After reading the text, I could feel my heart skip a beat. I look at Sabrina and she was already on the web browser searching up the forum. Quickly I do the same and once I opened the forum it was the first post I saw.
"To the guy surrounded by goblins in the canyon" - EyeSpy
We will find you! We will find you and kill you, your little goblins and your NPCs. To any other players who have seen/heard or have any information help us avenge our friends. This player who we will call P, lured 3 of my friends, our 4 NPCs and myself into a cave where he set loose an army of stone freaks to kill us.
What did we do to you? Nothing. We did nothing. We saw you at the bottom of the canyon and wanted to talk but instead, you ran away. Thinking it was weird we followed and got ambushed by the stone monsters.
These things ripped us to pieces. Like literally torn us limb from limb. One of my friends is having nightmares about it and could barely sleep for the rest of the night.
SO. We will find you. We will kill you. So be ready.
While the post was small and only contained a bit of information the comments were erupting in a storm. Players were curious about who P was and where the 'war' would take place. Some players were commenting that they knew who P was in real life and other was commenting about P's army.
False information was thrown everywhere in the post as this was the first kind of player versus player event even if it was unofficial.
"Hey, are you going to be ok?"
Sabrina grabs my arm and asks me a question not even I knew the answer to. I could only shrug and just shake my head not knowing how to answer her.
"When you go back into the game tonight make sure you prepare your defenses straightaway, okay?"
"Yea, I know Sabrina...Do you believe in what they said in the post?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course not! I already know your story. They are just a bunch of attention seekers. I bet they aren't even that strong."
"Right...So, if I die again you're paying for the meal ok?"
"WHAT? Helllllllll no. You are paying no matter what happens. Well hopefully, you won't die again, after all, you really did not look well when I first saw you."
A slight smile appears on my face and I turn around, walking away from the Bones building. I currently have no need to join the guild and no reason to give away my information. Playing by myself with my NPCs and finding out more about the world is more than enough for now and eventually, there will be a way to connect with Sabrina and Evan.
The both of us talked a bit more before parting ways at the train station. On the way home there was much to think about including the players who will be attacking me soon, the stone monsters, the copper mine, the tin deposit and then progressing HavenFall to a higher level.
What can I do for my small village that would help them? Thinking about my options I realize there were not many but something did come to mind when I thought about fighting against a group of people. It was the area of effect attacks or what most gamers called AOE.
What are AOE attacks good against if not groups of mobs? While there is no magic in HavenFall a very primitive method of attacking would be using fire and as if a light bulb turned on above my head, flaming arrows.
With the army of goblins plus Robin and Howard who are proficient at using a bow and arrow constantly firing flaming arrows, it would be able to handle most if not all situations where the opponent's military strength is more or less the same as mine.
I already have an advantage with terrain, being the location of HavenFall and the limited methods of entry but if I include using height and flames as well I can improve our militaristic strength by tenfolds.
Ok, range weaponry can be improved but what about melee fights? With the fight against the stone monsters eminent there needs to be a way to defeat them. Most attacks from the spears and arrows only made scratches against the skin of the stone monsters. While the goblins do have lower strength than Howard or David or even Frank they were still capable of attacking and defending against them to an extent. However, what if Howard or David was fighting the stone monsters could they penetrate the skin?
My mind goes to work thinking about a weapon that can help the fight and eventually lead towards the club. Blunt weapons are effective in doing heavy strong strikes like how a hammer is used in the process of refining metal. So what if we got a club that can do damage to the stone monsters? I look through my phone and searched on the internet for some answers.
An effective ancient era blunt weapon was the club which evolved into the mace. Finding a large sturdy stone and then attaching a solid wooden pole would create a simple mace and I can easily tell old man Hus of this weapon. Furthermore, a mace is more effective on heavily armored units which in a sense is what the stone monsters are therefore, using a mace would allow more damage.
Now, the defense was the circular wooden shields enough? I remember the fight against the stone monster, the goblins tried to protect each other by lining their shields together. If it was a human opponent then that makeshift formation had too many holes but luckily the stone monster only knew how to swipe its claws. If old man Hus can make tower shields or the scutum then that's a different story. Long rectangular shields held by the Roman legion were called the scutum and it was the core of the phalanx formation.
A big grin appeared on my face as a thought went into my head. What if I can make a goblin phalanx formation? While the individual strength might not be there just yet if they are able to cooperate effectively and perform the formation to a high degree they would be able to defend and retaliate against most other monsters. So long the enemy isn't insanely bigger or extremely sturdy then the formation might be able to work.
The insane ideas run through my head as I sit on the train and as I walk home. Things from history that worked and things that didn't work and why did they not work, I kept thinking and thinking, researching and researching all the way home. Once I got to my doorstep, it was already night.
I had spent extra time wandering the streets formulating ideas and looking through my phone reading about ancient history that I didn't even realize how much time had passed. Still, there was some time before the game opens for the night. I made a simple dinner of rice and stir fry beef, enjoying the meal since in the game I would be very busy preparing everything.
After cleaning the dishes, I went to my room and took out a notepad.
Things to do in Settlement
Create new weapons, shields, armor
Mace
Scutum
Fire arrow
Figure out a way to teach the phalanx formation to goblins, Howard and others if needed
Prepare a rotating night shift to secure eyes and ears 24/7 throughout the day
Be wary of players attacking
Be wary of the stone monsters
Copper and Tin mining expedition
Creating a road from HavenFall and the mines
Find more encampments to increase the population
Make sure agriculture is doing well for future food resource
GET STRONGER!
I jot down some of the main points I needed to do or work on in the notepad. Afterward, I relaxed while watching some TV or scrolling on my phone until midnight where it was time to go back into the game.
I lay down in my bed and close my eyes after placing the VR helmet on and once I open them again I see that I had spawned in the mud house where I had slept in during the nights of Settlement. I walk out of the house surprising Lucina and Melody who had been walking past the house towards the farm.
"Ian! What are you doing here? Weren't you on the scouting mission?"
Lucina spoke in a surprised tone still in a state of disbelief.
"It...It was a failure. A lot of variables came up during it and the goblins died…"
"Oh no...Wait here, Melody and I will get everyone else so you can tell them what happened."
"Thank you, Lucina."
I sit down by the fire putting some more firewood into it allowing it to burn stronger. It didn't take long for everyone to gather even Gobi and his goblin troops joined in not too far away.
"Okay, since everyone is here I'll keep it plain and simple. We might be getting attacked very soon. It could be today, tonight or even tomorrow, I don't know."
"Ian, what...what happened?"
I look at Gobi and I could see the dark clouds covering his face.
"Gobi...We were attacked by humans and demi-humans when we were very close to the objective and due to that, we retreated. We went back to the cave where we defeated Balta and since we were in an advantageous position I went deeper into the cave with GomiTwo. There we found stone monsters that looked like humans with wings.
These monsters attacked us and eventually we had to retreat again. One of the monsters separated from the group and I thought we could defeat it. I severely underestimated its power and we got massacred.
These monsters are not too far away from us and might eventually reach us. Then the humans also might be coming as well as the monsters did kill some of them and they most likely blame us for it."
"So, do you think we can defeat them?"
Surprisingly, Owen came forward and asked the most important question.
"Yes, Owen I do think we can defeat them. However, not as we are now. I have ideas which can help us defeat them however since I don't know when they might attack we might be pressed against time."
Howard stands up and hits his left palm with his fist, grinning like a child.
"Then what are you waiting for Ian? Tell us what we need to do."
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