+1 Battle points
What elation I felt from the damage they were dealing evaporated as I watched their unit icon get smaller and smaller.
It wouldn’t take long before they were destroyed. To their north, the other enemy icons kept coming but were generic. No telling what they could be.
Regardless of what they were it spelled trouble for me.
Suppressing my growing panic, I turned my attention to the two base units. I commanded the split unit to forgo their guard duties at the gold mine and the banner alter and reform next to the second unit.
As they moved into position, the third footmen unit finished training and I moved them to stand next to the others.
My gold was now too low to start training another footmen unit which made me more than a little angry.
Keep it together, Vee, I told myself. If I got ticked off every time a messed up, then I’d always be angry.
Archer Unit training Complete.
Twelve archers wearing red hooded cloaks appeared next to the range. Each had a short bow and a full quiver of arrows.
The sight of their bows did not give me confidence. They were for limited range which meant they’d be at risk of getting overrun. I would have to keep them to the rear of the footmen units.
Footmen Unit eliminated.
I looked to the map with dread.
The footmen icon vanished, and a moment after, all the enemy icons on the map blinked out of existence.
Fog of war. If a unit didn’t have line of sight on the enemy, it couldn’t be seen on the map.
Now I was blind.
A chat request appeared on my screen. Perplexed, I accepted it.
The scout’s smug grin greeted me. “In position, Commander. And I can report multiple enemies located.”
Right. I’d forgotten all about this guy. Instead of focusing on all my available assets I was letting the current crisis overwhelm me.
The scout’s path had taken him up the east side of the map which linked with the middle area, forming a big circle, just as I suspected. Now he was sitting within the tree line directly east of the center altar.
“Good work,” I said. Now I could see what was coming at me. “Let’s see what you got.”
The scout turned away and the camera view tilted up. Through the trees where he was hiding was the center platform area. The two grunt units that had just killed my footmen could be seen in the distance.
Other enemy units had arrived and were in the process of crossing the river via the altar platform. Two more footmen units and, behind them, two archery units.
Even more appeared in the distance to the north, but I couldn’t discern their unit type.
“Can you tell what those are?” I asked, feeling foolish as I squinted at the chat screen.
The scout turned to look at me. “Would you like me to move closer? No problem at all.”
“No problem, huh?” I found myself asking. This NPC has got some attitude, and I was intrigued despite myself. “Why is that?”
That crooked grin appeared on his face, again. “Because I’m the best scout you got.”
I laughed. “You’re the only scout I got!”
“Exactly!” he said, grin widening.
By the Gaming Gods. I thought. Was I actually flirting with this NPC? How stupid was that? Maybe I’ve been playing this game too long, if that was the case.
Over his shoulder, Amara dropped out of Shadow Form directly behind him. She raised her sword.
“Look out!” I yelled, surprised.
“I am looking out,” the scout said with mild confusion. “It’s my job to-.”
With a swing Amara cut his head off, and just as the chat view terminated I saw her grinning at the camera.
At me.
Now I swore. Curse words flowed like water from a roiling river.
I tried to calm down but only succeeded in making it worse. My hands were shaking with rage.
There was only one thing that could temper my anger.
I pointed at the archer unit. “Fall in behind us and stay close.” The archers nodded in unison and moved to stand behind the formation of footmen.
Smoke’s respawn timer still had five minutes on it, but that was fine. I’d hoof it with my troops for now.
I ran through the footmen ranks and stood before them. They made quite a sight, albeit a smaller one that I’d like.
“We’re heading out to meet the enemy!” I shouted.
All the men cheered, raising their weapons with scattered shouts of, “By Y’Godda!”
I turned and began running northwest, my troops behind me, one unit following the next. My heart was thudding at full speed.
So, Amara wanted a fight? I thought, ticked off.
Fine.
She was going to get one.
CHAPTER EIGHT
We marched as fast as I could push my army.
Within a few minutes we reached the midway point of the curve but there was no sign of the enemy. Could Amara be camped out at the altar, waiting for me?
My anger had subsided, and I started to think through my plan only to realize I had none. Find Amara and attack. Not very strategic, just a decision based off of emotion.
I looked back at my army. It made for an impressive sight to see them marching along with determined looks. It gave me a bit of a charge.
Thorm, my friend who I’d adventured with many times, went through a long phase where all he played were these Battle Fields. It had become an addiction to the point he even stopped questing in the outer gaming world all together. He attained a championship level and entered competitive ladders. But after a really bad defeat, where he suspected his opponent had cheated but couldn’t prove it, he quit Battle Fields all together.
He use to say he loved the charge of leading an army into battle so much he couldn’t stop himself from playing.
I’d dismissed that out of hand, until now. There was definitely a unique feeling you got with dozens of troops following you into battle.
Still, I worried these units would be enough. Amara had quite a few assembled before I lost sight of them.
As we marched I’d kept an impatient eye on my gold resource counter. Now it ticked over enough to train a new footmen unit.
“Halt!” I said raising my hand.
In unison, all four units stopped. Staring straight ahead, they quietly waited.
I needed to do some quick micro-managing before continuing on.
First, I put another footmen unit into training. The moment they popped out, I’d have them follow us.
Then I switched the worker unit at the quarry to the gold mine as well. This put all my workers on gold duty. The stone and lumber for buildings and the Keep upgrade could wait. Right now, troops were the priority and gold was desperately needed for them.
Maybe I should use what resources I had to build another barracks? Two units in training were better than one.
I could see how players could spend most of their time just waiting for things to happen. Waiting on resources, waiting on units to train, waiting on units moving.
“Enemy spotted!” shouted one of the footmen in the front unit, and pointed.
Marching quickly toward us from around the northern bend were Amara’s units.
Waiting on the enemy was one thing I didn’t have to worry about.
“Get ready!” I shouted. My troops tensed.
I surveyed the approaching army.
Two units of troll grunts marched side by side, followed by another grunt unit.
Trailing behind these were two units of troll archers. Even from this distance I saw their bows were the same short variety as my own archers.
As they fully emerged from around the bend, no other units appeared.
I allowed myself a slight sense of relief. Aside from an extra unit of archers, the armies were even. And they had the distinct disadvantage of lacking a commander. Where was Amara?