not become leader” She stops looking at me and turns around gazing at the surrounding crowd. “So he made the bad decision of annoying the Raid Boss, so what? That was one mistake to a number of huge successes. Let me ask you, who got us to share information, begin working together? Who got us armour? Who is getting us weapons? Who is making sure that we all stick together and help one another till we reach a milestone? It’s that guy who once again is bringing us together to solve the situation at hand”

“But that doesn’t stop the fact that he brought it upon us!” the rat beastman definitely has some sort of vendetta on me, I wonder why.

“No it doesn’t, but in fact him doing so is actually a blessing in disguise”

Everyone looks at her like she’s crazy. Yeah, what is she talking about?

“Before this, the boss was underground at the end of a horde of goblins, now she’s coming out with all those goblins…to our ground, to our battlefield”

…

..

.

I think I get it? So we’re able to plan how we’re going to fight them which I guess is good (barring the fact that we have to fight the entire Raid worth of goblins all at once which is kiiind of a big detail).

“We get to set up traps and whatnot else to kill the goblins” Zzoid states for the more confused, looking rather worried since he's definitely figured out it's not going to pretty.

“How many goblins are we fighting against?” One of the wannabe satyr’s pipe up..hit the bullseye on the big question there buddy.

“Around 25,000 by my count” I state, no point lying to them.

Most take that with a pinch of shock and start looking at me with evil eyes once more.

“Actually it’s going to be less than that” Anoobis pipes up, causing the crowd to turn to him “There was a Coup d’etat happening…Joat’s doing…so there will be a significantly smaller amount”

How did he know about that? Wait maybe he was just trying to help me out? Well he surprisingly got it right (even though I had no idea the Coup d’etat was happening).

“But that still leaves thousands of goblins and only a hundred of us” Another Satyr wannabe blurts out.

“Tikari, how many goblins did we kill with just the 13 of us?”

“Around 8000” She grins at me while everyone looks pretty shocked at that number…well I think anyone would be shocked by the ratio there.

“So you see, we know how to kill them in droves, all we need to do is make sure that happens”

“How did you do it!?” A few people shout out.

I nod over to Tikari.

“Goblins are weak with low health as well as poor reach. The only thing they have is numbers and momentum.

We limited their movement to a slow crawl and their numbers to only a few coming at us at a time. We had better reach and they couldn’t even touch us”

Quite a few look impressed and a few more are noting it down on their notes window.

“So all we need to do in these 3 hours is set up a trap that will limit their movement and force them to come at us in small droves. Then there won’t be a problem dealing with them” I state, watching a large number nod at the thought.

“So how do we do that?” Ravenna raises an eyebrow.

“That is what this exact meeting is for; because I don’t know how, I want to ask you guys how we’re going to set up this trap”

Everyone does a bit of soul searching, filling the plaza in dreaded silence.

“I think…I have an idea” The red slime speaks standing up scratching his gooey chin.

Everyone looks at him expectantly.

“Well our trap is to slow down and funnel the goblins into a kill zone? Well there’s little to set up since the trap is all around us” He points towards the distance.

…

..

.

He better not be thinking what I’m thinking.

“If we create a controlled fire we can force the goblins to stick to a path as well as burn them” They all look at him like he’s mad, which he probably is “The leaves are dry, easy to burn and so it’ll be simple to start a fire…even simpler to begin an inferno…”

Wow…this guy may be a bonafide arsonist with the gleeful face he’s showing…but I think an arsonist is what we need right now…

“Ok so…”

“B0mber” Hmm, not sure if that a great naming choice or just scarily coincidental.

“So B0mber, you’re suggesting that we start a forest fire?” Just to make sure everyone here’s on the same page.

“No” huh? “I’m suggesting we begin an inferno which will wipe out thousands of goblins like that” he snaps his fingers.

Huh…well that’s a plan and you know what I'm liking the idea of fried goblins.

“Ok sounds like hell of a plan if you ask me” Everyone nods dumbly. “B0mber, take everyone who has at least 30 attack and set up this controlled fire…however you do that?”

“We’ll have to cut trees down leaving an area between our trap and the rest of the forest so the fire won’t spread. Water buckets around the area would be useful just in case and as many dry leaves and twigs as possible within the burn zone would help much”

“But where will we set up the trap?” Someone asks, couldn’t spot who.

“Well the only logical place the goblins will come from is the mine” Zzoid points out…good point.

“So why don’t we just collapse the mine?” The Red turtle-beastman asks the crowd.

Because that’d get rid of all the iron ore deposits making this raid completely not worth it…

“We could collapse the inner walls, buying us some time.” Tikari answers back with a reasonable answer…that could work…

With that sorted B0mber starts walking away, muttering to himself possibly calculations or possibly something a lot darker, along with a good half of the group.

“Have I told you to go yet?” They all turn back eyebrows raised. “No, because we still haven’t finished.

The all silently stop, waiting for me to finish.

Ah whoops, a bit harsh...guess I'm not in the best mood after that little session with Tarakiel...

“Right...so the rest of you, we need to get you up to at least 30 attack, as that’ll one-shot most of the goblins which is quite useful”

“But that’d mean we’d have to put points into Strength?” The baby elephant looks rather unhappy about that.

“Nope, I’m going to teach you the Brutality stat, which will give you a 2:1 point to attack ratio”

Eyes widen at the mention of a stat.

“I want all of you to get that stat through biting, tearing, ripping and brutally killing monsters in the forest. A few shiver at the mention of such a savage way of killing.

“Now as good as this inferno is going to be, I want plan B and plan C, which will be a pre-emptive strike and a last stand at the village respectively” Everyone looks up at me waiting for me to go on. “Tikari will lead the pre-emptive strike and-”

“Why does she get to lead the attack!?” Braxel snorts derisively.

“Because she planned 8000 deaths with only 13 people without injuring a single person as well as having an idea to take out the cave entrances…while your plans so far consisted of charging and getting everyone killed”

Point well taken. And ouch I'm being a little bit too rough today...got to tone it down.

Smile.

“As I was saying, she will lead the pre-emptive strike along with everyone from my division’s attack and skirmish team as well as whoever DillyDally chooses from his division” He nods at that, well at least he’s reliable. “Who here would like to take care of the village’s defense?”

Don’t think Zzoid is that great a tactician for defense…so there’s got to be at least one person with an eye for defense.

“I’ll do it” Anoobis raises his hand.

“No can do, you’re busy doing something else”

Everyone raises their eyebrows at me.

“I’m bait aren’t I” He looks rather unamused…well revenge is sweet.

“Yep…and so am I” I chuckle while I cry on the inside: it’s the best way to help funnel the goblins as well as Tarakiel, plus doing such a job may lessen some of the hate that I've been feeling coming my way...

“I can take up the job of keeping the village safe then” The wild elf from one of my shield teams steps up to the task…though for some reason I don’t feel he’ll be that good…maybe it’s just his wild look puts me off of him thinking him being a collective thinker.

“Right” Sorry but don’t sound too optimistic about this.

“I’ll need 20 people to help cut spikes and place them in the ground around the village” Huh, actually not too bad an idea

“But anything we make is useless isn’t it?” A gold Canary-beastman in black leather armour speaks up.

Ooh what is he talking about? Need to ask someone about that…

“Yes, but the goblins don’t know that…the spikes will be there to funnel them towards either entrance, making it simpler for us to deal with them” Fair enough, wild elf guy has my vote for defense leader, a decently solid plan.

“Fine, I’ll trust you to put that into action” We only have 3 hours, anything we do will be limited.

“Ok, so I’m done now, if you’ve got anymore ideas, tell me so we can incorporate it into what we have. I want us all to be ready within 2 and a half hours…so get to it” Everyone begins dispersing like madmen, the clock ticking madly in their minds already probably.

Hmm, wasn’t the best talk I’ve had but then again not in the best of moods…not after that torture session, eugh.

Ravenna waltzes up to me, shushing her minion trio as they get threatening.

“I can convince Jenna to give the rest of her oil barrels"

Ooh, that’d help things burn, quite a lot!

“How much will it cost?” I know she got all the oil and salt for free last time…but then again just how did she convince Jenna to give up that much for free (it ended up being 5 barrels of salt and oil in the end).

“I’ll…work something out” She’s very convinced she can do it...well if she can then great!

She saunters off, ordering her minions to get to work in the forest as she heads alone to Jenna’s.

“Girl” The gruff, wolfish voice of Thrash fills my ear.

Waay to close!

Jumping back slightly, much to his pleasure (dammit Thrash!)

“What is it!?”

“I can talk to Nathaniel, get some potions off him, maybe something to help things go boom”

Nathaniel…? Oh Nathan? Yeah god remembering all these names is getting quite difficult.

“Sure, work out a price, I’ll make sure we can cover it”

Got to give this everything we can, because if the villagers die then we lose precious skill teachers…as well as actual good quality things...and they'll hate us and lose quests and so on.

Basically, don't let anyone die in the village or life in it might be screwed...

But really they should be quite helpful towards us since this is their livelihood at stake.

Looking around the village square…there’s no one in sight. Seems no one else has extra plans…fair enough, we should have enough to deal with them…Ah!

Rakshak

What is it?

He messages back almost immediately.

I need you to go scout out the enemy, get a rough estimate of their numbers

I’ll probably die, so if I do then what’s my compensation

Wow, not even going to do it for the good of the group. Ah fine.

You get whatever you were going to use to kill the Boss

I mean he did say he was going to kill Tarakiel…so there must be something super powerful that he found and it’s his (well it was his anyways but now it’s more official?!).

Fine

It worked so I’m happy.

Off to go see the village Elder now.

Hopping towards his little house by the edge of the village gates, I spot him outside, sitting on a chair looking towards the distance.

“Village Elder”

He looks my way, eyes focusing on me.

“Ah, you what would you like?”

Oh right…still -1 with him…Aha!

Giving in my wolf quest my intimacy goes to 0 (Forgot to give that in).

Sadly there are no more quests to give (or maybe because it’s in the raid instance so you can’t do normal stuff anymore).

“Ah Orphan, what do you need help with?’

“Well your village is about to be attacked…so I need help really, any you can give”

“Does this have to do about the trial those pesky goblins do every 4 years? Don’t worry about them, only a few dare get close to the village, and those die swiftly”

“Ah…it’s a bit different this time”

He looks at me with a single wispy raised eyebrow.

“They’re all coming…the entire cave’s worth”

“…Ah” He looks rather unsurprised? Did he suspect this was going to happen or something?

“So any help would be appreciated”

“Hmm…I will talk to Regnar and Roirra..they are the towns guardsman and will help you”

He starts stumbling off.

“Should I come with?”

“No reason, you have convinced me so I shall convince them. You need to focus on preparing whatever defenses you can. Go ask the others in the village…they will most assuredly help”

Ok, so I’ll take that as a hint of ask everyone favours…which the rest are doing.

Ooh…since Jenna has oil, what if I get some alcohol from Daren…that’ll blow up beautifully…

Barging into Daren’s it’s the usual busy of about 4 people (For a village of 14 people that’s a decent amount to be honest).

“Daren”

“You!” He doesn’t seem angry, rather he exclaimed in recognition “What can I serve you today”

“What you can serve me, is as many casks of alcohol as you can”

“Woah, you starting a party or something?” His eyes glint dangerously...hmm don't want him to get the wrong idea about this whoops!

“Ehhh it’ll be explosive that’s for sure” Not sure whether he’d appreciate me using good alcohol for explosives…especially since it’s his.

“Well 5 silver a cask of ale and I’ve got 40 in stock”

Wow…that’s expensive!

Though seeing that I’ve got 30 coppers on me (since I dropped the rest) and most others should have around 50 coppers…that’s 10 people a cask.

So 10 casks of ale…that’s a good amount.

Everyone, I need 50 coppers from all of you to buy alcohol…for explosives

A number of messages come back whining slightly since 50 coppers is pretty much all their money. True true, but we need it.

Though they all seem to agree in the end and I’m told that someone will come with all the money, smart of them.

While I wait, I have a seat checking out who else is in the tavern; An elderly woman nursing her drink like it’s her last…probably for life looking at the number of sagging wrinkles over her face and arms. Jeesh she must be at least 80.

But she can hold her alcohol that’s for sure…or just been here a long time since there are 6 empty mugs by her which Daren doesn’t bother taking away for some reason…maybe to let her count?

I don’t know but she seems like your usual depressed alcoholic.

Moving my sight past her, I spot a Hispanic looking couple sitting at the far edge by the fireplace, looking lovingly into eachothers eyes while sharing a drink.

Well wouldn’t continue staring except for the sword and bow on the side of their respective chairs…oh la la!

So this may be Regnar and Roirra…Let’s go talk to them since the village Elder is probably looking for them at their homes.

Spending a precious 5 coppers on a mug of ale…which is actually not too foul to be honest, I saunter over to the loving pair as they chat about surprisingly enough…us orphans.

“Well hello there you two, Regnar” I bow towards the man “ and Roirra I assume?” I make a deeper bow towards the lady.

“Get away Scum” Regnar (supposedly) Spits at my feet

…

..

.

Oh right, -5 intima…wait a minute I should be a 0 with them right?

“Excuse me but have I done something to offend you?” honestly confused.

“You breathe” Roirra (supposedly) barks angrily at me before slamming her chair back by standing up, storming out, Regnar following suit a moment later

…

..

.

O…k? so maybe they started with more – intimacy than the rest of the village?? But why?

It’s more likely they simply hate hobgoblins or something similar...well thank Aiag I didn’t introduce myself or they might not help us.

Well if they’re like that towards all of us I’m not expecting them to help.

“Joat” Someone calls from the entrance. Ah PJ!

“Got the money?” I ask as she bounds up to me.

“No, hi how are you? Seriously where are your manners young man?”

“Sorry PJ, I have had quite a rough day. Hello, how are you and may I have my money please” I try my best not to be mocking.

“Yeah, what happened down there? All I heard was that you were less than full” She hands me a magnificently large amount of coppers: almost 50 silver’s worth.

Though I notice we’re 2.5 silvers short that (so 4 people not including me haven’t given in).

Seeing as though everyone but Miss Nameless and Sharpy are online…so Thrash and Ravenna haven’t given it yet because they’re still busy?

Makes sense.

"I got tortured" She looked well and truly shocked.

Well honestly I should be well and truly traumatized...but then again not the first time that's happened to me.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm just angry"

"I noticed..." Yeah don't think she's the only one.

"It's just that after getting so far into the Raid I let everyone down, getting them all killed and now that it's coming back to literally destroy everyone here...don't know, the stress is getting to me it seems"

"I understand...letting down people who trusted you really does ride the guilt bus" PJ gives me a pat on the chest...since she can't reach any higher. "But don't get too stressed, people mess up all the time, I know I do" She gives me a cheeky grin before bouncing off.

Ah, that helped calm me down somewhat...but I'm still feeling pretty paranoid to not let anybody else get hurt.

Dammit I hate leading people...ironic because I'm a professor...

Anyways back to reality, well Augmented Reality...

Hmm, can I get a discount?

“So Daren, if I buy 9 casks, could I get the 10th for free?” I give him a winning smile

“No”

“Ok for a quarter of the price?” give puppy eyes!

“No” Dammit stop being so stoic!

“Pretty pretty please can you give me half off the last cask…I mean we’ve done so much work for you and the village and this is just a little celebration for us so we can rejoice our time here”

“…Fine” YES! “Half off” phew, thought he was going to say quarter off…would’ve broken my heart.

*Ding*

Paying so much, I get 10 casks of ale…which I can’t carry. But at least I got the communication skill back!

People I need at least 10 to come carry the alesplosives to wherever they need to be

I get a response from a number of them as I wheel the casks outside one by one.

Within a few minutes a small group of a dozen come this way and I hand the alcohol to them, which they take.

“Not for drinking” I warn them as they take it. Well who knows, maybe they want to crack one open for curiosity’s sake.

Either that or I’m just a bit paranoid from Uni boys and leaving alcohol over at theirs…

Anyways back on task!

Heading over to Jenna’s now, time to see how Ravenna’s handling things.

Opening the door

…

..

.

“Ahnh”

She seems to be handling things quite well

…

..

.

“I came to check up on how you’re doing with…” I’m just going to walk outside again.

…

..

.

Well…at least now I know how she got all those things for free from Jenna…

Don’t worry, I play for both teams

Ah…a nice(?) message from her. And here I was feeling sad that such a gorgeous women was taken over to the other side......

I’m going to forget everything that I saw in the past few seconds

…

..

.

Yeah that isn’t happening…to the bank they go!

Right, ANYWAYS…getting my mind out quite the gutter, I leave Ravenna to finish off with Jenna…AND head off somewhere else…far away.

To Nathans!

Stopping at the door this time, listening to the inside…I don’t hear anything…Oh god that could be a good or a bad sign.

I mean one thing walking in on well ‘that’ but Nathan and Thrash? That’d be quite a...discovery…yeah not sure I want to go inside now…

*Gulp*

Well I don’t THINK Thrash has those kind of tastes…but then again he thinks I’m a girl so who knows what’s going on in his mind.

Creaking open the door, no sounds except for a little rattling and heavy breathing, I open it further

…

..

.

Phew, just paranoid!

Thrash is sitting in seiza on the floor of a blackened interior…wow looks like Nathan did some re-painting…though it looks like burnt wood rather than paint…

“And…now we…pour 2…drops of the…Cristallized Cornupia into…the oh hello there fellow” He notices me as he’s in the middle of something probably dangerous since its alchemy.

He does place both the purple vial and the small golden crystal onto the counter, halleluiah, before turning back to me.

“Now…what do you want?”

I peek at Thrash, who just shrugs at me…well what happened to negotiations?

“Nathan…” Hmm telling him about goblins attacking en masse might give him a heart attack…though no point lying “The goblins are attacking en masse and we need something to kill them”

“Goblins huh?” He shuffles to a large collection of boxes in the corner, not surprised in the least…did Thrash tell him already?

Muttering to himself, unintelligibly for a short while, I sit down by Thrash.

“So why are you sitting down?”

“Helping him remake potions which I blew up”

Huh…ok? Well not sure how he’s helping by sitting down…but then again if he blew them up him staying out the way kind of helps in a sense…?

“OH” Nathan exclaims and shuffles to a cabinet in the corner of the room, opening it with a dusty cloud and takes out a large glass bottle with quite literal fire inside…oh my word that looks awesome!

“This” He starts towards us “is Alchemist’s Fire. Throw…this and it…will do quite…the damage”

He holds it out for me and I take it with much care.

ITEM:Alchemists Fire (Excellent Quality) (Created by Nathaniel)Deals 100-1000 magical fire damage upon contact, 10-100 fire damage to everything in a 10ft splash radius.

Things touched by Alchemist Fire will set on fire.

…

..

.

OH…MY LORD…that’s amazing!

“What’s the price?”

Nathan grins evilly. Oh no, this isn’t good, I have a baaaaaad feeling about this.

“You are to collect the ingredients necessary to create 10 of these…each”

Right, something about that grin is putting me off…but this kind of firepower is really necessary…even if I feel like I’m going over the top for just a couple of thousand goblins.

“We’ll do it” Thrash dammit don’t speak for me! Though guess I’ll do it since rather be safe than sorry.

MANDATORY QUEST:Repaying The AlchemistNathaniel has asked you to gather the ingredients necessary to create 10 Alchemists fire of excellent qualityThere is no time limit on the quest but until completed, no other quests can be taken or completedRewards:

Alchemists Fire Recipe

…

..

.

MANDATORY QUEST!?

I CAN’T GET ANY OTHER QUESTS?!? THAT’S HORRIFYING (though alchemist’s fire recipe oooh). DON’T I GET A CHOICE TO DENY THIS (well I did accept it soo my fault...)?!?!

This game has a mandatory quest system…that’s pure evil! (but then again I guess there’s way around them like Ravenna found out…dammit really should’ve made a woman).

Well this totally isn’t worth it! I mean unless the ingredients aren’t hard to find…

“The ingredients you need are: Fire Elemental’s core, Blood of an Imp, Treants leaves and someone to cast a little bit of fel magic” His grin grows even larger. He's using us that bugger!!!

…

..

.

What? Where the hell do I begin?! FIRE ELEMENTAL’s core? Where do I find that?! Blood of an Imp? Do I have to travel to a demon realm or something for that? Treants leaves? I guess that’s probably the easiest but still! And a fel magic caster? We haven’t even encountered magic yet…just how long will we be forced to do this quest?!?

Nathan PROBABLY saw the shock on my face as he gives me a pat on the shoulder but NO I don't trust this sneaky blighter anymore...using us as fetching boys!!

“Don’t worry, the ingredients are simpler to find than you believe” He gives me a look like he knows something and he’s not going to tell me…I hate you

“I’ll find the ingredients” and I will get my revenge for such an outrageous quest…Seriously pure evil using us as fetching boys and we don’t even get a choice to deny the quest after knowing about it!!

AAAAARGH I JUST WANT TO KILL SOMETHING TO QUELL MY RAGE!!!

Thrash looks rather sad…sad? Is that it? You can’t do any other quests for god knows how long!

“Seems like we’ll have to find these things fast then” He muses…well duh…

Leaving Nathans less than happy but with 2 bloody well should be omnipotent Alchemists fire, I start towards the forest…ready to burn the damn thing in the ground along with the hordes and hordes of goblins.

JOAT 100,000

RAID UPDATE: 1 Orphan has been killed

RAKSHAK dammit!

But at least he got his message through: 100,000

…

..

.

Holy mother of Aiag, well I did wish for hordes and hordes of goblins to burn…

I look at the bottle, watching the fire swirl around calmly like water.

You know what…this little baby might actually be worth it…but still.

Everyone…you better make the kill zone quite a bit larger…like fit 100,000 goblins in larger…

…

…

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HEY GUYS!!! Well this should be the normal length chapter and hope you enjoyed the surprisingly stressful chapter.

Like Jeez everyone seems unhappy...except for Ravenna oho!

ANYWAYS

OpCrystal I give you so much love from afar showering you with cookies becuase that review was bonfide fantastic!

Thanks to all that delicious information and ideas you've given me I'm soo ready for this next arc!!!!!! so much cool stuff to do.

Erm as for putting chapter numbers will get onto that and hope to god I get some more lovely reviews (Or just messages with ideas and queries about things that are missing for you!).

Anyways, hope that you enjoyed it my lovelies :D (though tbf not much happening in that chappie...BUT THE NEXT ONE WILL BE AWESOME!!) *Hint: it has pyrotechnics in it XD*

-TRUE NORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD