Trials of a VRMMO Healer

Chapter 23 - The Siege

"So? What do we do?" came a call from the crowd who had gathered in the dining room of the Kelpie.

"Well, for now, the barrier is holding. But with a Broodmother out there it won't last long. I give it an hour, maybe a bit more, depending on who logs in" replied a tall middle-aged woman from the center of the throng. She had long, dark hair which was braided neatly and wore glasses that had various lenses attached, like a jeweler's loupe. This gear had been her event reward and it apparently gave her additional information on crafted items, so she was a go-to source for information. She had been introduced as Miriam, an all-around crafter and one of the founders of Holdfast. Rufus and Bjorn had cleared the room and brought out every chair in the place and people were still standing. The room included Holdfast residents as well as adventurers and travelers that had been docked when the barrier went up.

Miriam had first explained the situation. The largest Serpentine fleet ever seen had appeared, with a Serpentine Broodmother leading it. The first thing that the Holdfast defenders had done was roll out the cannons and fire at the ships, but the Broodmother was able to cast barrier magic and block all ranged attacks. Players could, in theory, do more damage at a closer range, but that meant getting in shooting distance of the fleet itself. The Serpentine ships had no cannons, they did have ballistas and their arms were incredibly strong, meaning they could launch spears a great distance with excellent accuracy.

So, the defenders had done the only thing they could do and activated their own barrier. A true city would have a powerful barrier created by its core which protected it from monsters and other invasions. Players could augment that barrier with their own magic in the case of events and each core provided its own benefits and attacks, unique to the city. Unfortunately, the player-crafted barrier was a souped-up version of similar items that could basically cast player-spells. Miriam had cleverly linked a number of these items throughout the town to a central crystal that could be fed magical power to create a large barrier. But it was still similar to what a player could cast, and it relied on the players to supply the power. For now they'd set up a bucket brigade of mages who would power the barrier, but as people had to log off or regenerate mana, they would eventually run dry. A town core was far more powerful.

"Anyone who is part of a guild, get someone to log out and call anyone in right away," Miriam said.

"There's gotta be a bunch of players who would join in an event like this. I've heard the broodmothers drop some great loot."

Miriam nodded, but frowned. "Yes, they do, but the problem is time. Only people who are logged out in or near Holdfast could get here in time. We can't get normal ships out of the harbor either. If any of you have smuggler skills or something like that get out of here and get to Enevar, gather anyone who wants to join and bring them here."

"Won't you need us for the battle?" asked an Elv dressed like a swashbuckler. I recognized him as ePoseidon, a dedicated smuggler player who happened to be a fairly popular streamer. I didn't know if he was streaming at that moment, but this was definitely an event people would want to see. I had heard his ship, the Cutter Darkly was exceptionally fast and had some kind of stealth magic. But on the other hand, if anyone could gather more players, it'd be a streamer showing off a community event.

"We... need to plan for the worst. Right now, we're probably not going to get any more naval support. That means any ships that can't make it out... might be lost. Player deaths are easy to recover from. It sucks, but the penalty doesn't last forever. Ships are expensive and hard to replace. If you can stow them, do it. We won't bother with a naval battle. Your average player is stronger on land. We need to get as many as we can here and, in the worst case, they can help us retake it. Can anyone else bring players?"