The Challenge

Game Support smiled at him, before disappearing in a flash.

Suddenly his vision blurred and he awoke on a dusty wooden floor, in what seemed to be a dark wooden shack. There were slight holes in the walls and a cold chill was blowing through the room.

[Welcome to your Lord Challenge Mission Lazarus]

The text appeared in front of his eyes, but the breeze kept blowing around him, he moved his hand across the dusty floor and could feel the dust between his fingers. The cold breeze sent slight shivers down his back, and the hairs on his arms had risen. The back of his throat tickled as he tried to hold in an approaching sneeze.

"Wow it feels so real." He exclaimed. He looked down at himself and saw that he was now wearing a fur coat, which was white and grey, most likely to be one piece, maybe from a wolf or a bear.

[If you complete this mission, you will be awarded a Lord Class, depending on how you complete depends on any additional rewards. If you fail, you will be given the chance to continue as a normal player and play the standard tutorial.]

The door to the wooden shack slammed open and a rugged looking man stumbled through the door. As the door opened, the light entered the room, causing Dom's eyes to squint. The man had a long black beard and was wearing a rough grey fur coat that protected him from the wind, he held his left side which was stained red. He had a small axe in his left hand and wore brown hide boots that were held together with mud stained rope.

"Captain..." He grumbled, "We need your help."

He suddenly fell and collapsed on the floor at Dom's feet. The Shack shook as he landed and Dom could feel the vibrations across the floor boards.

[Your mission is simple, help the Villagers]

Dom headed over to the man and bent down towards him, grabbing his shoulder and giving him a slight shake, still in shock at how real the game felt. He reached towards the wound and felt the warmth of the blood on his hands.

"Stop shaking me Captain, just give me a minute to catch my breath!" The Man groaned in pain.

Dom was relieved that the first thing he saw when starting the game wasn't a realistic death. He stepped away from the groaning man and walked to the door and looked outside. There were several other shacks and some larger houses that seemed to form a small village. Similar fur covered villagers ran around the village, some holding a variety of weapons such as Spears, Hunting Bows, Wood Chopping Axes and even the occasional Sword.

An elderly woman hobbled swiftly past, with a young boy under her arm, fear on both of their faces as they ran through the small homes that lined the street outside.

"This game is so realistic!" Dom exclaimed, "But it is a game, and I need to know the situation so I can work out how to complete this mission."

He turned around and walked towards the grumbling man lay on the floor.

"Get up, I need to know the situation," Dom demanded, "and we need to dress your wound."

The man struggled but sat up, still grumbling whilst holding his blood stained side with a grimace on his bearded face.

"I'll be fine Captain, I just need a few minutes and I'll sort it myself." The Man replied. "A group of bandits are heading towards us, at least 30 horseman are coming from the north, followed by another 100 on foot. We are out numbered and most of our men are too old, too young or too inexperienced to fight back effectively."

"Explain the surroundings to me?" Dom asked.

"But Captain, you know the surroundings, this is our village?" The Man replied.

So real! Dom thought, this takes role playing a step further than most games, where the NPC's would just answer the questions.

"I know that!" Dom faked, "I just wanted it from your perspective, so that we can work on a plan?"

"Ahh, you have always been smarter than me." The Man replied honestly, "Well, there is the village, which has the a few small houses and huts. Then there is the main hall and a few small businesses such as the blacksmith, fur tradesman and the food stalls. On the outside we have the small wooden palisade which surrounds us up to the rivers edge. To the North is the Valley, the South and West the open fields that we normally use for our flocks of sheep, however the shepherds have brought those in to the main hall and have gathered their hunting bows. The East has the river that flows down from the valley, the fisherman have also come in and picked up their spears."

"Interesting," Dom replied, "So they are heading through the valley to us, we have limited able bodied men available, which are mainly fishermen and shepherds. Who else do we have?"

"Well there are us and the few other warrior guards who are slightly better equipped and a few of the Woodworkers who ran back as soon as they noted the dust in the distance from the horses." The Man replied. "I would say around 45 who can defend of various strengths, the Chief has also said he will come and fight, but he's to old to be any use."

Dom was silent, digesting the information and trying to come up with a plan to save the village. He looked down on the dusted floor and using his finger made a circle in the dust representing the palisade. In side the circle he placed several squares, representing the houses. He drew a line down one side signifying the river, some zig zag lines to the south and west to show the open land and then an upside down triangle above to show the valley, with woods on either side.

"How far away are they?" Dom asked.

"No more than an hour, if they rush, even sooner but we aren't much of a challenge for a group of this size, so I doubt they'll rush." The Man replied.

Dom then drew a line going through the valley towards the village, he placed 6 notches on the line, each one to signify 10 minutes of time.

"What is the order of ranking in the village if anything happens to the Chief?" Dom asked.

"Well, there is the Chief, he's old but he's a good man. Then there is his daughter, who still isn't married! Crazy isn't it, she's stunning, with that long curly red hair, I would love to get some of that to myself." The Man replied, but seeing Dom's disapproving look he quickly continued. "Then there is you captain as the head of the guards. That's why I came straight to you, as you are the best to help with this, have you thought about marrying the Chief's daughter?"

"I hadn't no, had you? And how did you get injured?" Dom asked changing the subject, "Seeing they are so far away?"

"If I did, I could be the next Chief ey!" He laughed, but then continued after looking at Dom's serious face.

"Ahh this?" The Man replied, lifting his fur to show a bloodied gash underneath, the wound looked rough, but not deep and the blood had started to clump together and reduce the blood loss. "I fell on some freshly chopped logs when coming to report, one seems to have cut me a bit deeper than I was expecting! My own fault for rushing."

"Where was you when you found out about this attack?" Dom asked instinctively, giving the honest man an inquisitive look.

"Erm, I was with the woodsmen drinking. I'm sorry. Please punish me for not doing my duty." The Man replied, his head lowered.

"That is not important right now," Dom replied, "We can discuss this at a later date. Why did you know I would be in this Shack?"

"Thank you Captain, may I ask, why so many questions? We need to start acting!" The Man replied, "You were in here, because you have been coming here a lot recently, investigating something?"

"I just want to understand everything." Dom replied, "If you ever take over my position, you'll be the same. What was I investigating?"

"That would be great one day! I do not know Captain, that was something you were doing." The Man replied happily, "Do you think I could really succeed you as Captain?"

"Of course you could!" Dom replied frankly, "Ok, let's go."

Dom turned his back and headed towards the shack exit, whilst planning his next steps. If they had less than an hour, he needed to mobile what ever forces that were available and work out a plan to help the village.

Dom suddenly dropped to his knees, as a flow of air quickly went over his head. He rolled to the side and span, punching up to the air. His fist landed heavily against the hard meaty flesh of the Man, hitting him in the wound that had only just started to close, causing it to open and bleed again.

"Fuck!" The Man exclaimed! Bent over, whilst trying to get his bearings, "How did you know? Fuck that hurts!"

"You talk to much." Dom replied, heavily throwing an uppercut and knocking the man down unconscious to the floor.