Adam Drake - Blackout

But this arrow wasn’t meant to pierce armor or flesh.

The Dazzler arrow exploded right in front of his face. A spectacular burst of colored lights momentarily brightened the entire town square, like a newly born star, then winked out.

The effect was instant. Perriwinkle covered his eyes with one arm and swung wildly with is sword. He was blind.

An arrow struck me in the left shoulder, and my avatar grunted with pain. There would be no time to enjoy the results of my light show.

I made the tactical decision to go after the archers next.

I ran at full speed toward the building they were perched on and jumped up onto a fruit stall. The seller cried out in alarm as apples spilled everywhere. Using only a fraction of my Leap ability I sprung onto the roof.

One archer was a few feet from me, and he tried to notch another arrow while he aimed his bow. Even if he fired, he would most likely miss. The game heavily penalized ranged attacks shot from close quarters.

With a rapid flurry of quick sword swings the archer was killed. These hired NPCs (Non-Player Characters) appeared to have low hit points. Their purpose was meant for backing up a player, and general harassment.

Now I was doing the harassing.

A second archer stood on the furthest edge of the roof and fired at me.

I sprinted at him and dodged his incoming fire.

At the last moment this archer got wise and switched to a sword. But archers are not renowned for their sword play.

A few strokes of my sword and the archer was dead.

An arrow struck me in the lower back, and I turned in frustration toward my attacker.

On the roof of the opposite building the final archer grinned at me. He continued firing, and at a much rapid pace than I expected. No doubt he was the squad leader and had better abilities.

I sprinted at him, ignoring all the little red combat warning signs telling me my avatar could become incapacitated if I took more damage. Instead, I zigzagged across the roof making it tougher for the archer to get a bead on me.

At the edge of the roof I jumped up and through the air. I even knocked away an arrow with my sword before I landed in a roll. As I came up, I jammed my sword through the archer’s stomach and up into his body.

The archer collapsed into a heap. Wiping sweat from my eyes I looked down into the town square.

It appeared Mudhoof was making an example of the other two warriors. The knight limped away, and pushed through the growing crowds, not wanting any more abuse. There was no more fight in him. Mudhoof parried the viking’s sword thrusts with his own battle axe. They seemed to be an even match.

And there, leaning against a broken fruit stall was Perriwinkle, a hand covering his face, still blinded. As I watched, the other Shadow stood and removed his hand. He blinked and squinted, his vision returning.

I’d give him something to see.

With a short run to the edge of the roof, I jumped with my sword pointed downward in both hands. I descended like a bird of prey.

My shadow fell across Perriwinkle and seeing movement within his darkened vision turned and looked up at me. His sword arm rose.

“Wha-?” he said.

Then I landed on him.

My sword pierced his chest right above his heart and passed straight through him. As I crashed into my confused foe, we both tumbled to the ground.

I rolled away while wrenching my sword free then I stood and turned, ready for more.

Perriwinkle did not stand up. Instead, he lay prone on the cobblestone, and let out his last breath.

Vivian Valesh hits Perriwinkle KillUGood with a critical strike for 1,000 hit points of damage. Perriwinkle KillUGood is dead. Vivian Valesh earns double PvP battle points.

“Yeah, Vee!” shouted Mudhoof, who was still actively engaged with the viking.

About to run over and help him finish our last attacker, I paused and looked about. The crowd had grown much larger, forming a living arena around where we fought. Then I noticed several large groups of players push their way through the crowd, their hungry eyes staring at me.

“Uh oh,” I said. More of these potential bounty hunters were arriving by the second. Word was out. The largest bounty was here in Ingot’s Perch. Claim her if you can.

A cry behind me made me turn in alarm. Mudhoof?!

The viking fell backwards, his black sword clattering across the cobblestone.

Mudhoof Hornthruster has killed Knight WhoSaidNee.

“Piece of cake!” Mudhoof shouted in triumph.

I ran up to him, my eyes darting over the hostile crowd. “Nice work,” I said.

Mudhoof looked up at the roof. “You got those ranged bastards? They had it coming.” He saw my nervous expression. “What’s wrong?”

I nodded toward the large crowd and the players looking at us. Looking at me. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

“Yikes,” Mudhoof said, taking in the situation. This wasn’t a small group to deal with, this was a mob. “We got to get you to the Healer’s Temple and fast. Once in there we’ll come up with a plan.”

I was about to say something when there was a commotion to our right. A new group of players had arrived and were walking toward me when another group intercepted them.

“She’s ours!” said the leader of the first group.

“No, she is ours!” said one of the other group.

Weapons were drawn and spells charged.

I pulled my gaze away from them. If they wanted to fight amongst themselves then I could afford to ignore them for the moment. What concerned me was the living wall of players who now blocked our way to the Temple steps.

“Going to have to fight our way through this,” I said. It did not look good. The odds were very much stacked against us. Two against dozens.

Mudhoof sized things up and nodded. “Yup,” he said with a snort. “But I got a plan,” he said and hefted his battle axe.

“Plan?” I asked. The crowd now was pushing forward. Their hesitation would not last long. Soon, someone would attack and bring the entire mob down on us.

Mudhoof leaned close. “Do you trust me?”

“Uh, yeah. But what does-,” I started to say when Mudhoof pressed something into my free hand.

“Get to Thorm,” he said.

I looked at what he gave me. A Teleport Token.

Before I could ask him anything else, Mudhoof roared and raised his axe over his head. Unperturbed, the other players pressed forward.

Mudhoof brought the axe down with a mighty downward blow. The blade shattered the cobblestone and huge cracks shot out in all directions from the point of impact. Nearly the entire crowd around us fell or was knocked back into each other. It was a tremendous show of power by Mudhoof. I knew he had been feeding all his skill points received each level into his Knock Back ability, but I hadn’t seen the end result until now.

I looked in surprise at what he had just done. But the players were only temporarily thrown off. They still blocked our way. What was the point of buying us only a few seconds of time?

Leaving his axe buried in the ground, Mudhoof turned and sprinted a few paces back.

“Muddie, what the heck-,” I said before Mudhoof spun around, lowered his head down and charged straight at me.

My eyes widened in shock.

The steel tips of his long horns scrapped the cobblestone, shooting out a shower of sparks. He was coming at me full speed.

“Jump!” the minotaur roared as the distance between us became mere feet.

I realized what he was about to do, but there was nothing I could do but jump as he commanded. There was no stopping this freight train.

At the last possible moment I hopped up a few feet and braced myself as best I could. The steel tips of his horns passed beneath me, and at that exact millisecond, Mudhoof tossed his head upwards.