5 A new fight and new friends (1/2)
Michael and Dan stepped aside. Dan already had a plan in his head for a successful attack on dangerous enemies. In the morning, he saw a few pieces of wood in the stables. They were long, neatly worked pieces of a thick branch. Dan walked up to these blanks under the spears for the giant and kicked the stack:
\”Tell me, will you be able to use your strength with this?\”
\”It's no use, the distance between the columns is small, the width of the aisle is also small, you can't wave with these weapons,\” he replied.
\”And I don't make you wave them. There are some planks in the stables. If it's not enough, we'll take it off the roof. We'll put up big shields to block the stairs, also the ones at the end of the hall leading to the second floor. Now we've got a blacksmith, we've got to ask him to put iron hooks at the ends of these things.\”
Dan explained the plan in detail.
''We go inside and wait for the first creature to come down.
There are a lot of gaps in the skeleton armor, so we can grab the skeleton by the leg and drag it to the center of the hall. Two more men will catch their hand with the sword, and we will stretch the enemy. Let's see if his fencing skills will do us much good in this situation.
Two men with all their strength and speed hit the fallen and stiffened skeleton. The other four players with shields block the passages and hold the defense until we finish the first creature.
In case of danger we will all run away and wait for the creatures to calm down. And so on. We have three opponents.''
\”What if the ghoul comes first? It'll ride on the floor and on the walls without much trouble.\”
\”I don't know, Michael. I haven't seen this ghoul and it's hard for me to tell what it is. But the most important thing is that you understand. You have to kill skeletons one by one. I saw the one on level 15, and he blew me off in a couple of sword strokes. If the others have the same high level, we won't beat them together, so there's a chance. Split and destroy.\”
\”One skeleton 15 and the other 18 and ghoul 19. You did well, Dan. We'll try it your way. Now I'm going to give Turin an assignment. He'll make hooks, and Jim will make our weapons. Farewell to the honestly earned silver.\”
\”Don't you get it? Do we have to pay for this blacksmith?\”
\”It's a dwarf,\” he looked at Dan with wonder. \”Did you think if he swore to serve us, he'd serve for free? No, Brother, the rules of life are different here.\”
\”It's disgusting, what if we don't pay?\”
\”The smith will sit down and do nothing. Then, he will start to cry and blame your greed for all mortal sins, and so on until you start paying him. Don't worry, Turin is giving us a good discount if he's not lying.\”
The dwarf showed his skill quickly. After a few minutes, he repaired the mechanism for lifting the gate grill. There was a click, and the grating froze up. Ron and Leo, under the command of a constantly swearing dwarf, fell on the gate doors. A nasty squeal was heard and the doors began to open. Right behind the gate was a small cart loaded with a bunch of things. The cart was brought by a small horse. Behind the gate were John and Nick, guarding the dwarf's property.
Then, Dan noticed a small, full woman on the cart. As it turned out, she was a dwarf, too. Dan confesses he wouldn't have distinguished her from ordinary women. An ordinary woman of small stature.
Michael said that Turin was moving in with his wife. Her name is Velida. The lady jumped off the cart, and then she asked Michael something and headed towards the chapel.
After a while there was a sound of a woman screaming from the chapel and a deaf blow. Gandalf flew out into the yard, holding his head and looking at us with wild eyes. When he noticed the guys, he muttered something and poked his fingers frightened toward the chapel, ran to them.
A second later, there was a burst of loud laughter in the yard.
It turned out that the whole time Gandalf was sleeping under the table, waking up with a strange sound. He shattered his eyes and noticed a strange woman leaning against the wall. He thought it was a dream and was overwhelmed with happiness. Gandalf grabbed the woman. But a lovely woman's face made a resounding scream that stunned him. Then, a hard fist blow to the ear took away 300 hp of health.
The strangest thing was that the dwarf laughed the most in this situation.
The obviously disoriented Gandalf noticed a shaking loud beard and his face changed expression again funny.
Players laughed again. It wasn't funny just for Michael, who was afraid of the group reputation. Dan just didn't understand this strange medieval age.
The gate was closed, and the work moved to the forge.
The screaming, the rumbling, the dust, the stunned faces of Jim and Tom, who were doing the dwarf commands. An hour later, smoke fell from the blacksmith's chimney.
Dan, Michael and the rest of us were dismantling the stalls the whole time. They needed materials to make large shields.
Everyone remembered the flying creatures, so Michael did not let take the roof apart. Then, Michael went to the forge and gave the dwarf his first tasks.
From the smithy soon heard the sound of knocking hammers and just half an hour later Jim brought a few dozen nails and hammer. The nails were small but square.
It took another half an hour to make big shields. The shields were rough but solid. Men also broke four strong bars out of the stable walls on the supports.
While Dan was working, he got a +1 to strength.
The hooks were opened from our metal bars. Jim took a hammer and fixed the hooks to the big woods. Turin shackled the fasteners with an iron strip.
They were armed and ready. Everyone knew their job.
A group of players froze at the Donjon gate.
\”Good luck,\” said Michael.
Dan took a quick step into the battle.
The hall was empty. The torches on the columns were crackling quietly. Michael took a bunch of torches out of his inventory. He lit the torches one by one and scattered them in dark places.
Dan, Gandalf and Jim with a shield and a bar froze against the wall on one side, Ron and Tom on the other with the same shield. The shield was very heavy, they could barely drag him.
Michael, John, Nick, Leo, and Alexander had prepared to meet dangerous skeletons.
And the first creature didn't take long.
*
Warrior skeleton
Level 18
Type: Elite
Attention! This monster has committed over ten murders of players. Its characteristics have been increased by 20%.
Life: 11200
*
The creature has moved to the main group. Alexander and Michael tried to hook the skeleton to his legs. The creature showed a leap and dodged Michael's capture, but Alexander cleverly hooked the skeleton bone in the area of the uncovered remnants of the armor of the knee.
Cutting the sheaves of sparks from the floor with his rough hook, Alexander quickly dragged the skeleton into the center of the hall.
Michael waited for the moment and caught the hand that held the sword. They stretched the skeleton on the floor! The only thing the skeleton could do was to sluggishly swing the shield.
Dan couldn't help but laugh at the gloating.
As soon as Alexander dragged the creature into the center of the hall, they rushed to the aisles, installed shields, and supported them. It didn't work out perfectly, but a large creature couldn't get into the hall.
\”Hurry up! Hit hard and fast! We won't hold him long,\” shouted Michael.
Nick and John were dancing around the skeleton. Leo was already beating the skeleton with his club.
''Two clubs and one sword. Good luck to you guys.''
Before Dan could get Jim to set up second support, their shield shook on impact.
\”Michael!\” screamed Jim.
\”We're done, who have you got?\”
That was an interesting question. Dan bent over and picked up a torch from the floor. Then, he looked into the slot in the shield and almost got a blade in his eye. Dan screamed out of surprise and fell on the ass. He almost set himself on fire with a torch he dropped!
\”Level fifteen. And it looks like he's alone.\”
*
[You got 8000 experience. Got a new level]
*
The status of the group was frozen again.
\”Jim, Gandalf, Dan, drop the shield and retreat yourself, but not far.\”
Jim and Dan kicked the braces at the same time and rushed back to Gandalf.
The shield fell and a new enemy entered the hall. The skeleton noticed a group huddled in the center and went to them quickly. The beast was immediately hooked. Dan and Jim ran to install the shield again. It took less time to destroy that skeleton.
*
[You got 5000 experience points]
*
At that moment, Tom and Ron, who were holding the second shield, flew away from hitting the shield. And this thing flew into the hall.
*
Ghoul
Level 19
Type: Elite
Attention! This monster has committed over ten murders of players. Its characteristics have been increased by 20%.
Life: 9000
*
The ghoul spun his face and looked around the hall. Then, the creature made a giant leap up and disappeared. The ceiling! They need better light up the ceiling! Dan rushed to the torch on the floor and screamed. Something stuck in his back. It's like stabbing in the back with burning nails.
*
[Injury has been caused. Attention! The damage caused to you is elevated due to injury.
570 damage points. Life: 930/1500]
*
All Dan could do was scratch the floor with his hands, break his nails and wheeze.
*
[540 damage points received. Life: 390/1500. You received 570 damage points]
*
Hateful second of Nothingness. And his body bent an arc at the site of the rebirth. Dan barely swallowed the first breath that caused pain in his lungs.
*
[You got 200 experience points]
*
Thank you, dear Game!
On the right, one of the pedestals was lit up with a nice pearl light, and a second later Jim's body arced out.
''It's beautiful, damn it.''
\”I hate this moment,\” he complained.
\”Yeah. It feels bad,\”
Then another bed came up and Ron and then Leo joined the company. It took a little more time, but no one else showed up.
\”Leave, slick bitches,\” laughed Jim.
\”In what way? The doors don't open,\” objected Dan.
\”It's all opening up. Dan, you just haven't noticed that when you're wounded, the stats fall, so you can't open the door.\”
\”I forgot about this feature! By the way, it's brilliant, and it's very cruel. Why are we sitting here? Let's go outside.\”
\”No, Dan, let's just lie down for five more minutes. Remember your fight. Celebrate your mistakes and your lucky moves. Every death should be an invaluable experience.\”
\”Jim, my respects. Master. A very clever and competent remark.\”