Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds Read online

  Apparently Toby had been getting money each time a goblin died. He’d had no idea. It was just appearing in his inventory.

  Strangely enough, the money had weight. That was kind of uncommon. It had been a few years since he needed to bank money to move around… but he was glad upping strength would ease that requirement. He was going to up strength anyway, after all. The more things it benefited, the less he could feel he needed to only spend on stamina.

  He pondered whether or not he would drop money when he died… only to realize the answer didn’t matter. He only had one shot. There was no respawn.

  The other parties were still fighting to the south. The goblin camp was holding them at bay rather effectively.

  They kept on toward the fight, readying their weapons.

  Tim scoffed as he pulled his hood a bit lower. “They’re afraid of dying. Taking no chances.”

  Paul shrugged. “What’s wrong with that?”

  “It’s not going to help us win. We don’t have time to turtle, we have to burn through everything we find as quickly as we can. Not dying is a great secondary goal, but making it to the level cap has to come first.”

  Jesse nodded. “If we don’t make it to the end, we lose anyway.”

  Amos drew back his bow as he aimed at the goblins ahead. “And we lose worse. We lose by default.”

  Paul seemed to consider it as he walked. “Right, well, I don’t think throwing caution to the wind is best… but you have a point.” He raised his shield and drew his sword. “Let’s be done with this and move on.”

  He charged ahead of the others and leapt. His raised shield bashed against one of the goblin’s hastily constructed defenses. Two goblins standing atop the wooden structure fell down as the thing toppled.

  Toby blinked a few times. “Wow. And I’ve been pissing him off all day.”

  Claire smirked. “He’s coming around.”

  They charged in with weapons readied. Toby swung his sword in great arcs, breaking the defenses as goblins fled them.

  Jesse had set the entire place on fire in less than a minute. Toby wasn’t sure if that was an admirable goal, but it was proving to be effective.

  Toby didn’t see Tim much, but that seemed to be how he operated. He had some sort of shadow step ability he wasn’t the least bit afraid to abuse.

  Amos stayed further back and took potshots at Goblins that tried to escape.

  A red flash caught Toby’s attention. He turned to see a goblin at his left with a spear. For the first time, is hit points became visible. A red bar on the upper left side of his vision. A chunk was missing, and now represented by black.

  “Oh, a wise guy, eh?” Toby lifted his sword high and brought it straight down.

  The goblin held up its spear to parry the blow… but the spear was cut in half as the sword continued its downward swing until it struck the ground.

  The two halves of the goblin fell opposite ways.

  Another flash of red appeared, now from the other side. He turned, grinding his teeth. He needed to keep an eye on the damned things.

  This one was less his fault. The goblin was several yards away and readying a second arrow to fire at him.

  He held his sword behind him. “Well, lets see how well horizontal works here.” He held his arm as far back as he could before sweeping the sword forward and releasing it, casting the sword through the open air.

  A red trail appeared behind the blade as it spun through the air.

  The sword struck the goblin in the chest and sent it flying back to the ground. Its bow was cleft in two.

  The sword reappeared in Toby’s hand a moment later.

  He grinned. “Okay, I like this thing.”

  White light washed around him. He turned to see Claire standing a few feet away while his hit point bar refilled. “Bit more situational awareness, hmm?” The hand she held out hand the palm facing him with all the fingers closed against the palm except the index finger pointing to the sky and the thumb sticking out perpendicular to it.

  He stared a moment. “Are you giving me the good guy gang sign from Big Trouble in Little China?”

  Claire looked at her own hand. “Am I?”

  Jesse shook her head. “Healing is the ‘loser’ symbol.” She held her own hand the same way in front of her forehead. Green light sprouted around her hand as a brighter green washed over Toby and filled his hit points back to the cap. The bar faded from view entirely.

  Amos smiled. “No, he’s got the right of it. It’s totally referencing Big Trouble in Little China. Good on you for recognizing it, kid.”

  “Psh.” Toby scoffed. “John Carpenter, man. It’s a classic.”

  Paul stepped up beside them. “Agreed. But right now we have bigger issues. Let’s get this done, then you can talk movies.”

  Amos’ smile grew into a grin. “Says the man who designed the healing gesture.”

  “I was not questioning the classics.” Paul shrugged. “But right now, go hit some goblins. I want this camp torn down ASAP. Chop chop, you slackers.”

  Jesse sighed. “Slave driver.”

  “If needs be.”

  Toby spun the sword in his grip before charging into the camp. Members of other groups were in there fighting. All of them had guild names and colors that marked them as allies.

  He swung at every goblin he saw, and stopped to knock over tents and the like. The quest had said to get rid of the camp. He might be wrong, but that sounded like making sure the things they built went away, as much as making sure the goblins were gone.

  A blood curdling roar rose above the camp. Toby wasn’t alone in turning to face the noise.

  The creature stalking the center of the camp was far larger than a goblin. It was larger than any of the characters attacking the camp. It had the same ruddy green skin, but it was muscled and sprouting fur in places. Its maw was wider than Toby’s chest and bristling with sharp teeth between a pair of tusks.

  “A bugbear? The hell?”

  Toby jumped and turned to see Tim standing beside him.

  “Stop bamfing around like that.”

  “No can do, kiddo.” Tim shook his head at the creature. “That’s bad. Shouldn’t be here. Definitely not level appropriate.”

  Toby glanced back over his shoulder at the sound of footsteps. The rest of them had caught up. Paul was frowning. “Damn it, Miller.”

  Toby turned his eyes back to the creature. It roared and lifted up broken bits of wooden structures and threw them at some of the other groups. A man with a shield took the hit and was thrown outside the camp. Two healers in robes ran after him.

  He spun the sword to get a better grip. “So the raid encounter wasn’t the only one he messed with.”

  Paul nodded. “Looks like. Bugbears are much stronger. Goblin kings, if not goblin gods.”

  Amos was watching Toby’s sword cleave the air. “Maybe it’s a test…”

  “A test?”

  He pointed. “That thing is beyond us at this level, maybe even if we all gang up on it, but that sword hasn’t been operating at our level. So we have the tanks distract it while we get him in close enough to wail on it.”

  Paul rubbed at his beard. “Dangerous.”

  Jesse shrugged. “Won’t finish the quest if we don’t clear the place out. Looks like giganto was added to the roster for this.”

  Paul glanced back and forth a few times before sighing. “Right. Okay. Jesse, you stick with Tobin like glue. If his health drops below half, I’ll be very disappointed.”

  She nodded. “On it.”

  “Claire, you’re with me. The rest of you see if you can whittle a bit of its health off.” He raised his voice. “Tanks try and get its attention, healers stick with your tank. DPS make sure the area is clear of smaller goblins, then get in there to help. We don’t need any tiny bastards knifing us in the back after we take that thing down.”

  The other groups had already been doing more or less what he said, but they gave shouts of acknowledgment. />
  Paul turned to Toby. “And you… don’t die. That’s an order.”

  “Sir.” Toby saluted.

  Jesse punched Toby in the shoulder. He could almost swear he felt it…

  “Come on, let’s go get ‘em.” She moved off to the left of the group before heading forward, keeping well out of aggro range. Toby followed her.

  He watched the fight happening off to his right while they circled around. The tanks engaged, trading blows with the creature. When one tank started to get into trouble, the next tank to his right would taunt it and the healers about would shore up the weakened member. They worked in unison and always knew who would taunt next. It might work in the end, but it would take awhile.

  Most of the DPS were engaged with the remaining goblins about the camp, though a few ranged DPS had attacked the creature, but they were attacking slowly to keep their aggro low.

  Jesse cackled and rubbed her hands together. “We get to fight the big one.”

  Toby shook his head. He wasn’t sure about this. “You might be crazy.”

  “Pfft.” She smiled. “Let’s see the sword.”

  He held it up and she made the fire gesture. Flames played along the blade for a moment before vanishing, but an orange glow remained.

  “That ought to get you a few more points of damage in the first few hits, assuming it’s not fire resistant.”

  “Huh. You can just do all kinds of stuff with that, can’t you?”

  “Super helpful with the cooking mini game. You don’t even know.”

  He found himself smiling. “Okay, I guess it’s time I got myself killed nobly for king and country.”

  “Hardly. You are the king, remember? Let this be where the world sees your strength and stands in awe of you. We could use the recruits.”

  He nodded. “Right. I can do that.” He took a deep breath as he stared at the bugbear’s back.

  Go time.

  He charged ahead with the sword held behind him. He chucked it as hard as he could and sent the blade flying as he ran. It sailed through the air trailing a spiral of red light until it struck the creature in the back.

  It roared and stood taller as it cried out to the heavens. The tanks out in front paused for a moment, but began swinging again before it recovered.

  The sword reappeared in Toby’s hand even as it was vanishing from where it had stuck in the creature’s hide. Huh. Maybe if he was fast enough… there could temporarily be two of them.

  He shook his head. Test later. Win now.

  Toby crossed the last few feet while the creature was still wailing at the sky. The tanks had been bashing at it the entire time. With any luck, they had its undivided attention again.

  It’s health had moved when the blow landed… but not by much. It would take more than a few hits to drop it, and with how much more damage he was doing he was bound to get the creature’s ire at some point.

  He stabbed the sword straight ahead, a red outline of energy appearing before it as it sailed toward the bugbear.

  The creature screamed as the blade pierced its thigh.

  He pulled the blade clear and swung it straight down. The brighter white light appeared on the second swing as before, the blade striking the bugbear hard enough to send it down to one knee.

  The tanks wasted no time in peppering it with hits from swords and maces. One even seemed to have a greatsword of his own.

  Toby stopped his attack when the creature fell. He backed away a few steps as the ground shook, and he held his sword up before him. Could be block with it? He hadn’t tried. It might work… but then, even blocking a blow from a creature that size was sure to cause some harm.

  Jesse hissed and waved for him to follow. She moved behind one of the fallen wooden structures. He turned and ran to join her. “What are we doing?”

  “Breaking line of sight.”

  “Wait… line of sight works here?”

  She nodded. “If you’re still at the top of his aggro list he’ll look for you when he gets up, but if he can’t see you you’ll drop off the list pretty quick. Especially with four tanks fighting for his attention.”

  Toby watched the creature through a crack in the wood. Its health bar had moved, but it was still almost seventy percent full. It budged as the tanks laid into it, but that was it. The creature barely acknowledged the tanks as it stood back up and glanced around.

  “That sounds like a rogue thing.”

  “It is.” She nodded. “But they have abilities to disappear. You get to hide around corners.”

  More DPS were showing up to lay into the bugbear all the time. Hopefully they would muddy the list enough that he could get back out there before too long. The tanks got its attention again.

  He made to stand, but she grabbed hold of his arm. She shook her head a few times. He tried to ignore the fact that he would swear he could feel her hand.

  “Stay here a bit longer. You’re still near the top of the list.” Her head was peeking out as she watched the fight. She wasn’t on the aggro list.

  He didn’t like watching. Every hit they took was one that could have been avoided if the thing was already dead.

  Jesse nodded. “Okay, you’re probably good.”

  He was running across the field before she had finished “okay.”

  All of the DPS seemed to be here now. The tanks worked in concert to keep it angry but unfocused. Its health bar was steadily dropping… but the tanks were taking a beating, and some of the DPS were close enough to take damage. The healers were having a hard time keeping up.

  He’d seen it before, though never in something so low level. The tanks were the priority because if they went down, everyone else was going to lose anyway. DPS could be rezed, and even if they couldn’t, it just meant a slower fight.

  Well… they couldn’t be brought back this time, but that was the normal procedure.

  He had the only means of changing that in hand.

  The first attack was a throw, as before. The blade lanced into the creature’s back, though it didn’t lose focus this time. It was still beating on the shield of one of the tanks while two healers threw all manner of glowing lights at them.

  The sword returned to his hand and he slashed at the leg again and again. Each second slash was stronger, causing the bright red and white arc to appear. The one that followed that would be a normal red strike, then the one after would repeat. The health bar dropped faster now, though the bugbear looked back over its shoulder.

  He backed up a step while the other DPS continued to whittle away at it and the tanks hit it with all manner of strikes.

  It didn’t care.

  He was too high on the aggro list.

  Toby knew better, of course. This was exactly what DPS were not supposed to do… but his team needed him. He held the sword up before him. “Come on you jolly green jackass. Hit me!”

  The bugbear raised its arms high as it turned, its feet shaking the ground and pushing a few of the melee DPS away.

  The tanks kept trying to get its attention, but it seemed a lost cause.

  Its fists hovered in the air over its head as it roared. Both fists dropped.

  As soon as he saw movement he lunged forward and ran between the creature’s legs. He ducked down, but he probably didn’t need to.

  The giant fists striking the ground nearly knocked him off balance, but he managed to stay up and keep running.

  The creature roared in impotent rage as it stood back up…

  But Toby was long gone. He was ducking low behind a fallen tent on the far side of the fight, on the other side of the tanks and a wall of ranged DPS. It might still search for him… but by then they might whittle it down to nothing.

  He had a few moments to catch his breath.

  A loud roar caused him to glance around his hiding place.

  The bugbear’s health was flashing read, nearly gone… but it was swinging much faster and every hit shook the ground.

  The tanks could barely keep their feet. Mo
st of the DPS had already withdrawn to a safe distance if they couldn’t hit it from range.

  But that meant the damage it was taking had slowed as well. And its enraged state would last longer. The tanks were barely keeping it together. Jesse was back with the others, throwing green heals at Paul while Claire kept him glowing white almost constantly.

  Toby tightened his grip on the sword. They needed him to hit it. He might be able to drop it in a couple of swings. It didn’t have much left. But in this state… it may only need to hit him once.

  Paul would want him to stay out of it. To be safe. To ensure the mission continued.

  But it wouldn’t continue long if he was alone. He needed a full raid with him at the end. He was one of many. Part of the unit.

  He stood up and ran out of his hiding place. This was his job. He needed to do it.

  Toby roared as he charged back into the fight.

  The bugbear’s eyes immediately turned to him. Not long enough in hiding then… but he didn’t have a choice.

  He lifted the sword high over his head with both hands and cast it forward with a wordless yell.

  8

  The sword lodged into the bugbear’s chest.

  Its health bar shrank to a red sliver, barely visible.

  But it was still alive.

  Toby held out his hand and the sword began to reappear, but his world went askew before it had completely reformed.

  He glanced around, disoriented.

  It took him a few moments to realize what had happened. Tim was standing over him and a large piece of jagged, broken off wood was lodged in the ground just behind where he had been standing.

  Toby stood up and shook his head as he tried to reorient himself to the world. He felt a little queasy…

  Tim had already bamfed away again.

  The tanks were wailing at the bugbear’s legs. Its last sliver of health not visible in the bar beyond the blinking effect.

  A burst of smoke preceded Tim appearing on the creature’s back. He dug both of his daggers into it as it keeled over forward.

  People had to backpedal to stay out of the way as it landed.

  A window popped up before Toby’s eyes even as the ground shook from the creature landing.

  “The Goblin Menace: Rank 1 - Complete!”