Virtualization - 13. Start Raiding

Asa is shocked at the turnout. A hundred or so people stand in the large safe zone outside of the Temple. It’s not just combatants either. Theo and Ben are there, as are a number of players who don’t have the combat ability, but who can heal and buff to help set up staging areas in the various safe zones. More than ten percent of the total server population has shown up to collaborate on this one raid. As far as Asa knows, that’s never happened before.

Admittedly the server is small, and there had been far larger temple raids before, but this isn’t the same. Lives are on the line this time and still this many people came.

The day started well. Collin gave a speech which earned cheers from the crowd and then they spent a good amount of time planning. When that settled down, everyone split up into their various guilds to get ready.

“Is our equipment prepared?” Ardine asks.

Wake nods, “I’m ready.”

Brandon nods as well, “I made sure I was set up last night, so I’ve just been rechecking.”

Asa sighs, “My setup hasn’t changed. Nothing about today requires it to.”

Ardine look at him, “We’re counting on your ability.”

Asa nods, “I know.”

A familiar voice catches Asa’s attention, “Don’t think about it too hard. This is nothing.”

Asa turns to Luke, “Yeah. I guess this isn’t that hard.”

Ardine nods, “Difficulty is not the issue. We all know you are capable of doing this. Execution, however, is. Anyone can make mistakes.”

Luke thins his eyes at her, “Stressing him out will only make that more likely.”

Ardine surprises Luke by responding with a grin, “I am aware. That comment was more for you. Don’t forget, you’re important too.”

Luke blinks, “But I’m not part of the plan.”

Ardine shakes her head, “Nonsense! You are every bit as important as Asa.”

This time Luke raises an eyebrow, “I thought I was Collin’s bodyguard?”

Ardine nods, “You are. But please remember that Collin is not a master of fundamental game play the way the rest of the top players are. If it decides to go after him, or if the plan fails, you may be his only hope of survival.”

Luke shakes his head, “What about the other people who need protecting?”

Ardine shakes her head, “That is the other reason we need you where you are. True, Collin will be standing behind you the entire time, but it also creates a place for people to retreat to. That is where we intend to put the teleportation circle between the safe zone and the boss room. You and Jacklyn are the only people who are skilled enough to definitely be able to keep it at bay, and Jacklyn’s new build simply doesn’t have the longevity yours does.” She doesn’t mention that if it has regular impact, keeping it at bay might be impossible.

“Why didn’t you just say so?” Luke asks.

Ardine blinks, “I suppose it just didn’t occur to us you didn’t know.”

Luke shakes his head, “You shouldn’t keep people in the dark of their role in the plan. That’s a bad idea.”

Ardine nods, “You’re right, of course. Like I said, we weren’t intentionally keeping you uninformed. I’ll endeavor to be more thorough in making sure everyone gets all the information they need in the future.”

Luke smiles, “It’s hard to believe you were Bonehead Throkdar.”

Ardine laughs, “This is exactly why I was! Just because I’m intelligent doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes want to mindlessly yell and smash goblins into the ground.”

Luke nods, “I understand.”

Kwame walks over, “So, how’s it hangin’?” He walks over to Asa and gives him a once over, “He’s pretty cute, for a short white guy.”

Asa glares at him over dramatically, “Thanks.”

Luke rolls his eyes, “Maybe get to know someone before you start poking fun at them?”

Kwame looks down, properly chastised, “Sorry. I didn’t mean nothin’.”

Wake steps forward, “Didn’t mean nothing?”

Kwame looks up at him, “Uh...”

Asa shakes his head, “Stop it guys. It really doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Kwame grins, “Coolness!”

Luke steps forward, “So, Collin thought that we should go together. Since we’re crucial to the team. He also thinks we should go in the middle of the group, so we can’t be caught off guard.”

Ardine nods, “That’s sensible. Though there’s little chance we’ll die before the boss.”

Kwame shakes his head, “Don’t assume that. They changed the temple up.”

Ardine nods, “I know. We’ve done a few practice runs of the dungeon. It was nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Luke grins, “Kwame, you’re looking at two of the best players in the game, and two upcoming greats. It’ll take a lot for them to go down.”

Brandon grins up at him, “You really think I’m an upcoming great?”

Luke nods, “Absolutely.” Brandon grins happily in response. Luke then turns to Wake, “And you’ve become really adaptive.”

Asa grins, “You should listen to him.”

Ardine shakes her head, “Sometimes I wonder what I should do.” She turns to them, “I have been concentrating so much on the guild that I haven’t really thought about myself much. I filled up my wheel with stats for this raid, but I do think I need to improve my build in other ways. If this new boss is any indication, just being taller is not going to be enough.”

Luke nods, “You’re probably right. I hadn’t really thought about my build much. I’ve also mostly had stats rather than skills on my wheel.”

Asa thinks for a moment, “That’s a good idea, but right now I think we should make a marching order.”

Ardine nods, “That is a prudent course of action.” She turns to Luke, “I think you and Kwame should take up the rear.”

Luke shakes his head, “Our job is to protect you.”

Ardine glares at him, “With all due respect, we don’t need your protection. We’ve done this dungeon before just the four of us and had little trouble with it. And if we have to choose between you being at full and me being at full for the boss, well, frankly, your HP are more important. My build is not going to be of much use there. You, on the other hand, may be crucial for the fight.”

Kwame shakes his head, “So what? We don’t get to be part of the action?”

Asa sighs, “Kwame, action? This is serious you know.”

Kwame smiles at him, “I get it. But we still gotta have fun with it. Otherwise, why are we even doin’ it?

Wake looks at him, “We should have fun with it, but we shouldn’t be reckless.” He smirks at him, “Besides, we’re going to be in the middle of the raid formation. We’re probably not going to get a lot of action anyway.”

Kwame frowns, “Really?”

Ardine nods, “We’ll be front and center on the boss. And the boss is where the real action is. The mobs are different than they used to be, but they still aren’t that dangerous.”

Asa turns to Luke, “Luke, the rear is where we’re the most vulnerable.”

Luke nods, “You’re right. I guess I’m just… used to being in front.”

Brandon grins at them, “Front is where the enemies are. And there’s no reason to assume that every encounter will spawn ahead of us in the dungeon.”

Ardine nods, “Exactly. Brandon and I can take the vanguard, while you take the rear. That way there is almost no chance of Asa or Wake being vulnerable.”

Luke thinks for a moment, “So you guys fight together, and Kwame and I fight together? That does make sense.”

Kwame nods, “Huh. Yeah. That’s a good plan.”

Collin walks over to them, “You guys ready?”

“We seem to be.” Ardine says.

Luke nods, “Yeah. We’re ready.”

“So if all goes well, you guys won’t see much combat, if any, but don’t worry if you do. Brandon and Theo are going to be warped to the final safe zone where they’ll restock us for the boss.” Collin says.

“Aren’t they vulnerable out here?” Luke asks.

Collin shakes his head, “A regiment of people, including Tyrone and Jacklyn, are going to be out here protecting them. This entire area is a safe zone, so it’s unlikely they’ll be in danger anyway, but we aren’t leaving them alone.”

Asa nods, “Whose gonna set up the teleportation circle at the final way point?”

“Someone who won’t be joining us in the actual fight at all. That way, we don’t risk the teleportation circle being broken by them dying.” Collin says.

“Then whose casting the one in the boss room?” Asa adds.

“Me.” Kwame says, “Right?”

Collin nods, “Yes. That was the plan. There are a few others who can do it if you can’t for some reason.”

“He’ll be able to.” Luke says.

Ardine nods, “We’ve run the dungeon before. And Kwame’s snuck his way through it multiple times. We’ll be fine.”

Collin shakes his head, “Don’t be overconfident.”

Ardine nods, “Of course. But we shouldn’t be underconfident either.”

Collin sighs, “Right.”

Wake walks over to him, “Are you okay?”

Collin looks at him, “I’m fine.”

Wake puts an arm around him, “Are you sure? Because we can’t do this without you.”

Collin looks down, “Can’t you? I mean… I already made the plan. You don’t really need me to execute it do you?”

Wake shakes his head, “We need you Collin. You give us hope.”

Collin sighs, “I feel so alone.”

Wake pulls Collin into a hug, “You give us hope. That means you aren’t alone. We all look to you.”

Collin leans into the larger man, “I’m so lonely.” Wake holds him.

Luke steps forward, “Collin.”

Collin looks at Luke, “You too?”

Luke shakes his head, “I’m here for you. I know I’m not the most social person. Or the nicest. But I just want you to know. I want you to draw strength from me.”

Collin blinks, “What do you mean?”

Luke smiles at him, “You give everyone so much strength, just by being here. I want you to know that you can draw strength from me. The way I draw strength from you.”

Asa nods, “You don’t have to be lonely. You just have to let yourself be vulnerable.”

Collin blinks and looks up at Wake, “You think?”

Wake holds him, “Everyone is vulnerable. To be vulnerable is to be human.”

Collin blinks again, “I guess I never thought about it like that before.”

Collin takes some time to collect himself, “Thank you.” He says and then steps away from Wake. He walks over towards his guild mates.

“His arms feel good don’t they?” Lloyd says, wearing a knowing smile.

Collin raises an eyebrow, “And here I thought you were straight?”

Lloyd rolls his eyes, “Wake’s like a big brother to everybody. Even people older than him.”

Collin laughs, “I guess you’re right.”

Tracy scoffs, clearly amused, “The A team is so lovey dovey.”

Collin turns to her, “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Tracy laughs, “Are you kidding me? That was a compliment. They are so much better at cheering people up than we are.”

Gabriel nods, “That’s why we kinda just let them cheer you up.”

Collin smirks, “Ah. So it’s not that you don’t want to support me. It’s that you are incompetent at it.” Gabriel looks sheepish, while Tracy laughs.

“Yep!” She says.

Lloyd shakes his head, “We can’t give you what you really want right now Col. They can.”

“What do you think I want?” Collin asks.

Lloyd looks at him, “Acceptance.”

Collin raises an eyebrow, “Why would you not be able to give me that?”

Lloyd puts a hand on his shoulder, “Because you’ve never questioned our loyalty. You never had to do anything to get it.” He turns to them, “But them. They’re loyalty isn’t unwavering. You earned their trust.”

Collin thinks on that, “I suppose I did.”

Gabriel sighs, “What about me?”

Lloyd shakes his head, “You’re a kid. And frankly, Brandon’s more mature than you are.”

Gabriel looks down, “I’m not very mature.”

Tracy smiles at him, “Nothing wrong with that. Brandon is giving up a lot growing up as fast as he is.”

Collin nods, “Its true. Not that I blame him, nor is he making a mistake.” Collin lowers himself so he’s face to face with Gabriel, “But you aren’t either. You are just being affected differently than him, that’s all.”

Collin stands up, “Sometimes I feel like I’d fit in with them more than I do here.”

Tracy snorts, “You’re too selfish.”

Collin raises and eyebrow, “Selfish?”

Lloyd nods, “She has a point. You take everything on. Look at them. Asa and Ardine could easily carry their team, but they don’t even try. Do you think you could do that?”

Collin ponders this, “Huh… I guess you’re right.”

“What about us?” Gabriel asks.

“Collin’s always carried our team. He’s better at the game than Tracy or me.” Lloyd says simply.

Tracy nods, “Yep! But that’ll change.”

“That’ll change?” Gabriel asks.

Tracy nods, “Because I’m not gonna die here! And neither is Lloyd!”

Collin steps forward, “We’re all aiming to live.” He looks around at the people gathered, “Every one of us.”

“But some of us will die.” A man says from a few feet away, “Don’t delude yourselves.”

Lloyd nods, “Yeah.”

Collin sighs, “Maybe. But we should still aim to protect everybody. Just because people might die, doesn’t mean we should write them off.”

The man shakes his head, “Just don’t write yourself off trying to save them.”

Luke walks over to them, “Maybe I’ll just kill you now and get it over with.” There’s a dark expression on his face.

The man’s eyes widen, “What?”

“Whether or not people will die isn’t really the point.” Luke says, “You’ve already decided to write people off. So, here is what I have to say. If you sacrifice someone else to save yourself. I’ll kill you.” Luke looks around the area. “You hear that! If any of you sacrifice someone else to keep yourself alive, I’ll consider that a PK and answer accordingly!”

The entire area goes silent before Jacklyn steps forward. “Luke.” She says, “That’s a bit harsh.”

Luke turns to the man, “We get everybody out, or we don’t go in.”

The man thins his eyes, “What you expect is impossible!”

Jacklyn turns to him, “So what should we do then? Prioritize based on merit?”

He harrumphs, “We can’t afford to be idealistic.”

“Stop it!” Brandon’s voice rips through the tension in the air. Everyone turns to him. He turns to the man, “We don’t have to do this. The raid. I’m doing this because I want to. Why are you doing this?”

The man sighs, “What does that have to do with anything?”

Brandon shakes his head, “Are you expecting to survive this?”

He harrumphs again, “Of course.”

“Why?” Brandon asks.

The man raises an eyebrow, “My build doesn’t require me to...”

Luke is behind him in an instant, with a sword to his neck, “Wrong answer. If you are not willing to put yourself in harm’s way, then leave now.”

“That’s not what I mean! My build isn’t durable, nor am I good in close combat. I’m really not even useful if I’m in danger.” The man screams out.

Brandon reaches up, takes Luke’s sword and moves it away, before pushing them apart. “You’re afraid.”

The man looks at him, “You aren’t?”

Brandon nods, “We’re all scared.”

Jerome walks up to him, “What’s your name?”

The man looks at him, “Sean...”

Jerome puts himself between Luke and Sean, “Being prepared for the worst… being ready for what is likely to happen isn’t wrong Sean. But that doesn’t mean it will. I think you’re right. Realistically, people will die. But if we go in with a mind set of letting them die, they surely will.”

Brandon nods, “Yeah, maybe all of us living is a pipe dream. Like wishing for a unicorn. But don’t forget, unicorns exist in game, so I say we grab that unicorn! I say we’re all coming back!” He turns to everyone else, “We may still die. But we aren’t dead yet!”

Jerome turns to Sean, “Don’t put yourself at risk fruitlessly. That’s not what Luke is asking you to do. But if someone is about to die, and you can save them? That’s worth a little risk. We’re all gonna have to do that.”

Sean shakes his head, “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a top player.” He turns to Luke, “So are you!”

Brandon steps forward, “I’m not. And neither are most of the people here. And I’m not here to just stand back and let them do all the work. No way.” He turns to Luke, “But you have no right to make threats like that!” He steps forward, “You of all people should not be making threats like that!”

Luke looks down at him, and then sighs, “You’re right.”

Kwame shakes his head, “Look dudes. We’re all fools. Every last one of us. We’re here because we wanna be. Because we’re living this fucking life now, we’re gonna live it. And maybe we die. If we do, we’ll have asked for it.” He yells, “So anyone who thinks this is fucking moronic should leave! Because unless you are a fucking idiot, you’ll hesitate and die, or get someone else killed!” He grins again, “Because you’re absolutely right! This is fucking moronic! Thing is? We all know it.”

Collin can’t help it, he breaks down laughing, “Kwame’s right. This is pretty dumb.”

Ardine steps forward, “I won’t argue with that, but the foolishness of the endeavor aside, I do think there are a number of good reasons we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Wake turns to Sean, “I think what everyone is trying to say is, do what you feel is right. And no one should think less of you if you decide that this isn’t it.”

Sean looks up at Wake, “Really. Because I know some of you will look down on me! Call me a coward.”

Wake smirks, “Maybe they will. But what’s wrong with cowardice? Glory is a fools game. So is pride. Cowardice keeps us alert and alive. I’m afraid. I’ll freely admit that. And I’m not moving forward because I feel courage. I’m moving forward because I trust the other people here with my life. Anyone who doesn’t, shouldn’t be here. And I will not think any less of anyone who leaves.” People look around, and then a few walk away, but most stay, including Sean.

“I… guess I do want to be here.” He says.

Collin turns to Luke, “Luke, take care that you don’t become a monster.”

Luke looks down, but Asa steps forward, “Luke knows what’ll happen to him if he goes down that path.”

Luke turns to Asa, “You… you’ll check me?”

Asa shakes his head, “No. You will check yourself.”

Sean turns to him, “You trust him to check himself after what he said?”

Asa nods, “He’s a protector. He wouldn’t have killed you anyway. He was merely trying to make a point, the only way he knows how: decisively.”

Luke sighs, “I… really should stop making idle threats.”

Jerome walks over to him, “Luke. Let’s get ready to go.”

Luke nods at him, “Yeah.”

Asa can’t tell exactly what goes between them, but they definitely share a haunted look. He’s surprised that he’s envious. It doesn’t make any sense. The look is not pleasant. It’s a shared trauma. And yet, that Luke and Jerome share something he doesn’t bothers him.

Collin’s voice gets his attention away from his thoughts, “Okay. So everyone should go back to their groups and do final checks on their stuff before we go.”

The group separates leaving the A Team alone. Asa takes Luke aside, “I… how are things?”

Luke shakes his head, “I dunno.”

Asa looks down, “So… you and Jerome.”

Luke smirks at him, “Me and Jerome? Get your head out of the gutter man.”

Asa shakes his head, “That’s not what I mean. You two just… had a… moment?”

Luke sighs, “It was… well… the night we hunted PKers… it was… traumatic.”

Asa sighs, “Oh… I guess that makes sense.”

Luke laughs, “Don’t be envious of that. You would not have wanted to be there. Trust me.”

Asa nods, “I know.” He looks up at the A team, “It’s just… how different are we now?”

Luke shrugs, “We were always different weren’t we?”

Asa ponders this, “I guess you’re right.”

Luke’s smile widens to a grin, “I’m just glad we’re still friends.”

Asa smiles, “Yeah. We are aren’t we?”

Luke and Asa walk over to their companions. “Do we need to do a shop run?” Asa asks.

Brandon shakes his head, “I don’t think so. But! Did you all pull on the gatcha today?”

Luke thinks for a moment, “I think so.”

Ardine nods, “I did.”

Asa ponders this, “It’s funny how that’s become like this important daily ritual.”

“So you did it?” Wake asks.

Asa nods, “Yep.”

“Should I go report to Collin that we’re ready?” Brandon asks.

“I’ll do it.” Luke says.

Ardine looks at Asa conspiratorially, “He’s overly helpful isn’t he?”

Asa laughs, “That’s Luke for you. When it comes down to it, he puts himself last.”

Ardine thinks for a moment, “You know, I think you may be right. Normally I’d think that he was ultimately doing it for his own self satisfaction, but he’s actually gaining very little. If anything, the weight on him is grating his psyche.”

Asa looks down, “Yeah. He’s always taken care of me, even when I didn’t need it.”

Ardine meets Asa’s gaze evenly, “And did you do the same for him?”

Asa thinks for a moment, “He wouldn’t let me.”

Ardine nods, “And I suppose you weren’t like you are now. You didn’t have the heart to force the issue.”

Asa nods, “Exactly.”

Wake walks over, “I worry about him.”

Brandon shakes his head, “He’ll come around. He loves Asa too much.”

Wake and Asa look at Brandon, “What do you mean?”

Brandon looks at him, “I don’t mean it like, romantically or anything.” He thinks for a moment, “Though it might be. But he just… perks up whenever he looks at you, if only a little.”

Luke returns interrupting their conversation, “Collin says he thinks everyone’ll be ready to go in a half hour or so.”

Ardine nods, “Hmm… that gives us some time. I think I’m going to go get some extra healing potions just in case.”

Asa nods, “I’ll ask Collin if he needs anything.”

“That’s sensible.” Ardine responds.

Brandon looks up at Wake, “I think we should go practice coordination.”

Wake nods, “That sounds good.”

Asa walks over to Collin as the group splits up to take care of anything else, “Ardine is going to get some supplies. Do you need anything?”

Collin shakes his head, “Nope.”

Asa goes and tells Ardine and then sits down to wait for the raid to start.

A while later, Collin walks over to Asa, “Can you get the rest of your guild back? We’re almost ready to start.” Asa nods and it only takes a few more minutes for the A team to convene.

When that’s done, Collin addresses the crowd, “I know many of you have done test runs of the Temple, sans boss, so there shouldn’t be a lot of surprises. Still, our goal isn’t just to get through, it’s to get through with as many resources as possible. For that reason, we are starting by sending in an advance team to clear out the initial room spawns. The Highlanders, PhalanxPhantoms and MuckRack guilds will be that team. They will be annexing and activating safe zones and setting up teleportation circles so that we can bring in our non-combatants. We aren’t going to risk our advance team getting pincered by respawns, which is why a second wave, consisting of the A team and the Indecisive ones will be following them. The rest of the combatants, save the group of you whose job is to safeguard the non-combatants waiting out here, will take up the rear. Your job is to mop things up.”

He looks over the crowd, “Are there any questions?” No one responds, “Good. After that, we’ll set up a teleportation circle between the final safe zone and this one, and use it to move in the non combatants, who will recharge us for the boss fight. The people who are part of the plan for the boss already know what they are doing, but I will still go over the plan once we are at the final safe zone.”

Theo steps forward, “I would like to say something.” Everyone stops and looks at him, “I know it’s been said, but I thought it might work better coming from me. See, I was once worried about how everyone locked in here would see me. I was worried my lack of skill would get me in trouble. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to protect Ben. But the worst thing was, I was worried I wasn’t good enough. I thought I had to prove myself.”

He looks at the group, “You guys taught me that I didn’t have to prove anything. I want to say, if you are here to prove something, stay out here with us. Prove that you are smart and humble and willing to stick it out for the long run. Prove that, rather than jumping in, you’ll take the time to get good enough that you don’t have to.” He smiles, “And if you want to help, there’s plenty to do out here.”

Collin grins, “Theo’s absolutely right. Don’t think that our support is less important than our combatants. We’ll need them as much as we’ll need the top players.”

This time a small number of players do leave their respective groups and join the non combatants. After a moment of reorganization, Collin steps up again. “So now we’re ready!”

The Advance Squad

The beginning part of the temple is a series of interconnected rooms, starting from a large lit foyer. While there aren’t any initial spawns, the room is not a safe zone, so enemies can be led there and respawns can occur. There are three exits to the room, two stairways leading to two exits above one doorway. Of course, they all know this is misleading, since they all ultimately end up in the same place,. You’d only need to back track if you wanted to search everything yourself.

“We’ll take the bottom!” Kaja yells, “Unless you want it?”

The MuckRack members shake their heads and take left. The PhalanxPhantoms go right without any fuss.

The central doorway leads to a hallway with four side rooms. Despite the fact that each side room has a door, the entire area is one room as far as enemy spawns are concerned. Two elite goblin knights stand in the center of the room, a gleam in their shields indicating active defensive stances.

Zuri and Kaja rush forward and start trading blows with the two knights, causing them to leave their defensive stances to attack. Rika, not wanting to waste her MP, shoots them with standard arrows.

“These things have too many hit points!” Kaja complains after a moment as she throws Zuri a heal. Zuri responds by continuing to slash through the goblin in front of her with her sword, her armor allowing her to not even bother with evasion.

“Incoming!” Gail yells as a bomb flies over their heads and an explosion covers their field of vision. When the animation clears and they can see again, the goblins are gone.

Zuri sighs, “No good drops.”

“You guys are taking a lot of damage.” Rika says, “Should we have a more dedicated healer?”

Kaja shrugs, “I’ve always been enough before.”

Rika nods, “If you say so.”

Gail tilts her head to the side, “Why the sudden seriousness?”

“This is pretty important, isn’t it?” She smiles, “It’s fun, but serious.” Rika starts walking towards one of the side rooms. “These can have treasure right?”

“Probably.” Kaja says.

Gail grins, “Only one way to find out!” The four of them nod as they start to search the first room.

The Rear Squad

Stephan does final checks before he turns to the rest of the rear squad. Jerome aside, the rear squad consists mostly of younger people who are fairly new to the game but still want to help with the raid. Though there are a few older people, including Mitchell, that guy in his sixties that Stephan met in town.

“So! You guys all ready?” Mitchell yells out to them.

Stephan turns to Jerome, “I am.” He spins the giant shield around. At first he wasn’t sure whether he’d like it, but now he’s loving it.

Jerome nods, “You Armon?”

Armon nods, “I think so. Are you nervous?”

Jerome shakes his head, “Not really. I should be more nervous than I am honestly.”

Stephan grins at him, “You don’t have to be nervous. We’re gonna be with a bunch of other people.” Then his face hardens, “Those mooks won’t know what hit them!”

It doesn’t take long for everyone to be ready, and soon the rear guard is entering the foyer of the temple.

The first encounter happens immediately, as some elite goblins have spawned and are wandering around the area. Stephan points to one. He types into the combat comm.

[ Rhymes Even: We’ll take left. ]

He moves in that direction. Armon and his wolf follow behind him. Jerome has disappeared into the shadows, though Stephan can see him on his mini map sneaking around the edge of the room.

The four goblin knights they are approaching turn to face them at the same time, but rather than attacking they take defensive stances. Normally, Stephan would just go and trade blows with them until they went down, but he wants to practice conserving resources for the boss fight and Jerome is moving around behind them.

“What should I do?” Armon asks.

Stephan turns back to him, happy that his shield creates a concealment area directly behind him, “Maybe engage them so they can’t pincer me? You and your wolf can engage different ones.”

Armon nods, “So… only if they approach right? If they just stand there…?”

Stephan nods, “Then we let Jerome do it. I want to practice smart play. Save our stuff for the boss.”

Armon nods again, “Right. That makes sense.”

The Goblins don’t seem to be doing anything but waiting, so the two of them slowly approach the nearest one.

When he gets inside the Goblin’s attack range, it immediately take a swipe, but the shield reduces the damage entirely. Stephan isn’t entirely surprised. He hasn’t taken any damage from non boss enemies in a long time. But the temple raid is supposedly a difficulty spike, so he couldn’t be sure it would still work here. He’s glad to see it does.

That’s when the Goblin appears to charge itself up. But before it can attack Jerome darts out from the wall and blindsides it, defeating it instantly. The other three goblins turn to him, but Armon and his wolf jump out and pincer one of them while Jerome darts behind Stephan who engages the next one. Just like the first one, its attack bounced off his shield doing no damage.

It charges itself up and Stephan notices the super power icon, indicating its increased it’s attack power by 120%, which will definitely hurt him, so he steps forward and uses Nose Crusher with his tower shield. He grins when the goblin is stunned.

Jerome darts out while it can’t move and blindsides it, also defeating it in a single attack.

Armon and his wolf have taken out theirs, though they didn’t fare quite as well as Stephan did. The four of them easily dispatch the last goblin.

“You okay?” Stephan asks.

Armon nods, “Just cost my wolf some MP. Got plenty more where that came from though.”

Jerome nods, “Just be careful. We need to conserve some stuff for the boss fight.”

Stephan and Armon both nod. By this point the other enemies in the room have been cleared out by the rest of the rear team and they approach the stairway.

“Ardine says they went left.” Jerome says. He then turns to the other teams, “Do you mind if we follow?” No one complains.

“We’re coming too.” Mitchell says. The other members of his guild nod.

Nina walks over to them, “We’ll take the right.”

Stephan nods, “Good luck.”

Jerome steps forward, “Let’s go.”

The A team

The top of the stairs led to a room with goblins that the A team, Luke and Kwame stopped effortlessly. They found a treasure, but it had nothing of consequence. There was only one exit, then another nearly identical room, and another exit.

“So, this is the last room before the start of the second part isn’t it?” Luke asks.

Ardine nods, “Yes. The first area is large, but you can avoid most of it. The lower central path is actually the longest one, since it has a bit more to explore. The two stairwells miss quite a bit of the treasure, but are much shorter.”

“But since we’re not the advance team, we’re not getting most of the treasure anyway.” Luke concludes.

Ardine nods, “Except the treasures dropped by mobs.”

“But this is the easy part. The second half of the temple is where we gotta step up our game.” Brandon says.

Luke looks around, “Maybe we should discuss our plans?”

Wake casts Sanctuary, “There. Now we can talk more safely.”

Ardine nods, “Thank you.” She turns to Luke, “We shouldn’t take too long, but that seems reasonable.”

Kwame spawns a chair and sits down, “So like. The second half is pill bugs and spiders mostly.”

Ardine nods, “Yes. The pill bugs can be frustrating, since they have high damage resistance when they are rolled up, but you can unroll them with impact. Most spells unroll them as well.”

Luke nods, “Right. I remember. Maybe Brandon and Wake should take the lead?”

Ardine thinks for a moment, “That does seems sensible. Though we do want to conserve Brandon’s MP.”

“It might be best for us to just travel in Brandon’s barrier. It should protect us from poison, and poison is gonna be a way bigger resource hog than the enemies’ attack DPS.” Asa suggests.

Luke turns to Brandon, “Are you okay with that? It’s putting a lot on your shoulders.”

Brandon shrugs, “It’s fine. The enemies aren’t really a threat to me. But you would all be in close quarters. Five people can fit in the shield, but only barely.”

Kwame thinks for a moment, “Maybe I should take the lead? I can get us past combat right? That’s better.”

Ardine nods, “That’s not a bad idea, but don’t get too careless. The last thing we need is you getting yourself in trouble.”

Kwame nods, “I won’t.” He turns to Luke, “You’re okay with this?”

Luke nods, “I trust you. Besides, the goal is to avoid fighting.”

“So, the plan is we all huddle together around Brandon, while Kwame tries to scout a path for us.” He turns to Asa, “You should scout with him. The two of you should be able to handle anything.”

Asa nods, “Got it.” He thinks for a moment, “We’ve been here for a bit. We should go before the rear team catches up.” Everyone else nods.

When they enter the final room, they find a super elite goblin knight has spawned. They can see it from the top of the stairs, but it doesn’t look like it can see them. “Should we fight it?” Brandon asks.

Luke looks over at Ardine and Asa, “Ardine, Asa, we should fight it.”

Ardine nods, “Hmm… that seems like a sensible plan.” She turns to Brandon, Kwame and Wake. “You should be ready to heal one of us if we need it, but otherwise you should probably stay back.”

“Good luck.” Wake says.

Luke and Ardine nod at each other and then run down the stairs while Asa simply flash steps down below, where the curvature of the stairs gives him cover from the creature.

Rather than simply standing there, it immediately swings it’s ax and releases a shockwave at Ardine and Luke. Ardine steps back while Luke parries the shockwave, causing it to disperse. Ardine follows this up by charging forward and swinging her ax, releasing a shockwave of her own at a range that makes both her ax and the shockwave hit the goblin.

Before the goblin can return the favor Luke steps forward and parries the swing. He then swings his swordbreaker but equips a sword, then equips the swordbreaker again to parry the goblin for a second time. While this is going on Ardine stays right behind Luke, sticking to her ideal range where her ax shockwaves both connect with their target.

After a moment the remaining 70% or so of it’s life gauge disappears instantly as Asa uses flash attack to attack its blindside mid flash step, capping the chain and dealing more than damage to kill it from full HP.

“Not bad.” Ardine says, with a smile.

Luke nods, “These things die to parries.”

Of course, the other three are far less blasé about the fight, “You parried a shockwave!?” Brandon exclaims as he runs up to them from the stairs.

Luke nods, “It’s a physical attack with a hit box, so it’s just as parryable as any other projectile.”

Kwame whistles, “That’s still crazy! The timing for that has to be stupid. Especially with a knife.”

Ardine smiles, “It is quite difficult yes.”

Wake shakes his head, “And the way you kept it at your optimum distance so you could keep hitting it twice with each of your attacks. That’s really hard to do.”

Ardine nods, “I can show you sometime if you like. The key is paying attention to your radar.”

Wake smiles, “And were you trying to build a chain?”

Ardine grins at him, “Right again!”

Brandon’s eyes widen in realization, “So that Asa could one shot it with a chain cap!”

Ardine looks over at Asa, “It might not have been necessary. But with a chain I knew he could kill it with a regular attack, allowing him to conserve his cooldown skills for more difficult battles.”

“I wonder what it dropped?” Kwame asks.

Luke shrugs, “Nothing spectacular.”

Asa nods, “Yeah, it was a bit unfortunate. It dropped a bow with Distant Shot. Probably great for someone, but nothing we can use right now.”

“Man! That’s like… almost cool, except usually kind of worthless.” Kwame says.

Ardine sighs and rolls her eyes, “We would get a primarily PvP weapon. But who knows, someone might want it. And if nothing else, it’s still good for safe farming.”

Once Wake is done healing them up, they look forward. “Are we ready to go to the more difficult section?” Asa asks. Everyone else nods and they step through the exit stairwell to the second part of the temple.