Chapter 24: Draugr are bad, mkay? (The Draugr Invasion, pt. 1)

Chapter 24: Draugr are bad, mkay? (The Draugr Invasion, pt. 1)

The sound of swords clashing whispered intermittently from the edge of town, and behind it the hissing sound of the draugr gathered strength. Cael got occasional glimpses of small skirmishes between groups of players and the nearby draugr, with suffocating rows of arrows and flashing swords failing to damage the creatures. The draugr eventually disengaged from these conflicts in order to join with a large horde that was starting to form in a ring around the city. Soon, nobody would be able to leave, and the people trapped within the town would have to repel the draugr. Not an easy task when the players were tired, demotivated, and stressed out after finding themselves trapped in the game.

Before fighting draugr, Cael decided to purchase some stronger offensive spells. At the Alchemist's Store, he obtained scrolls for [Magic Missile] and [Dark's Tendrils], two offensive AoE spells, as well as the buff spell [Young Deer's Speed] which allowed him to increase a player's movement speed by 15%. The [Dark's Tendrils] spell cast an array of tendrils made from mana, that sought out opponents and drained their HP, using it to heal the player's own HP. He wasn't able to afford much more yet, but he decided that this should make it easier to fight off multiple draugr at once. He had seen that the draugr had peculiarly low HP, which his new spells could easily deal with, but he guessed that the draugr made up for this with a gimmick of some sort that prevented Mages from just killing them en masse.

Fighting in a large group, like those defending Kruxol, would give much less EXP than he would attain by finding a draugr spawn point and killing them solo. This is because EXP is shared among a group attacking a draugr, while he would be able to keep all of the EXP if fighting solo. He had a good idea of where to look, remembering the strangely abandoned cabins in the woods to the South. Currently, all players in the area around Kruxol received a title hovering above their head which said [Kruxol Defence Force]. While this was active, players would receive occasional mailed rewards for fighting against the draugr for long enough, and would forfeit these rewards if they attacked another player in PvP. It hence incentivised most players to stay within the group fighting in Kruxol, and try to keep fighting. Cael had already seen a loud Guild Leader cynically instructing his Guild's weaker members to hold off the draugr, sacrificing themselves to keep the higher-level members shielded and fighting for longer.

As he scanned the area around Kruxol, he saw that a ring of draugr was already starting to form around Kruxol, and they had already struck a few victims dead. The draugr towards the South were slightly lower in average level, skewing towards level 25 rather than level 30. There were a couple of level 35 draugr towards the North, and probably more high-level draugr Northwards who would arrive later. The draugr's tattered skin had a slightly grey-green shade, and had signs of rot across their bodies. He heard the sound of screaming among a small, strong Guild that had gone to fight the draugr and try to disrupt their horde. Cael noticed that the draugr were each given boss status, increasing the rewards for beating them but meaning that at present they could inflict pain. From trailers for the game, advertising world events, Cael had seen that most special enemies, generated during events, were given boss status and used named skills. Due to these scenes of pain, most of the people assembled in Kruxol were taking a backseat and applauding the fighters, rather than risking a fight with the draugr.

He walked past several warriors putting up a brave fight against the draugr, to loud applause. Their swords swung, landing formidable-looking blows. But Cael saw that as ultimately just idle bravado, since they couldn't actually deal any damage. In fact, he recalled that this actually strengthened the draugr force. He saw that the draugr were mostly seeking out fights with warriors, to increase their own strength, and then returning to the horde once Mages approached. It seemed likely that these warriors, in spite of the plaudits, would just make things more difficult for the town in the long run by strengthening the draugr. This is part of why the draugr, who would typically not be that painful at first, were causing even strong groups of players to crumble. Cael would have liked to tell the warriors to stop attacking the draugr and just function as tanks until Mages could damage the creatures, but due to the audience's positive feedback the warriors would probably just ignore him, and he had decided anyway that he was not his brother's keeper.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

Cael edged away towards the South of Kruxol, and saw several players huddled together in groups waiting to defend the city once the draugr horde approached. Finding a small pond, he used the trick which Byron had shown him to enter the walls of the large Archery Store in South Kruxol, and passed unseen through some buildings until he reached a small, deserted alley which had few people nearby. He followed this out of the town, slipping unwatched into the woods South of Kruxol. He estimated that the cabins he had seen in the woods would be towards the West, so he proceeded rightwards through the trees and kept a close look out for anyone nearby.

As he was passing carefully through the dense trees towards the West, he heard a harsh, rasping hiss towards his left. While he tried to step away quickly, he had forgotten that the Mage's Agility and ability to avoid detection was much lower than the Assassin's, and the loud rustling of leaves drew the attention of the level 25 [Draugr] nearby. As the creature approached with a sickly walk, stooped towards the ground, Cael accepted that he would have to fight it. The draugr was carrying a rusty, fragile sword, which could probably not do much damage unless the draugr was strengthened. Casting [Magic Missile], a series of asteroid-like projectiles formed from mana darted from his fingers, glowing a very faint white. These struck the draugr, and reduced it to a mere 20% HP. As Cael had predicted, the draugr's low HP made it highly vulnerable to magic. As it drew closer to him, he struck it with [Flare], and the plume of fire reduced the draugr to only 1% HP.

Cael tried to end the fight quickly, with [Dark's Tendrils]. However, the draugr seemed to shrug off the attack and remain at 1% HP. It lunged at Cael and used [Cliff edge scratch], scraping its cracked nails down Cael's left shoulder as if hanging on for dear life. Cael managed to flinch away and shake the draugr off, but his shoulder still stung from the cracked nails scraping it. However, as he had guessed, the draugr at this stage was still not that painful because he had not attacked it with a sword. He still had 93% HP. Its frail nails had hurt, but it was more of a lingering scrape than a deep, piercing wound. Nonetheless, he was concerned that his spells did not seem to be doing anything to the draugr.

Killing the draugr brought Cael to level 30.

Cael heard a loud announcement being sent to all players:

[If your name has been fixed and is not garbled, please do not join the fight against the draugr. The name fix is volatile, and it is safer not to take the risk of fighting in this event.]

Cael had suspected for a while that the attempt to fix players' names early had been premature and erratic, but he wasn't surprised that they had rushed to try and restore big donors' names. After all, how could you have a virtual aristocracy without name recognition? The message was soon accompanied by a further announcement:

[Players of Kruxol, there has been a breach to the North! The draugr are entering the city! All players please join your brave comrades in defending the town, before it is overrun.

Due to their success in breaching the town's defences, the draugr have gained the ability to call on their powerful Mage unit. In addition, this unit will have a doubled spawn rate for the next 10 minutes. The Mages have low MP, and are few, but their spells are powerful. Be on your guard.]

Cael smirked slightly at the news of the Kruxol guard's defences being breached, it seemed fitting after they had strengthened the invaders. However, he was concerned about the news that Mages would begin to spawn. He heard a loud hiss near the cabins, but saw that it was not a Mage, but an ordinary level 25 draugr with a very flimsy, rusted sword.

Cael cast [Flare] at this foe, who seemed to have lower HP than most draugr. It immediately fell to 1% HP, but continued to charge towards Cael. Using [Spark], Cael managed to snatch the creature's [Rusty Cursed Draugr Sword]. However, when he tried to strike the draugr, the flimsy sword was too weak to damage the creature, and simply bent away. The draugr used this opportunity to use its nails for a [Cliff's edge scratch] at Cael's chest, lowering his HP by 9% and winding him. As he staggered back, he tried to strike with the tattered sword again, only for it again to weakly deflect off the draugr. The draugr tried to use [Death's Grip] on Cael, but Cael was wary of the move and used [Mana Strike] to dislodge the grasping draugr. Cael was growing slightly frustrated at the sword's weakness, but then remembered that striking down the first draugr had been easier because his physical strikes had strengthened the creature's weapon as well as the creature itself. He shifted the draugr's sword to his off-hand.

Drawing out his [Iron Sword], he walked up to the draugr and slashed it hard against the chest. He followed this up with a blow to the draugr's legs, causing the frail creature to keel over. However, he saw that the creature was starting to lift itself up more energetically, and seemed to have gained new strength. Cael switched back to the [Rusty Cursed Draugr Sword], and found that it had grown much more sturdy and sharp. Slashing at the draugr as it tried to rise, he saw a deep cut in its skin as its HP fell to 0. The sword disappeared in his hands, but he smiled lightly.