EVENT: The Dark Forest

The sleepy village of Oreburgh, a pathetic huddle of homes, scattered around a hole in the ground where they worked like slaves for a kingdom of the uncaring. Wooden hovels, thatch rooftops, a wretched excuse for a watch tower that looked as if a stiff wind would bring it down. Hills mostly covered the landscape, although a sparse number of trees could be seen here and there, scraggly things that would never be a forest, and the looming mountain range that dominated this area of the visible world. Oreburgh was tucked into that mountain range, but this pitiful king could not even protect his own mines and people, whom were forced to call for aid from people like that big idiot shouting in the center of town. Well…it’s not the worst approach to getting attention. Might even work.

“Perhaps you should have read the summons a bit better.”

He had reached the city from the South at nearly the same time this iron steam train of flesh came clanking into the city. Now he had walked up to this fellow, who was just grinning like a fool. Zakareth’s own blond ponytail swayed slightly with the light shaking of his head. Golden eye began to survey the people that had turned to look curiously at the two of them, probably already associating them as a team in some way, despite them never having seen one another in this life or probably not the other.

“There was a name associated with the summon. Goban, the village’s Elder. Try calling out for him or her.”

Might as well put his screaming to better use. He waved at the people that were watching them imperiously, offering a winning smile of his own, despite his disgust at their willingness to be slaves for a kingdom that didn’t bother to aid its own people. Brushing off his white pants as if there was dust on them, he casually placed a hand on the hilt of his blade, using it as a rest for his arm and appearing very relaxed. For him, this should be a breeze. Hopefully the tin can could fight as well and wasn’t just big without reason.

I listened to the bellowing of this man, it was quite boisterous to be fair, and somehow he kept that dumbass grin on his face through it. I wondered just how heroic this full metal bullhorn thought he really was? Then, after obviously having listened to my advice, he finally turned to face me. Brown or black hair, plain face, very non-descript as if he were an NPC. That could be useful. A face that is hard to remember is easy to forget, very good for business. With a bit of light scraping, he presented a gauntleted hand toward me, and expected me to put my hand in that steel bear paw. Well, there’s no reason to be rude. I shook the frying pan he called a hand with my own bare flesh one. An introduction was made.

What exactly was that slip up? He almost said his actual name. Interesting. I had yet to meet another person from my own world, if that was the case. Of course, whoever pulled me here from death could just as easily pull from other worlds too, I imagined. But the casual what’s up and the handshake prove that he was from Earth at some point. Ikaros Stormrage. I’ll attempt to remember that. However, for the sake of being polite for now, I ignored the slip up as it looked to be something embarrassing. Instead, I returned the greeting and addressed what he had implied.

“Zakareth. Nice to meet you and you would be correct, I died on Earth and ended up here as well. We’re Zombies.”

Friendly banter is the best way to endear someone to you, bring them into the fold, and then show them the path to freedom. Still, what was taking this Goban so long to show himself, even though he is the one who asked for ‘heroes’, and yet with one screaming like a foghorn in the center of town this village elder is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they should leave these peasants to the goblins but liberating a town could be a net positive for a foothold in this country. I guess I can wait a bit longer.

“Since this Goban is taking so long, and it looks as if it is just you and I, perhaps we should go over strategy.”

I looked at Ikaros’s ensemble with a critical eye. Fighting had always come naturally to me, this world being no different, and strategy had been needed to run a gang like his.

“You have a rather large shield, so from the looks of it and a perspective of a game, you’d probably be more of a tank type fighter, am I right?”

Tanks would be good in tunnels, especially with a shield that could be used to block up the hole better, in case these goblins attempted to swarm them. Then I could just poke with my sword from behind that protection, thinning the ranks to something we are more able to deal with, assuming these tunnels are the size of mansion hallways.

“I’m not very defensive myself, more focused on offensive combat, so if my guess is right, then we are a pretty good match. Still, I should see if they have a single spear in this city I could use, as a sword might clank off a cavern wall, leaving me vulnerable.”

That’s if Goban ever showed themselves.

Ikaros made a few gestures with his fingers toward me, or toward the ground? It was hard to tell. Either way, the results were rather instantaneous, as buff was placed on me. A second buff followed the first, and the larger man explained it.

“These will both be rather useful. Thank you.”

A ginger with a bow appeared, female, and she walked right by them to a man with a hat and robe. Why? Oh right. The HUD. This is still a game somehow. As the HUD appeared before me, I found that the man had a quest marker over his head, red, marking him as important. Gon. I can’t believe I forgot about the HUD. I’ll need to really tighten it up. As the girl spoke to the man, short and to the point it would seem, the man moved away and moved to a stone stage that happened to be right in front of where Ikaros and I were already standing. Once Gon was situated, he began his speech, calling out to the adventurers who had come to aid them. It was a very short briefing, not very good, and the details were foggy beyond ‘attack at night’ and ‘don’t let any escape’. A sigh escaped my lips. These idiots were trying to get us killed.

“I do have questions actually.”

I made sure to lock eyes with the NPC Gon, of which I would now only think of them as NPCs and not living beings, as it has been proven as such. Perhaps he would have more useful information, but as an AI, his programing, while vast, was undoubtedly limited to almost human.

“What is the layout of this village? Approximate level of these Orcs? Where is the next stronghold where they will flee to warn others? Where is their main base of operation? Will we have any support from, say, the town guard or the kingdom? Will we be afforded better equipment should it exist in this town? Will we get supplies to support ourselves such as food or healing?”

That should be enough for now. Crossing my arms, I waited for the fool NPC to answer and prove he was not so much a fool. Either way, I did learn that I did not need to care about these beings in the least, since they were just programs. That would be very useful to remember.

One hour eh. Not very long to do any kind of prep. Well whatever, I should have everything I need, but it won’t hurt to take that blacksmith up on his offer. Now that the elder had finally shut up with his only partially useful information, it was time that I got to the business of preparation. I hit yes to accept. First order of business was to visit the blacksmith, since there would be time to get a better handle on the team’s capabilities during the travel to their destination. Walking away without saying a word to the others, I headed for where I saw the blacksmith go, a very easy to identify forge, and stepped inside.

“Good afternoon. Since I have such a short prep time, I’ll have to make this brief. Would you happen to have any explosives on hand?”

The plan was the utilize the bombs and a later time, preferably when dealing with the main force of the Orcs, because that’s how these things always go in these video games. Best to be prepared for the horde that will either inevitably come or we will have to go meet. Another idea occurred to me as well.

“Also, how much thread do you have?”

Yeah, that would do nicely. If the blacksmith did not have the bombs, I wouldn’t bother with anything else and just thank him on my way out. If he did have the bombs, I’d get whatever measly amount my thousand gold could get and some thread as well (5 bombs or less). Then I’d be on my way back to the others who might hopefully be in the same spot I left them. If not, I’d just wait there for them to show up again.

“Didn’t catch your name other party member.”

I damn sure wasn’t going to give her my name first, this isn’t some friendship anime. Until she spilled her name, I just kept watching her, probably creeping her out which was fine by me. She hadn’t said a word to us, so in my book, that’s a little too shifty, even for my tastes. Of course, if she spilled the name, I’d tell her my own, since I have the misfortune of having manners. Once those introductions were completed, I’d ask another question.

“So I’m the close range. He’s the defense. What do you do?”

Once she answered, and Ikaros made another gesture of his heroism and whatever, it would probably be time for us to get on the road. Wouldn't be long until the killing starts. Luckily nothing here is alive, at least not enough for me to care.