It was morning as Alica nudged Glenn awake with her foot. He was the deepest sleeper she had met. She thought while “nudging” a bit harder. With a start he awoke, rubbing his ribs. “What the…” He said. He caught himself short. Something wasn’t right. Alica looked concerned and was that a siren he heard in the distance? Glenn sat bolt upright, quickly gaining his feet. “Whoa, calm down.” Alica said. “We should go to the Alliance Hall in town and see what’s going on and how we can help.” Alica’s voice was calm, she had trained for situations like this. The assurance in her voice helped set the tone for Glenn. She knew if she panicked so would he.
Glenn, finally waking fully, was still unnerved. He had found an idyllic place, only to find not even it was safe. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind knowing what is going on.” Glenn replied. “Is this a normal thing?”
“Sort of.” Alica replied as they jogged. “Whenever a monster wave is spotted the alarms go off. It lets those in town know to seek shelter incase anything were to get through. That almost never happens.”
“So it is a preventative measure? That’s good at least.” Glenn replied relieved. “For a minuet I thought I was bad luck.” The humor barely touched his face.
As they jogged through town, others were clogging the streets, Alica had said it was normal for the alarms to go off. The children, though, didn’t seem so composed. It was pandemonium. The crush of bodies near the door to the Alliance building had to be held back just to keep enough room to move. The people fearful were worried that in the time it would take to leave here and reach the next shelter, they might be attacked. Pushing their way through the crowd, Alica showed her adventurer crest and they were able to get inside the building, if just barely. They were informed that a Monster Wave was coming, as they spoke. From the north, the direction of the Glass Cannon Adventurer Guild. They were asked to escort people to the next shelter. They were both handed a map of the nearby shelters. Glenn added the locations back to Julius after adding them to his [Map].
Alica and Glenn split up after the first trip. The bunkers were placed so you would not have to walk more than ten minutes to get from one to the next. This meant that no one was ever more than five minutes from a bunker anywhere in town. The issue being that there were more people located in the center of town than the outside. This had led to a rush to get to the shelters nearest their homes first which quickly filled. The outer shelters though were fairly empty.
Having finished with the evacuation, Alica and Glenn met back at the Alliance Hall. The refugees taken care of, they were ready to see what task they could assist with next when a message appeared before Glenn’s eyes.
“Class Quest 1% complete.”
And then the world went grey. The sound of metal grinding against metal rang through the empty streets as the air tore. A purple black rend in space left where it had once been. Monsters were pouring out, small green and humanoid, using [Inspect] he received the message
Goblin level 4
Goblin, non-native, invasive.
The extra information threw him off, but he ignored it. He was only ten feet from the tear in reality.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Get back!” Alica ran toward him shouting, her sword drawn. “It’s a dungeon rift!” Without missing a beat her sword tore through the nearest creature with brutal efficiency, Its chest opened as though for surgery. Alica, to Glenn’s eye a Valarie sent to war. She fought her way to his side in an instant. She was there before he even drew his dagger. Dodging back to give himself some space he looked to Alica to see what she needed him to do. Her eyes were fixed on a group of Goblins that had recently appeared. The largest of which he inspected.
Goblin Bruiser Level 8
The bruiser and its four smaller subordinates, turned and ran down a nearby alleyway. Glenn realizing that there was a shelter in that direction was moving before Alica had time to tell him to stop them. He only heard her as he received the message [Mark] Applied.
Glenn knew he was no match for that many goblins, he didn’t need to be, he was faster and only needed to slow them down. He was sure help would be on the way. His Increased Agility currently 26 after reaching level 10 was enough to keep him nimble. What he really needed though was Strength to increase his speed. It was at 15 so he pushed his two free points into it. His muscles felt like he had been running all day as they grew and expanded. Two points wasn’t enough to bother him overly much though. With his new strength he leapt to the roof tops and began jumping between them while shooting wildly. His accuracy was atrocious. Several smashed through windows, others sparked off the cobblestone roads. Volume though, as it turns out, had a value of its own. The goblins formerly sniffing the air and making a straight course to a nearby bunker seemed to change targets. The bruiser in the lead turned and using his strong, ape like arms, Pulled himself onto a nearby building. Now missing a window as Glenn had tried to slow it down. The goblin was wounded though, an arrow was sticking from its side where a lucky shot had struck home.
Glenn fled across the rooftops, tiles shifting and breaking underfoot as he pushed off hard. The Goblin was faster than him when not staying with its pack, but it was far less nimble. Sharp turns and carefully timed arrows interrupted the Goblin Bruiser. This had, at one time, led to the goblin falling off the roof as an arrow struck the tile at its feet before it could jump. Glenn was, however, running out of rooves to use. On open ground he wasn’t sure he would be able to out run it. His concern didn’t help. He came to a spot where he wouldn’t be able to reach another roof without turning and running passed the Goblin bowling towards him.
He drew his dagger, squaring his feet. The Bruiser came in fast large fists swinging. Glenn dodged the first strike, throwing a fast stab towards its kidney. The goblin jumped back with its legs while dropping its elbow into Glenn’s collarbone with a crunch. Glenn reeled, seeing black. The next strike an uppercut caught him square in the stomach. He was thrown back wind knocked out of him he landed on the street below. The goblin jumped from the roof both hands raised ready to come down on Glenn’s head. He was too dazed to do anything but cough blood.
The goblins fists struck Glenn wetly, the rest of the bruiser landing hard next to him, pouring blood. Alica had watched the bruisers [Mark]. As she saw it leap from the building she used [Intervene] to place herself between Glenn and the busier a wide arcing sword swing cleanly removing the offending limbs. The goblin crumpled to the ground with a snap as one of its legs must have broken.
Glenn came to a few moments later. A new message in his vision
“Class quest 2% complete”
Another rift tore open space. More goblins pouring out. Alica noted with horror that what she thought was a dungeon rift, which were stable, was something different. She didn’t know what it was but it certainly wasn’t stable. Her lack of attention cost her, as Glenn just rising to his feet, was shoved hard by the goblin bruiser. He fell into the rift and out of sight.
Alica kicked the arrow in it's side. The goblin doubling over in pain lost its head. Alica tried to follow through the rift, the new goblins pushed her back however. She fought with ferocity her wide sword arcs keeping the area around her clear. The press of bodies occasionally knocking a goblin into her blade. “He’s not ready to be on his own.” She gritted out pressing forward into the mass of green flesh. Others slowly joined her. Guards from nearby were drawn to the sound of fighting. As the last goblin was slain the rift closed with a pop. Alica fell to her knees.
--------
Glenn came to at an old farm house, sporadically he would hear gunfire. Looking around he noticed the ground was littered with the bodies of goblins. On the porch in an old worn cowboy hat, sitting on an old worn rocking chair was, his boss with a lever action rifle?
