“These sieges are just nuts. I’m an athlete. I played football in high school, the American turn-based version, not the European RTS version. I’m in great shape. I scored four touchdowns in one game. The length of time you have to stay active and the incredible duration of these events is something you just can’t comprehend until you participate. Fighting continuously for hours is exhausting. I want to just lay down for a week.”

  Forum post by Alfred Bundy

  Year 1, Month 1, Day 15, 22:00

  The party headed into Miller’s Crossing while passing along their alert status to all the guild leaders they knew. They made sure the stalls in the market passed the information along to everyone shopping there as well. Torgon spent his spare experience, raising his long bow skill to level 10, freeing up another skill slot. He needed extra damage for his bow and figured that the start of an apocalyptic siege during which he would be targeted by thousands of monsters would be the perfect time to use the dodge skill he had been saving. “Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” he thought to himself as he spent the last remaining free experience he had on dodge, raising it to level 3.

  Horns sounded in the distance as the monster army called their formations to order. Torgon and the others stood in an observation tower, watching the orcs and goblins form into battalions ready to move on the city walls. Dusty spoke, “Are they going to try the same thing as last time, just at night?”

  Ovarrix shook his head, “No, they’ll be sending goblin gliders at least and they’ll have more tricks up their sleeves.”

  Allestor whistled softly, “Look to the west. There’s are fires visible. Oh, oh crap. They have flaming bundles of arrows packed onto catapults.”

  Torgon cursed audibly, “Down now, back to the base, find anything that can help us fight fires all across the city.” The group hurried out of the towers as fast as their legs could carry them. Glowing arcs began to trace across the sky as the arrows were launched. In mid-flight they burned through their bindings and the arrows spread into streaks all over the city. Thousands of flaming arrows fell onto Miller’s Crossing. Many fell harmlessly onto roads or squares, but others lodged into wooden walls or flammable roofs. The darkness of the night receded as fires began to take root in the city.

  Torgon arrived at the base library and looked through skillbooks as fast he could. He found water magic and picked up books and mentally considered their applications in firefighting. He put water bolt and water slick back and picked up the utility spell, Stream of Water. It would let him spray fresh water with enough force to clean wagons or people. The duration and flow rate increased with higher levels. It had no combat applications, but it was the most suitable firefighting spell he could access at a basic level.

  Torgon quickly spent his guild contribution points to buy and learn the spell. He passed on the information to everyone in the guild with free slots. The team raced back to the city to deal with the rapidly spreading fires. The five of them stood around a small shop and let the water gush from their palms. It took them nearly five minutes and four recasts of the spell to put out a single fire. The good news was that dozens of their fellow guild members had spread out in the city to assist the town’s firefighters.

  Torgon sprayed water around a building that was completely ablaze, working to protect the nearby structures. He heard footsteps approaching his position and glanced over his shoulders to greet the helpers. A sword swinging at his face forced him to roll to the ground. He could feel the dodge skill guiding his movements to help him avoid the attack. He swung his hand up and sprayed water on the goblin, making it splutter. He shouted warnings to the rest of the party and drew his sword, engaging the foes. They dispatched the goblin infiltrators in short order.

  “This complicates things.” Hyperia put the word out about the infiltrators on the chat channels. “People are pulling more men away from the sections of the walls not under threat to scour the city.”

  “Are they just randomly attacking people fighting the fires or do they have some other purpose?” Allestor asked.

  Ovarrix paused, then a look of apprehension crossed his face. “There’s an armory near here. Ignore this fire, we don’t have time.” He took off in the direction of the armory and the rest of the group followed. They arrived to find several goblins smearing oil and gunk over the building and getting ready to light it on fire. Ovarrix, Allestor and Dusty charged into the goblins, startling them and making one drop his torch. The torch landed on the ground and the oil from the building was spreading towards it. Torgon lurched forward, directing his Stream of Water spell at the torch. Hyperia moved to splash goblins still holding their torches.

  They overmatched the nine goblins they faced and kept them from lighting the building ablaze. A huge explosion followed by billowing flames indicated that not all such defenses were successful. Another explosion followed as two armories were set alight by the infiltrating monster forces.

  Large blocks of goblin and orc troops had neared the walls. They took up station less than a hundred yards away and kept a withering fire of projectiles sweeping the battlements. Shamans emerged and cast obscuring fog on the walls, preventing the defenders from firing with accuracy on their forces. Rocks hurtled at the easternmost catapult tower defending the city. Players and guards with repair kits rushed into action but the obscuring fog made movement difficult. The durability of the tower plummeted. It leveled out at around 40% when the repair kits were applied, but as the kits were exhausted the tower’s durability resumed falling sharply. Loud cracking sounds were heard from the splintering stone. The tower lurched, no longer standing straight, then toppled forward over the wall into no man’s land. The loud crashing of the tower’s fall could be heard across the city.

  Mocking cheers arose from the monster host as they redoubled their attacks on the walls. Casualties mounted on the defenders and the attackers both. Sir Malik led his knights to the wall. He sounded a clarion call that brought forth a powerful wind. The wind swept the fog from the walls, giving the defenders a chance to take the hordes under murderous fire. Hundreds of goblins and orcs died in the next few minutes in exchange for mere dozens of the defenders on the wall. The monsters attempted to crush another tower, however the clear lines of fire for the defenders and mounting losses in their own ranks thwarted their efforts. The repair teams stabilized the tower at 30% durability and not long afterwards it began to rise as their efforts grew more organized.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Torgon’s team battled fires and the occasional goblin infiltrator in the city below. Many homes and businesses were damaged, but they prevented a wider spread that would have gutted the defenses. Sporadic volleys of flaming arrows punctuated the night. More players arrived with the ability to fight the fires, allowing Torgon to move back to the observation tower and help with the coordination of the defense.

  Horns sounded to the south of the city, signaling another push by more monster forces. “They have another bunch of orcs and goblins. I think I see trolls and ogres with this group.” Allestor continued reporting, “They have siege towers. This might get fun.”

  Large wooden towers on massive stone wheels lurched forward, pulled by teams of heavily armored ogres. Squads of trolls flanked them with huge, gnarled bows ready for use. The exchange of missile fire between the approaching army and the southern wall started slowly. The rate of fire increased as the range between the groups decreased.

  Torgon pursed his lips in consideration then spoke, “Send the word to Mark, it’s time to come out and play. Have him grab every team that has our portable war weapons. I want to keep the towers away from the walls.”

  Ovarrix nodded, “It’s sent. I know they’ll have more surprises planned but I agree it’s time to use them. Future attacks don’t mean anything if we can’t stop the current ones.”

  “Let’s head to the eastern wall, it’s time to break the attack there. Alert everyone free from our guild to sub in for other archers on the walls. When we’re ready, we’ll fire off three volleys of the fire arrows and clear out the troops.” Torgon gathered his group up and rushed to the eastern wall, traveling quickly through the war-torn streets.

  Mark led nearly 150 members of Risk of Injury to the southern walls of Miller’s Crossing. They moved into position on the battlements and waited while the enemy forces drew closer. The siege towers rumbled slowly, their great size making even the ogres pulling them strain. Each portable ballista required two people to operate and each of the field portable mana cannons had a crew of three. When the enemy passed the invisible line marking the edge of their range Mark signaled his force to deploy the weapons. He gave instructions for the ballistae to target the ogres and the mana cannons to engage the siege towers themselves.

  The southern wall suddenly sprouted 52 portable ballistae and 14 mana cannons. Mark raised his arm high then let it fall while roaring the order to fire. Large wooden bolts and lambent streaks of magical energy burst forth. Ogres collapsed, impaled by the ballistae. Chunks of the siege towers exploded, scattering debris over the approaching monster force. The mass of enemy troops halted in confusion, and Mark ordered the weapons to fire as fast as possible. Dozens of ogres died under the hail of ballistae bolts. The towers were left immobile as they sought whatever cover they could find from the incoming death.

  The trolls attempted to engage the walls with their bows without much success. The mana cannons cracked the base of one siege tower, causing it to fall over onto the troops around it, crushing them. The monsters hidden inside the tower fared little better. They tried to flee the towers, knowing that only death awaited them inside. One by one, each siege tower was blown apart by the mana cannons.

  On the eastern wall, Torgon led the wall defenders in a volley of explosive fire arrows. The concussive force and heat from the overlapping flames killed hundreds of orcs and goblins. Their bad positioning rapidly grew worse as the mantlets covering them were blown down and set ablaze. The second volley of explosive arrows caused a few monsters at the rear of the formation to begin fleeing to the safety of the tree line. The third volley turned their attack into a rout. The surviving monsters broke and fled en masse. The defenders used regular arrows to kill as many fleeing enemies as they could.

  Mark ordered his force to store the ballistae and keep firing with the mana cannons. They fired off volleys of the explosive flame arrows at the trolls, spooking them. The ogres and trolls abandoned their smaller allies in a headlong rush to safety. They wanted no part of a force that fought back so aggressively. Casualties were lighter in the monster forces on the southern wall. Horns sounded and an orderly retreat pulled the bulk of the orcs and goblins outside the range of the archers on the city wall.

  Ragged cheers broke out among the defenders. The walls were battered but only one defense tower had been lost. Two enemy armies had been turned back and the fires inside Miller’s Crossing had been contained. Repairs continued and rotations of defenders allowed those manning the walls to get some rest and resupply.

  Sir Malik called Torgon and the others to the observation tower. “Some of my knights have noticed flashes of arcane energy at sites surrounding the city. I fear that they may be preparing some sort of dark ritual magic to weaken the city.”

  Torgon and others noticed the green and purple flares that would arc into the sky from every direction. They quickly began counting how many sites they could find and trying to divine the purpose for them. “We’ve counted twice and have noted 29 different locations that the flares are coming from.”

  Sir Malik stiffened, “29, are you sure?”

  Torgon narrowed his eyes, “Yes, we’re certain. What’s the significance of 29 sites?”

  Sir Malik breathed deeply and explained, “It’s a prime ritual. They hold immense power and range. They are exceedingly rare because the scrolls are painstakingly copied from ancient magic texts. I had not thought that the monster forces in this area would have access to anything that strong.”

  As they watched, the flares of magical power intensified. Tendrils of energy began to creep into the sky from every location. The green and purple energy pulsed like an aurora that didn’t belong. Wrongness washed over the city as powerful magical energies flowed through the air. The tendrils spread along the ground and sky, forming a great dome of malignant power.

  Sir Malik gasped and staggered. “They’re suppressing the entire city!” He stood, still breathing heavily, as if a great weight pressed down on his chest. “My level has been dropped to 10 and my abilities have suffered. None of our most powerful fighters will have access to their best abilities. The power required to fuel this working must be immense. They would need to sacrifice the lives of someone at each location every couple of hours to maintain it.”

  Torgon and Hyperia looked at each other before she blurted out, “The captives. They never respawned. They must be holding them still. They could run this for 2 or 3 days with them alone. Is there a way to break the ritual?”

  “Yes.” Sir Malik nodded. “We would need to destroy one of the sites. The ritual is resilient, but it must be stretched thin. A single destroyed site would reduce the working from a 29th prime to a 23rd prime ritual. That should be enough to break it or at least reduce the effects of the magical suppression. The more sites destroyed the weaker it would become until it collapsed completely.”

  Horns began sounding from every direction. Allestor said, “We’ll get right on that, if we manage to make it through this onslaught alive.”