Roric, Jaina, and Evalynn crouched low in the dense brush of the magical forest. Jaina was doing her best not to cry as they stared at the lifeless body lying on the road not fifty steps away. Gisley looked battered from where they hid, but unless they were willing to inspect her closer, it was impossible to know for sure.
"Why would anybody do this?" Jaina said in a low moan.
"We have plenty of enemies," Roric replied. "And some players do not distinguish between hero or monster types. They see a lone player and think easy experience."
"And here I thought we were finally going to be happy," Jaina sobbed and wiped her eyes. "But it lasted less than a day."
"This is my fault," Evalynn replied. "I should have spent more time establishing patrols and guards for security."
"No," Roric replied and looked back at the two upset women. "This is my fault."
"How is this your fault?" Jaina asked.
Roric closed his eyes as his ears sank. "I should have known we weren't going to be safe just because we moved a little further north. Deep down, I did suspect the danger, but I wanted to stay close to Rajeen. I let my attachment cloud my judgment and put you all in danger."
"Don't you take the blame for that," Jaina insisted. "We all wanted to be close to her. You were just taking our desires to heart."
"I knew this was foolish," Roric replied. "I knew we were probably being watched and stalked, especially after they struck at us in the dungeon. They know our every move and are always waiting to take advantage of us when we lower our guard."
"We should have gone to look for that witch," Evalynn agreed. "That would have taken us weeks away and maybe well out of their range of interest."
"We should have," Roric agreed. "But I made a bad decision."
"What are we going to do now?" Jaina asked. "We have spent nearly all our gold here."
"We are going to hope this was a random high-level player," Roric said as he stood up.
"What are you doing?" Evalynn asked.
"We need to get closer," Roric said with a pained look in his eyes. "I have to know for sure what happened."
Jaina and Evalynn watched in stunned silence as Roric left the safety of cover. He cautiously made his way toward the still form while sniffing the air for danger. He growled in anger as he caught the scent of one of the killers, making a note to remember it for the future.
He reached the body of the loving fairy and trembled with tears in his eyes as he turned her over. She was cut from head to toe by what looked like four different weapons, indicating she had encountered a group. There were also lines burned across her back and wings that he was pretty sure were caused by lightning. Gisley had been ambushed and overwhelmed by a superior force that showed no mercy. He had felt it when she was first wounded, but the whole battle lasted seconds, and she was dead by the time he jumped from his chair. He sniffed at the air to see if he could pick up additional scents and found several, but none he could place.
"I am sorry," he said as he knelt to take Gisley's lifeless hand. "I failed to protect you." A tear fell to her hand as he lifted it to rub on his cheek. He knew she would be alive again in four hours, but it did little to stem the pain. With a look skyward, he sincerely hoped this wasn't another strike from Alexandria. He couldn't fathom what could be driving that woman to such acts of cruel desperation.
He felt awful leaving Gisley's body in the road, but there was little he could do for her. Right now, his priority was the girls who were still alive, and especially Chandice, who was far to the north on her own.
"Were they cruel to her?" Jaina asked in a strained voice as he blended back into the foliage.
"She was attacked by a group who gave her little time to react," Roric said, trying to sound calm. "We need to find Chandice and make sure she is safe."
"I can get us there through back trails," Evalynn said. "My control over the forest will allow us to move almost unseen except when we have to cross a road or open area."
Roric nodded and told her to begin as Jaina covered her face to cry. He took her under his arm and assured her that Gisley hadn't suffered. He also reminded her that Gisley would be alive and well in a few hours but admitted he felt terrible about it too.
Evalynn used her powers to cause overgrown paths to sudden clear, revealing a meandering trail that took them north. It was longer than going by the main road but far more concealed as they worried about being ambushed themselves. Several times they had to cross an open area, darting from one side to the other and hoping they went unseen. They never saw another player or detected any sign of their passing, but as they closed the last mile to the giant tree, they all began to smell the smoke.
"Please let Chandice be alright," Jaina begged as the path wound its way closer to the giant tree.
Roric had doubts but kept them to himself, not wanting to upset Jaina any further. They raced along behind the thick growth until the massive tree came into view.
"Oh no!" Jaina cried as they saw the flames spreading through the lower branches. The entire shop was in a massive blaze, with fire already spreading through the surrounding forest. The air was filled with burning embers as parts of the shop collapsed.
"Chandice!" Evalynn cried and went to rush out, but Roric grabbed her arm.
"Evalynn, no," Roric urged and clung to her arm. "If she is inside that, she is already gone."
"But her respawn point will be set inside there!" Evalynn argued.
"And Gisley's is at her pond," Jaina said.
"All of you can respawn at my totem," Roric assured, trying to give them some measure of peace.
"But we are far from a town with a public spawn stone," Evalynn argued. "If we lose your totem, we might reset on our next deaths."
Roric understood the danger of the situation, but the next logical step was to retreat to the gnoll village and immediately spend more points on guards. He would flood the plateau and area around it with generic guards to help ward off the danger. The odds are the enemy wouldn't even find the village, but the totem had to be protected just in case.
"We need to get back to our village," Roric said, urging them to run. It took nearly an hour by back trails that crossed over hidden ponds and giant branches of trees. When they got close enough, Evalynn ran to her statue and used its power to search the forest. She confirmed that there was a single party of eight players near Gisley's lodge, all of which were listed as high threats.
"Do you think this is just one fluke group of high-level players?" Jaina asked.
Roric began to hope that was true for their sakes. They had seen blog posts about high-level players behaving like jerks. Once they got too high, they felt they had the right to bully anyone lower than themselves. In a world where there was little in the form of law and justice, might was all that mattered. Even Evalynn had played by these rules, and the townspeople had a healthy fear and respect for Gisley. Now a group that out-leveled and numbered them was in the forest, and they were the ones being persecuted.
"Move your statue to my village," Roric said after considering the thought. "It will be too hard to protect down here."
"These people register as a high threat," Evalynn said. "Gisley only registers as dangerous to me; that means they have to be slightly higher than her."
"We will have the advantage of NPC guards," Roric replied. "Besides, I doubt they know where we are. My biggest concern right now is they are at Gisley's pond. I worry they know she is going to respawn there."
"You mean they are waiting to kill her again?" Jaina said in alarm.
Roric nodded as the two women looked shattered. He stressed the need to move the statue and waited for Evalynn to finish the task before taking them to the hidden village. They went right to the cave to find the totem and statue standing side by side. Roric and Evaly used the devices to begin making changes, and soon the forest was crawling with gnoll warbands and elven hunters. He set them to wander in packs of twelve, with six heavy fighters, three healers, and three war casters. He used a large sum of their remaining points and placed ten such packs, setting them to patrolling the roads. Every single pack was tasked with checking Gisley's lodge, and one by one, they would converge on the place.
Much to everyone's dismay, the group of adventurers hadn't moved. They were sitting and waiting for poor Gisley to spawn so they could kill her again.
"I am going to take fifteen of my guards and attack the lodge," Roric said as he grew frustrated. "Evalynn, as soon as I engage, have one of your hunter patrols move to reinforce."
"Wait, are you saying you want us to stay here?" Jaina asked.
"I need Evalynn to manage the forest," Roric replied. "And I am afraid you are not very combat effective."
"I can use my charms to hinder them," Jaina protested.
"Jaina, please," Roric said and came to take her into his arms. "I love you both, and I can't bear the thought of losing any more of my girls today. I need you to stay here where you are hidden and safe just in case it is you they are looking for." He could see the shattered look in her eyes, but she nodded her understanding. He went to leave but she took his arm and begged him to wait.
"I know this is a terrible time to think of it, but please take your buffs," Jaina insisted and turned around to bend over. "Just get it over with and go save Gisley."
Roric nodded and came to her body, lifting his armor away so he could use her for buffs. For the first time since they had come here, sex with Jaina felt wrong, as he was too unhappy to enjoy it. Nevertheless, they did the task mechanically, and he took the buffs without hesitation. When he was done, Jaina used her kiss to grant extra strength and then urged him to use her as a health battery.
"If I have to, I will," Roric said as he rubbed her cheek and then turned to head off.
"I can watch him from the interface," Evalynn said as she held the statue. "He is taking nearly a third of the guards."
"This was supposed to be a new day for us," Jaina cried. "And now it's ruined. Alexandria is going to pay for this."
