CHAPTER 15

But as soon as the word "hunter" had left his lips, Gless appeared in front of Sergeant in all his elfish glory. Sergeant jumped back.

"You elves," he said angrily, "only care about your entrances!"

"Sorry," stammered Gless, looking sideways at him and sidling off toward the main group.

"Wow," I said. "Sergeant, you're a magician. So, if you say 'cask of beer,' does a cask of beer appear?"

"I'll tell you this much, if I say 'big bruise on your head' and wave my magic wand," he said while tenderly caressing the battle ax at his side, "you'll get your fairytale! And it won't have a happy ending!"

"Okay, quiet," said Eilinn. "Everyone's here, no one's late, and that's a good thing. Okay, listen up. We'll start by going over some information and then port out. We're going to Gringvort, where the monsters average out to around Levels 29 to 34. It's populated by skeletons and zombies mostly, though you'll also come across death dogs and spectres. The average respawn is four minutes. Sometimes, there'll be bosses, but you don't have to worry about them; that's what these fine folks are here for." He waved his hand toward the fortress, in front of which stood three high-level warriors (you could tell just by looking at their equipment and weapons). There were two archers—a man and a girl—and a swordsman.

"That's Rango." The male archer waved.

"That's Krolina or just Kro?" The girl curtsied.

"And finally, Reineke Lis, or Lis." The swordsman pressed a fist to his chest and did a half bow.

"Lisikins," laughed Krolina.

"They have a ton of experience, and they're guild veterans. So, they'll make sure you don't have to deal with any bosses or unexpected bot respawns. Those don't often happen, though they do happen. We also sometimes get PKers wandering around over there, if very rarely. Generally speaking, they're either really low-level and have no idea what they're doing, or they're part of very experienced gangs. The noobs you can deal with yourselves, seeing has there are ten of you, though you won't be able to handle any veteran PKers. Just don't expect us to take care of bots for you. None of those three will join your group, and none of them will help you in battles you should be able to handle yourself."

"All right, kiddies," clapped Sergeant. "Form up!"

"Who's the leader?" asked a burly barbarian named Ronin.

"How should we know?" Eilinn answered with a question of his own. "It's your group, so you decide?"

"But we don't even know each other!" an elf girl said with some surprise.

"So what?" Sergeant asked. "There are lots of ways to choose a leader quickly, even if you don't know anyone."

Just then, I received a group invitation sent by Max. Of course, I accepted. I couldn't care less about being the leader, so if someone else out there wanted to do the honors—more power to them.

"Why does it have to be you?" Ronin responded sharply, obviously having just received the invitation.

"Maybe I want to be leader?"

"Then you should have sent your invitation first," Eilinn agreeably observed.

"The early bird gets the worm," noted Reineke Lis as he walked over.

"Oh, you're kidding me!" Ronin was beside himself, and barely containing his anger.

Everyone else had no problem accepting their invitations to the group, and soon it was official.

"What trophy distribution did you set?" Sergeant asked Max.

"Who Needs What," the latter answered.

Trophies were a big deal. When you played in a group, there were four ways to distribute loot: to the group leader, to whoever got the last strike in, democratically (get what you can), and who needs what (the best option). While in the first three modes, loot always went to a specific person, in the last mode, players received a message asking them if they needed each item. If they didn't, they selected "no" and didn't participate in the lottery. If they selected "yes," a virtual die was rolled for each person, and the one with the highest number got the item or resource. It was fair and worked well. Nice job, Max. Additionally, the money you got for killing enemies was distributed between everyone in the group equally and automatically.

"Why?" asked a frustrated Ronin. "Let's go with Last Strike. If we do it your way, I might do all the killing and be left with nothing!"

"No problem," said Max. "Let's vote. Who's for Last Strike?"

Only one person beside Ronin raised their hand, an archer named Kerv.

"Who wants Who Needs What?" Everyone else raised their hand.

"Done. And just so you know, that was the last bit of democracy we'll have in the group. I'm the leader, and I make decisions. If I need your opinion, I'll ask for it. If you don't listen, I'll kick you out of the group."

I happened to see Eilinn glance quickly at Sergeant.

Interesting.

"Don't kick anyone out," said Eilinn. "This trip is organised by the Thunderbirds, and you're all volunteers. You don't get to kick people out of the group, though you are responsible for commanding it. You can also demand that they listen to your instructions in battle, and you decide how to distribute loot."

"Exactly!" Ronin was at it again.

"Is everything clear?" asked Sergeant. "Eilinn, open the portal."

"Eilinn barked out some kind of spell, waved his staff, and a portal opened. It looked exactly as I expected it to—a big blue circle with shimmering edges, rolling around and all of that…

"What are we waiting for?" Sergeant yelled. "Get in there! It'll collapse soon, and you'll miss your chance!"

We didn't need a second invitation, as everyone crowded in its direction.

Gringvort

A place where warriors from the great but long-forgotten kingdom of Ringholl gathered for hunts and buhurts. After the second Skeleton War, it fell under a curse laid on it by a powerful necro-mancer.

The undead now populate it and…

I skipped the rest of the interesting, if very long and untimely story, about Elysium's attractions. If I'd been alone, I would have read it. In my case, however, I doubted the Sergeant would let me, and I didn't want to miss anything important.

We were standing on a small hill. In front of us, was a modest plain littered with picturesque ruins that looked as if they once could have been small outposts built for something big—to protect the remnants of Darkness, for example, as they slunk away from the west or the machinations of the enemy. A little forest began about a kilometre and a half away from us. In short, it was an idyllic spot.

"Well, there's your field of battle. As soon as you walk down to the bottom of the hill, skeletons will start coming up out of the ground. The zombies start a bit later, closer to the forest. The bosses almost always come alone. One of them, the leech, comes out of those wrecks." Eilinn's finger pointed toward a group of ruins to the left of the hill. "And the zombie king usually comes out of the woods. We'll keep an eye out, so just focus on fighting. Any questions?"

"Yes, I have one?" I raised my hand. "What happens if we die? I mean, who knows what will happen. Everything here is pretty strong, and if they catch me once, that'll be it. Where's the respawn point?"

"Good question," Eilinn said, looking at me. "The respawn is here, right behind us."

He waved a finger behind him at (How did I miss it?) a stone covered in runes that had a slight glow.

"You should all link to it. Otherwise, you'll respawn back at the fortress if you die. And no one's going back for you!" Sergeant shouted in his normal tone of voice.

"Just remember to relink when we get back to the fortress," said Krolina, "or you'll find yourself back here, and it's a long way to the fortress or Brad."

I opened the map and checked to see where we were. Brad was a ways away. Probably fifteen days away, and the path was full of tough (for me, of course) locations.

Locations in Elysium were relative, seeing as how it was a world—like all the other latest generation games—that was complete and seamless. The only differences were the levels of enemies you faced and the place names. There wasn't any loading, no "wait a second." When there weren't any more skeletons, werewolves would start coming, and I'd probably be at the next location. Although, sure, they might both be happy living together at the same spot. Leaving Gringvort would put me in the Deisnell Plain so everything around me would change, though there could be who knows how many types of enemies in the plain. In contrast to a lowland area like Gringvort, the plains could be absolutely enormous—hundreds of villages, dozens of cities, a nomad camp...the variety was impressive. And no matter where you went you'd find friends, enemies, quests, skill masters, and traders—whatever you wanted.

Finally, we started down the hill. We were linked to the respawn point, our weapons were drawn, and it was time for battle.

"All right, comrades." Max stopped us when we were almost to the foot of the hill. "Tactics. Everyone just do your thing for the first five skeletons so I can get a look at what you can do."

At the same time, our commanders came down the hill. Sergeant and Eilinn listened to our conversation with interest, though they made no attempt to come any closer or participate. The veterans laid out on the grass, and Reineke even pulled out a pipe and filled it with tobacco (in contrast to many other games, Elysium was fine with all legal types of smoking during the game; it just served to get them more players).

~ ~ ~