Triumphant Return

Dom made his way around the corpses that littered the pass. The stench starting to hit his nose from the bodily fluids that had left the dead bodies that were around them. Mary and her Father were surrounded by the cheering men from the Village, they had won a battle that none of them had expected.

"Congratulations Captain!" Shouted The Chief, "Your plan worked, what a wonderful victory!"

There were cheers all round from the Villagers that had fought by his side.

"We'll find out soon enough!" Dom replied, looking further in to the valley, awaiting the arrival of the Shepherds and Woodsmen under John and Peter that were due to arrive back shortly.

"I doubted you at first," Mary added with a smile, "But you have proven me wrong. We are not warriors, we are Shepherds and Fishermen, Friends and Family. What you have concocted today is something I couldn't have thought off. It's not something we could have come up with, and with that you have my thanks."

"Thank you." Dom replied, nodding his head in acknowledgement, "I think!"

He looked around the battlefield, noting that few villagers had picked up slight injuries in the scuffle, but they were managing their wounds. Some other villagers were helping them strap up small cuts and scratches, whilst others prodded around the enemy bodies, looking if there were any survivors.

Dom grinned, no one had died from his part of the battle. His first battle of this game, working alongside just NPC's and not his trusted allies, had been a fantastic success so far. He was just waiting on the others to return to see if it was as much a success as he hoped.

"What's next then captain?" Mary asked politely, which was a huge difference to how she was just over an hour ago when they first met.

"Search the bodies for any valuables." Dom ordered to the nearby guards, "Strip them of any armour or weaponry that can be re-used by the village. Pile the bodies to that side and we'll have to clear them later."

"What should we do with the bodies after that?" Mary asked.

"Burn or Bury." Dom replied, "I would recommend we use some of the logs and build a pyre and burn them. It's will be cleanest and quickest way"

"Very well, we'll take your advice on that." Mary replied.

Dom nodded and moved on, to look and clean through the bodies himself. The blood felt realistic on his fingers, and the bodies were still warm to the touch. It was a strange experience and felt so real it actually scared him a little. Both of his parents had been in the Western Kingdoms Army and had both served until their deaths. The realism of the bodies in front of him made him feel what they must have felt so many times, amongst their allies and enemies.

He moved through the dead and went towards the red cloaked bandit's body, finding jewelled rings on his fingers, which he swiftly removed. Even though this was the tutorial mission, he felt that any valuables that he could get for the village to help them flourish was a positive. He knew inside that everything would end and he would join the main game soon, but he enjoyed the role playing of this Captain role.

He found a similar dagger to the one that Judas has held, and placed this in his belt. Soon he found a small pouch of coins on the bandits waist, it was heavy and he felt it was a good amount.

"Here Mary, catch this!" He shouted, before throwing the pouch to her. He then searched around the body even more, picking up the red cloaked bandit's sword, which looked exquisite compared to any of the other weapons he had seen so far.

She caught it in excitement, opening the bag and having a quick look inside.

"Oh wow!" She exclaimed, "This is enough to feed the village for months, we could buy so much with this!"

"This one is alive!" One of the Villagers shouted.

Dom ran over to the bandit who was lay on the valley floor, he was one of those that had been knocked down by the rubble from the fast hitting water, surprisingly he hadn't been drowned and must have been knocked to the side.

"What should we do with him?" Mary asked, appearing beside Dom as he looked at the bandit.

The Bandit had long black hair and a scraggily beard. He looked strong and well built. He lay there with his eyes open staring back at them, no fear in his eyes.

"What is your name?" Dom ordered.

"They call me Duncan." Duncan grumbled back to him.

"Shall we kill him?" Mary asked.

"I'm not sure." Dom replied, thinking about what the mission objectives were. Would killing this bandit have a benefit or gain to his mission.

"I am lay here you know." Duncan added.

"Let's kill him." Mary grinned, with a cheeky look in her eye.

"Let's not." Dom replied, shaking his head. "Duncan, you are our prisoner for now."

"It's better than death." Duncan replied nonchalant.

"People approaching!" One of the Shepherds who had been put on watch shouted over to them. Everyone grabbed there weapons and looked towards the Shepherd that had shouted.

"It's John!" He added, "And he's not alone!"

...

The group happily headed back in towards the village, the Villagers who had stayed behind cheered their arrival.

Everyone that had set out had returned, even though some of those that did were bloody or hurt. Some were even wet, as they had slipped in slowing temporary river waters when they had cut the flow and re-directed it back to the main river.

Amongst the victorious returning Villagers, there was another group of surprises. A small group of horses trotted slowly, some with slight wounds in their rumps or sides that were bandaged and watered. Behind them came an even smaller group of bandits, tied together and carefully watched by the survivors. Duncan led them and seemed to have become the temporary leader of the group, making sure that they kept themselves best behaved.

Behind them was a wagon, that was pulled by some of the Woodsmen. On top of it was a pile of armour and weapons that had been gathered from the fallen bandits. There would be a lot of work ahead for the villagers to reform and train themselves for anything like this in the future. At least now they had some better armour and weapons to increase their stats and chances.

Dom had really enjoyed this tutorial and had taken a liking to some of the key characters from it. Duncan for his lack of fear and slight sense of humour, he had only known him for a very short part of this tutorial, but appreciated how he had helped get the rounded up prisoners to follow simple orders. He liked a few of the villagers he had met as well, Paul and Mary especially. Paul for his loyalty and Mary for her fierceness. The realism of the game was fantastic, and he was excited to meet many more characters like these as he continued through it.

[Congratulations on successfully completing the tutorial mission. Mission rewards are being calculated. You will be returned to the lobby in 15 in-game minutes. Please wrap up any loose ends.]

The notification announced as soon as Dom re-entered the village. 15 minutes he thought to himself, but what loose ends did he have left to tie up.

"Dom, lets go and celebrate!" Paul shouted happily, slapping him on the back with a big grin on his face.

"Soon!" Dom replied happily. "First get the prisoners locked up in the sheep stables for now under guard, a plan needs to be drawn up for them."

"I will." Paul replied enthusiastically, "Back to the normal tomorrow, but tonight I will feast like a god."

Dom nodded and smiled, before heading off back towards the Shack where he had started this mission. Judas's body had been removed by now, the blood stain still on the floor. No room reset's in this game, it was the exact same way as when he left.

Judas had mentioned that the Captain, his character, had been spending time in the shack looking for something.

[5 in-game minutes remaining.]

Damn, Dom thought to himself, he didn't have long left. Was the Captain really searching for something, or was the Judas character just meant to give him a distraction.

He had already felt around the walls, and the floor and still hadn't noticed anything. He paused and looked around, suddenly noting that one of the floorboards where Judas's body had lay, had a trail of blood that had seeped underneath the floorboards.

He pulled the jewelled dagger from his waist, and stabbed down between the gaps in the plank. He wiggled it back and forth, loosening it quickly. Inside was a small black box, that he grabbed quickly as the world slowly started to face to white.

[Tutorial complete. Mission rewards will follow]