“Doing well, master,” Tiny rumbled. “My first wife asks if you will ever make it out to the Infernal Plane to visit.”
“No idea,” Alburet replied. “Can I even do that? We’ll just have to see, I guess. How many wives do you have exactly?”
“Three,” Tiny told him. “I am sure that once you complete the questline to become a Half-blood my standing will improve, and I will have five. As your Destroyer, your reputation reflects on me.”
“So the number of wives you can have is based on your standing?”
“The higher our rank, the more we can protect and keep happy,” Tiny rumbled. “I keep trying to get Bob to go out with my second wife’s sister.”
“Darkness, no!” Bob shuddered. “I’m an Imp, Tiny. We only go for Succubi. I’ve told you this time and time again.”
“What’s wrong with his wife’s sister?” Alburet asked, despite a bad feeling.
“She’s an Imp Mother,” Bob made a gagging sound. “I could spelunk in her and she might not feel it.”
Alburet’s eye twitched as he tried to get the image Bob had just put in his head out. “Gah, brain bleach needed, stat.”
“We are not hunting gnolls today, master?” Tiny asked.
“We be helpin’ the younger members of the guild,” Stacia informed him.
“Protecting our allies,” Tiny nodded, “this is good.”
“Okay, let’s head out,” Alburet told them. “That duo on the left corner of the keep is our first set to check with.” Alburet directed them towards the pair that had been in the guild hall earlier.
As they crossed the open ground which was filled with players and goblins, he noted two more groups killing in the field. He had Tiny pause at the first group of three, one of which was a Paladin. “Afternoon, Alpha Company,” he greeted them as they killed the goblin they had been fighting. He noted their levels, eight, eight, and nine. “How is the day going?”
The Paladin, Jaxton, answered, “Not horrible. A little slow out here, but without a healer it’s not like we can do the courtyard.”
“No healer in the guild this level?” Stacia asked.
“One or two, like her, but she’s with that group over there,” Jaxton said, pointing at Brightlight, a priestess with two other people.
“Come with us,” Alburet said as he turned and headed towards the other group of Alpha Company. He waited for them to finish their goblin, “Alpha Company, how is the fight going?”
Brightlight turned to face him, “Oh, the guild leader is out with the rookies. It’s slow. If we had a tank we could hit the courtyard, but we don’t have one.”
“Jaxton here is a tank,” Alburet informed her. “Your groups would be one person over, though. Are any of your damage types willing to sit out to let the others hit the courtyard?”
“I’ll sit,” an Elven female with a bow piped in. “I’d prefer a less constricted area then the courtyard.”
“There we go. You all group up and head out and I’ll take,” Alburet winced at her name, “Leggylass.”
Jaxton nodded, “Drop your group, I’ll toss you invites,” he told the healer and other damage dealer.
Alburet sent Leggylass an invite as he moved off towards the other two people he’d spotted earlier. “Follow me, Leggy,” he told her as he started towards the duo.
“So how did you get so high so quick?” Leggylass asked as she followed him.
“I’ve been testing since the game went live,” he told her. “It’s why I’m the guild leader.”
“Ahh, so that’s why you weren’t there for the start of our testing,” she nodded. “Where are we going?”
“To meet up with those two,” he pointed to the Trapsmith and Elementalist who’d been in the guild hall earlier. “I’ll just sit out behind you guys to help while you three do your thing for a bit.”
“Yeah, at your level we probably wouldn’t get any real XP if you were in our group.” Leggylass mused out loud as they finally got to the duo.
“We meet again, guys. How’s it going?”
The Trapsmith looked over, “It’s touch and go at times, but we’re doing okay.”
Firepalm, the Elementalist, nodded, “We’re holding up, but it’s going slow. No healer or tank.”
“I brought you some more damage,” Alburet said as he removed Leggylass from his group. “Leggylass prefers ranged combat and she should fit right in with you two.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Leggylass. I’m Ironhand,” the Trapsmith introduced himself and indicated the Elementalist, “this is Firepalm.”
“Goblin incoming,” Tiny rumbled as he turned to face it.
“We’re just observing, Tiny,” Alburet told him. “Step back and let them deal with it. We can pick up anything that they can’t handle.”
“As you wish, master,” Tiny rumbled, stepping back behind Alburet.
Alburet watched the trio as they fought the first goblin. He didn’t know anything really about their classes, so he stayed quiet. He did ask Stacia to inquire about a tank and healer willing to help level seven guild mates kill goblins in the Guild chat. After the first goblin died he started asking them about their classes, what abilities they had, and what spells or skills.
Firepalm had plenty of raw damage, but no other utility. Ironhand had an Immobilization trap, but it took him some time to set it up so could only be used ahead of a fight, plus he could only set up one trap at a time at his level. Leggylass had good damage as well as a skill called Kneeshot, which slowed the target she hit with it. By the time the next goblin came towards them the trio had a plan, and when the fight ended they laughed about how easy it had been.
“Asthore,” Stacia called to him. “A druid says they will come out. They will be at tha fort in five minutes.”
“Tiny, Bob, go with Stacia and retrieve the Alpha Company member,” Alburet told them.
“Yes, master,” Tiny rumbled as he waited for Stacia.
Stacia kissed Alburet’s cheek, “Be back shortly, love.”
As Stacia ran off with the demons, Leggylass turned to him. “I’m curious. Is she an NPC? I mean, she has a last name. I haven’t seen any player with a last name.”
“Yes, she is an NPC,” Alburet grinned as he watched Stacia running.
“Wait, we can hook up with the NPCs?” Firepalm said. “I’m so going bar crawling tonight.”
Ironhand laughed, “Wingman?”
“Hell yeah, dude!” Firepalm agreed, high-fiving Ironhand. “Think about it, we can have fun and not have to worry about kids or STDs.”
Leggylass sneered, “Just like boys, letting the little head do the thinking.”
“Yo, chill Leggy,” Ironhand said. “You can come with. If nothing else it means we get a really good look at the city.”
Shaking her head, Leggylass frowned, “You really want a look at the city, or do you just plan to find some NPC women to fuck?”
“Both?” Firepalm chuckled.
“I’d actually like to see the city, but why would it be wrong to see if anyone willing was around?” Ironhand asked Leggylass with a serious expression.
“Forget it,” she sighed, “the next goblin is coming.”
Alburet had watched the back and forth and nodded as he could easily see what the guys were missing. They didn’t miss a beat on the next goblin, but they didn’t celebrate like they had with the last one. They killed another goblin in silence before Stacia came back with a dwarf in tow.
“Asthore, this is Greenbeard,” she said, introducing dwarven Druid, who did in fact have a green beard.
“Welcome to the party, Greenbeard. These are your party members, Firepalm, Ironhand and Leggylass. Iron, toss him an invite. We are heading inside the courtyard where another group’s hanging out.”
“Wait, what?” Ironhand asked. “We don’t have a tank.”
“XP is awarded to the first group that damages a mob. So Stacia is going to hold mobs off to the side for you to take one by one. Tiny will grab one with a taunt when you’re ready, which doesn’t do damage and will give you a small window to unload on it. Iron is going to be busy with his traps and Leggy can slow them down if they do come after one of you. Fire, you’re the most likely target since you do the most damage. Greenbeard should be able to heal any damage you all take.”