Chapter 19: Fire in the Hole

“So, you expect me and my men to follow this plan of yours?” The Captain, Sir Brutus looked at the Holy Knight, Alviss with a discerning look while rubbing his chin. Alviss just nodded silently.

“What do I get in return?” Sir Brutus was a shrewd man. He was more interested in his personal rewards rather than the task at hand. This mission was another one of the stepping stone for him to further progress his own cause.

“Well, first you will get all the credits for defeating the kobolds and saving the people. I’m sure you would find that to your liking, Captain.”

“And?” Alviss understood that the Captain needed more to motivate him further. One glance at him spoke of his desire to rise through the ranks as soon as possible. A common trait shared by most if not all power-crazed leaders. And as told by his party leader, Alvis continued to stroke his ego while championing his cause.

“If you so desire, you can claim that this was your idea and you and your men were solely responsible for the safety of this Kingdom. I’m sure it would bring further acknowledgement of your skills, wisdom and valours.” Alviss reassured the Captain that he was to gain everything. “I am very sure too that you, Sir Brutus would be able to get more than just promotions and rise in your ranks after successfully rescuing all these people. Fame and recognition to your deeds would be sung all over!” Alviss was trying his best to get the Captain’s good side to the point of overreacting. But instead of angering the Captain, it bemused him instead.

“Your words are coated with honey indeed. Normally, I should have cut off your tongue. But…” He looked at Alviss as his eyes glinted with anticipations. “I’m going against my better judgment. Your proposition seems interesting for one of your ire.” After a pause, he waved his hand towards his attendant. As the two whispered among themselves, Alviss waited with anticipation.

Finally, he got what he was looking for. The Captain returned to him and with a big smile, he said, “Very well, you shall have my men’s cooperation… but as per my conditions.” Alviss beamed with happiness and thanked Sir Brutus as he left the tent. However, what he did not know that time was that the Captain had another plan up his sleeves. One that would spell trouble for his party members.

*****

Alviss returned with a smile on his face. I was sure that the negotiation went well. Since he had the highest Charisma among all of us, he was tasked to negotiate with the Captain instead of me. Having boosted his Charisma further with my Forget-Me-Not skill and also a couple of his own, his Charisma value shot over a 100. The logic was perhaps with a higher Charisma, the Captain might listen to him. Well, much better than the rest of us anyway. He was suited to the task.

However, I expected more reluctance or perhaps resistance from the Captain to help us. When Alviss told me that the Captain had readily made his men available to us; specifically to the plan, I had a tinge of uneasiness. Another leader would not lend his troops to another, especially those perceived as lower ranked or unknown people. In war, the highest rank assumed the leadership roles. Though this was not a war, the leadership hierarchy would not change suddenly. But, I did not have any choice. The Captain had also given us a condition for his ‘favour’ too.

“What about the other players?” I asked Alviss. He just shrugged his shoulder indicating that he had no idea. Now, what would I need to do?

Those players were wildcards and none of them would bat an eyelid to us. Vis-a-vis, our parties were the lowest level, poorly equipped and had not enough fame or recognition points to our names to earn the necessary command and respects from the soldier. We were totally ignored. But the idea and the plans we gave to Captain Brutus was too good even for him to turn down.

Now, with 10 hours left on the clock, we must make haste. Alviss, Miranda and Sophia were given some time off to rest. Only at the last 5 hours that they would need to be here; to discuss and prepare for our next steps. For the time being, all I could do was to look at the others here working the plan out. We were told not to butt-in into their matters. Though they followed the plan, none of us was allowed to do anything other than watching those men and women carrying out their duties.

Woods were chopped and then carried to certain locations on the valley marked on the map. There, the woods would be arranged to create a large 20 x 20 feet pyre. With 50 pyres needed to be done, it took the whole camp one and half game-time day, PCs and NPCs helping each other.

*****

“So, what do we do now, Ghost?” Miranda asked as she prepared herself. I gave her a dagger to be equipped since I had a couple. As a ranged attacker, she would be left defenceless if her enemies came to what I called the danger-zone; a zone where the enemy would come within 3-4 feet away from her. A dagger could help her immensely if any enemies had sneaked upon her danger-zone perimeter. Within the insides of the mine, I was sure that she would be facing those situations.

“Do you remember our formation?” I asked. The rest of the party nodded. Alviss was to lead us followed by myself, Miranda, Sophia and lastly on our rear, Elly in a single row formation. Rose would just walk beside me since she was just, give or take 2 feet tall. The formation prioritized defence and speed.

“Grabbed a couple of torch for each one of you.” I barked my next order. However, Miranda responded, “But I can see in the dark with my Night Vision skill. I don’t need torches.” As an elf, she had been given some starting abilities as per her race. However, the torches were not for lighting our way.

“I had some other uses for the torches, or else I would not ask you to carry two each. Now, are you and the rest ready?” After checking all their equipment, I had made sure that each and every one of them was equipped with a couple of more things; foods and healing items. We might not know Popo and Mimi’s condition but if things turned out for the worse, we would be ready.

The whole troops, led by Captain Brutus; or Sir Brutus as he wanted all of us to address him, had assembled within the vicinity of the mines. 200 strong of them were all ready to strike at any given moment. Rallying up his troops, I could hear him gave a rousing speech to allay his men and women. The other players were within their own places and had their own objectives and agendas. He had the gift for the gab as his troops were pumped up and high in spirit, contrary to the first time we met them.

However, I had no interest in what he was saying. Focusing on my task at hand, we had 2 hours of real-time left. It was now or never.

*****

“Light up the pyres and smoke these dogs out!!” Sir Brutus finally gave his command. The plan I gave Alviss earlier was simple. The arrows I had found lying on the ground at this place earlier was a giveaway. It was the indicator that I needed to know what had happened.

Those soldiers had been attacked from a distance in an unknown territory. They could not march even an inch from here towards the entrance of the mine. I too recalled such few battles I have had during my time in the Special Force. If it’s not for Sophia being hungry all of sudden and Miranda complaining about eating raw meat, I might have forgotten about the whole experience. Wars in foreign lands were not something one could recollect just for the sake of it. Too much trauma, too much death and too much… of everything.

However, with this plan, things were about to change. If the enemies were not coming out to get us and prefer to strike at a distance, then we would need to force them out. And what better way than to give them a smoke attack. Not only it would help us to enter the mines under the cover of the smoke, but the smog would enter the mine and then suffocate the kobolds. In war, the purpose of the smoke bomb was not just to give us protective cover from enemies’ fire, but also to suffocate them or hurt them in many other ways too. I had no doubt that this game would reflect the real life in one way or another.

Now, the question left was, which mines should we need to enter? There were literally dozens of mines scattered on the face of the valleys but with the clock ticking, we must choose ours correctly.

“What if the mines are connected to each other, like an ant’s nest?” Sophia asked me. I gave her a nod of approval. She might not be wrong after all. However, we must choose our point of entry correctly or else we would be led further into the mines without going anywhere close.

“Let’s enter the one where most of the kobolds will run out from.” The idea might sound crazy but the logic was simple as I told the group. “If it’s something important, then more people would be guarding it.”

Waiting for an hour, the dark and thick smoke began to fill the valley and entered the mines. Screams of agony could be heard even from here. It was not before long that the kobolds came out running out of the mines. The plan worked almost too well. The soldiers were waiting gleefully and as the first strike fell, Sir Brutus gave his command to attack.

“Charge!!!” He shouted at the top of his lungs and the whole battalion dashed forwards under the cover of the smokes. Our party were left behind as per agreed. I would not have it any other way too. Looking at the battle at hand, I scrutinized each mine as best as I could under the thick smoke.

“There!” I finally found the one that we could enter. I took an arrow, lighted up a fire at the tip and shoot it towards my target. “Fire in the hole!”

Marking the point I wanted everyone to enter, we had now made our way with speed.

*****

The thick smog was a double edge sword. Not only did the enemy could not breathe nor see properly, so would we. Our Stamina depleted constantly. However, Rose had a skill that would serve us well, Photosynthesis; an ability that used the smoke as a form of nutrients. Like how the real world plants would use carbon dioxide to make their own food but Rose was just few hundred times faster. If it was not for Rose’s special ability, I would not have had readily agreed to that Captain’s condition that we entered last thinking that the thick smoke would also get to us.

As she filtered the smoke around us, I used Respite to keep our Stamina as high as possible without running out of my own mana. Using those simple tactics, we would move unhindered inside the kobold’s lair. The tunnel within the mines was small, damp and poorly lighted as we progressed further.

“YeargHHHhhh… Hu...MaNN!!” A couple of Kobold Sentries came rushing to us with spears. A surprising choice of weapon indeed. In this small space, a stabbing weapon was extremely deadly. Especially since our formation was just a single line formation. However, the kobolds were too dumb to actually use the spears as intended. We disposed of them with utmost efficiency.

At level 50, Alviss could tank them without losing much of his HP. He would block both of the attacks, Rose would entangle them and then I would debuff them with status effects and Miranda would snipe them to death. Elly and Sophia were spared from doing anything for now. If my MP were low or Alviss needed to replenish his HP, they would tag us.

“KiLL… kILl, KILL all HooMans…” A few more Kobolds attacked once we reach an open area within the tunnels; big enough to accommodate our new guests. This time it was a long range type; Kobold Snipers. As hails of their bolts came at us, Alviss again blocked it all. Still within our range, we disposed of them in ruthless fashion. Next was the reinforcement in a group of 5 and this time, it was from our rear. Elly tanked them easily though her HP did drop more than Alviss. However, her skills usage was better and thus it compensated her lack of HP and Defense Rating. For this round, Sophia let out a few of her magic fireballs and iceballs, one after another as myself, Miranda and Rose continued to support them. Alviss was on the looked out if we were to be flanked. Luckily, it was not the case.

“Ghost, how long do we need to fight them?” Miranda asked as she landed the final hit to a Kobold Sentry.

“Yah, we had been travelling down the tunnels for quite some time without an end to this,” Alviss added. And both of them were right. I was anxious that I might be wrong and had wasted our time.

00:58:35:17

Less than an hour. Everyone was nervous and more so was I. If we were to retrace our steps, we would waste even more times. Leaving us with no choice, the only thing we could do was to proceed further in and hoped for the best.

And the best, or the worst did come in the form of Captain Brutus and his men.

*****

“We have secured all the hostages!!” He shouted with such smugness when he saw us. “This was an easy victory, and glory to the Kingdom of Asgard!” His men cheered with him. We came to another clearing this time; quite a large size that could fit hundreds of people in the tunnel. Perhaps, this was the kobold’s nest. The mine entrances were a series of tunnels, long unused and forgotten and had converged into this area; filled with wooden cages, broken weapon stands, stenches of rotten meats and dead kobolds.

But I never saw Popo and Mimi. I went up and asked the Captain himself. “You said you had rescued all, so where are the two Bunnians?”

He snorted at me, “What Bunnians? There’s no Bunnian here!” He pushed me to the side. Feeling irritated, I grabbed him by the arms.

“Where are Popo and Mimi?!!” I shouted and it shook everyone inside. His men were prepared to attack me but the party formed a barricade between us. The other players just ignored us and continued on their own quests. He turned around and grabbed my collars. “I will have you kill for touching me, the Great Brutus Caesar the Fifth! Son of the General Juliasus Caesar!” He tried to head-butt me but I side-stepped him and gave him a liver punch. The damage was laughable but my actions were not. I had openly challenged the leader, humiliated him and now declared enmity against his group of people.

If it was not for that scantily dressed woman who came in the nick of time, I had no doubt that we would be shot by hundreds of arrows. Being dead was the least of our concern. “Sir Brutus, have you forgotten about the Bunnian archaeologist, Mimi?”

What? Mimi was no archaeologist, but a botanist. She told me herself that she was a botanist.

“I never remember such name!” Brutus spat to the ground in disgust. However, that woman was undeterred. “Surely, such a great man as you will never forget that this was her expedition and the people we saved were her underlings.” This was the first time I’d heard about this. How could this woman know about these things?

“If you were not chosen by my father himself, I will not let you mock me, Sonia!” Brutus looked at me and sneered. “I don’t know where your precious Bunnians are. As far as I am concerned, I had completed my mission and rescued those that needed to be rescued.”

“B-But…” Sophia came forward and composing herself, asked “Aren’t you the reinforcement? Why can’t you save every one of them?”

The Captain looked at her, disgusted by the question. “Do I look like I’m doing a charity for you poor low-levelled weak lots? You are nothing. Those people are nothing!”

SLAP!

Elly came and slapped him out of nowhere. That escalated well. Now, even more hostility from his men. Not that I did not like it as I chuckled out loud, but if we were to die, this was a good occasion to go out. But before that happened, at least we would go out fighting.

“Girls… spare your energy for something else. If you want to look for the rest, the tunnels lead deeper into the hills. The Captain was right, he did his mission and so did the rest of us.” Sonia was trying to act as mediator out of her own safety. Getting caught in a friendly-fire was not going to be too well for her.

“I-If… If G-Ghost did not come with this plan, none of y-you will ever complete anything!” Sophia rebutted much to Sonia’s surprise. She looked at the Captain and then at me as if she was asking if that was the truth. “You came up with this plan?” I just gave her a nod as a reply. “I’m… surprised.” In the end, she just let out a smile and walked away.

“If this oaf has anything to do with it, it’s because of Ghost’s plan. And ours.” Elly added the fuel into the fire.

Brutus was trembling in anger. The credits he was looking for was suddenly diminished, little by little. His men were murmuring among themselves. The seed of doubts had been planted by those two girls. Sonia, who was respected within the ranks, too found no further need to be hostile nor doubt us. “Very well. Among the hostages we had saved, my boys heard that there were a couple of Bunnians taken deeper into the tunnels like I had said earlier. You might find them there, but be wary, that is an unexplored region. And perhaps might host monsters beyond your level or even mine.”

Well, if that was the case, then we would go deeper. Brutus and his men had left us after Sonia told them off. Reluctantly, they abide at her words when she nearly came to the boiling point as she threatened to toast them with her skills. She was personally chosen by the General and perhaps she was unofficially the highest rank PCs here. However, at the back of my mind, I felt uneasy. It seemed that Brutus had let this matter off too easily. However, now was not the time to think about that.

As we watched them leave, I too had made my ultimatum known. “If anyone of you wanted to bail, now is the time. I’m going in.”

However, to my pleasant surprise, none of them decided that way. In fact, I got an earful from all the girls, including Rose. She had been hiding well from all the dangers and now climbed up on my shoulders and pulled my ears. “Papa is stupid for saying mean things!” And everyone agreed with her.

“Alright, if that was the case, let us…”

BOOM!!!

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard within the tunnels.