1.40 – Warcamp II

A pair of goblin warriors, both armed with shield and spear, arrived first. Rika hooked one of their shields with her axe, then shoved it into the other. A second volley fire bolts slammed into her, and she had to grit her teeth against the pain. Those things hurt, and there was absolutely no good reason they should feel like someone had thrown a small boulder at her, either.

From her right, a group of goblin skirmishers burst from the trees, hurling javelins to cover the chaotic retreat of the hunters. Rika covered herself as best she could with her shield, but it cost her. A greater goblin carrying a two-hander waded through the warriors and approaching zombies, bellowing and urging its kin forward.

“Figures,” Rika said, eyeing the Ferocity buff floating beneath its nameplate. It was level twenty-one like the rest, and of course it was within range of the other greater goblins, so it got the benefit of their Wardriver ability, too.

The two-hander crashed down on her shield, sending shocks up all the way to her shoulder. The accompanying spike of pain wasn’t a good sign either. Still, she didn’t have much choice. She was using both Dark Strike and Shield Slam as often as she could. Anything to thin their numbers before the zombies reached her—which would be any second now.

Rika swept out with a Rend as she shoved the two-hander away. Best not to let it get set up for another swing. She moved inside its guard, still keeping her shield up and preventing it from getting the space for a swing. Another strike from her axe ground against its ribs, and then she kneed it in the groin. It doubled over, and she cracked its skull with the metal rim of her shield before pushing it to the ground.

Rend I: 3 seconds.

Tempo I x5: 6 seconds.

Jaws of Defeat: Minor increase to defense/magic defense from Resilience and Ward.

Draught of Heroism: Small increase to Might and Resilience. 3:27 remaining.

A forager came at her with its axe, and she nearly split it in half with a Dark Strike. Before the greater goblin could get back to its feet, she pressed a boot down on the back of its head. It grabbed her ankle and tried to wrench her off, but she had enough Might to keep the upper hand. However long she could pin it down, she’d take it. She’d have to let it up eventually, though. There was only so much attention she could spare for her balance. Not to mention maneuvering.

She still made good use of the reprieve, taking down two more goblin warriors before landing another stack of Rend on the mostly helpless greater goblin. A trio of fire bolts finally forced her off the greater goblin, and it scrambled to its feet, weapon in hand once more.

Finally, the zombies reached her. The tide of rotten flesh carried a foul corpse-stink with it, and their hands grabbed at her as they tried to pull her to the ground in a mindless press of claws and teeth. Most were goblins, but disturbingly, there were a handful of human corpses mixed in, too.

They pulled at her haubergeon, at her shield, and at her arms and legs. They pummeled her from all sides, and they piled on like ants swarming a carcass. Just the stench alone made her want to gag, despite the crisp mountain air all around. The feel of their decaying flesh, even through her armor and clothes, was even worse.

The greater goblin swung its two-hander again, and Rika twisted, using a zombie for cover. The sword bisected the shambling corpse, making it all the way to her armor. But it had slowed enough that she shrugged the blow off. She cracked another Rend down on the greater goblin, then finally finished it off with a Dark Strike.

Another fire bolt hit her in the arm, the heat beating against her face. She ducked the next one and took what satisfaction she could from the zombie next to her bursting into flames. She gladly took the last fire bolt to her back as she kicked the burning zombie into the crowd. Two more of the lesser zombies lit up, and Rika turned back toward where the shamans stood atop their huts.

For every step further into the valley, she swung her axe half a dozen times. She took half a dozen blows, and the rain of fire bolts became a metronome for her symphony of violence. Then, the rustle of fletching against the wind resumed as the hunters loosed another volley her way. This time they cared little for what they hit around her. It was mostly zombies, and arrows did little to them.

As more and more zombies piled onto her faster than she could kill them, the goblin warriors formed a defensive line a few yards in front of the archers. Behind that, five more greater goblins called out commands. And still the zombies came, and still the fire bolts and arrows rained down on her, and Erik’s heals kept her in good enough condition to keep pressing forward.

She needed to get to those shamans, though. The fire bolts were devastating, and the shamans were smart enough to wait until she was mostly distracted to use them. Although the few occasions she got her shield up in time provided a blessed reprieve. Blocking those spells gave Erik the chance to get a good amount of healing on her, usually saving a Quick Heal for the instant burst of restoration. Otherwise, he basically used Mend as often as he could.

Still, the lesser zombies had all but halted her advance. She’d gotten bogged down and was now a stationary target for the goblins’ ranged attacks. She barely kept the number of zombies at somewhat reasonable levels. As soon as she killed one, another would reach her.

The biggest problem was their unnatural toughness. Shield Slam was wholly ineffective against them. The skill’s Stun effect did nothing, and the concussive damage only did a little bit more than nothing. Its only use against them was pushing them away, something she could do without activating the skill. Dark Strike was a little better, as it dealt a good amount of physical damage. The Dark aspect was mostly a waste, though, so it functioned more like a super-charged version of her normal attacks.

Most useful was Rend. Back when she’d first encountered them, Chryson had mentioned that physical damage was less effective. She’d just assumed they had some innate resistance, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Stacking Rend considerably increased the damage her axe strikes dealt to them. Which meant they just had much higher than average physical defense.

While Rika slogged through the morass of zombies, Erik helped out as he was able. He launched sling bullets at the goblin shamans when he had the chance, but mostly focused on keeping her alive. She could still feel her wounds mounting. This had become a race against time, and it was pretty clear to Rika who would win if she didn’t get through the zombies.

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She still had her second Draught of Heroism. It would give her an edge, but she didn’t want to use it just yet. The goblin warboss still lay ahead, and she hadn’t even seen it yet. All she knew about it was that the quest labeled it as a Boss type. She could only assume that meant it would be even tougher than the Elites.

Jaws of Defeat: Minor increase to defense/magic defense from Resilience and Ward.

Bolster Might I: Small Increase to Might. 30 seconds.

Erik’s Bolster Might landed on her, and she ripped herself free of the zombies. The extra five points of Might weren’t much, but they were enough. Rika broke away from the zombie horde, now massively diminished, and rushed the line of goblin warriors. She ducked an incoming firebolt, then took the next two on her shield. Hopefully, at least one or two of the zombies had gone up in flames behind her.

As she charged into the goblin lines shield first, the closest of the greater goblins Taunted her. She made the split-second decision to let the Taunt carry her forward, even though it would leave the warriors at her back. Placing her trust in her Resilience, her Jaws of Defeat buff, and Erik’s capacity to heal her, she threw herself at the greater goblin with a roar.