15th of August 2130, inside the Guild HQ
" I believe everyone is ready, Guild Leader " Marc said, looking at a map of the surroundings.
" Perfect. In that case, tell everyone to head down in the tunnels and wait silently " Kary said.
In the 2 weeks that had passed, Kary had sent the guild members to map the surroundings of the village, taking all the information they gathered and making a huge map with it. The map was then hung in the HQ main room. With this, they could plan their defense in detail.
She had also taken the help of the men in the village, to dig tunnels under it, with trap doors leading to the surface. With this, they could ambush the raiders as they were all inside the village, letting none escape except one. They would then follow that one man, back to their camp, and kill the remaining raiders.
As for the guild HQ, it had been built underground. Marc had stumbled upon a cave entrance in the forest, that tunneled all the way to under the village. So they decided to build the Guild HQ right under the village, to keep it safe, but also to stay close to their new land. The village elder had agreed to sign of the village to Kary and she, in turn, promised that their business would always start and end in the village. With this, they also promised to accept any NPC wanting to join the guild as mercenary. They would, of course, have to pass tests of strength beforehand. It was not that Kary didn't want to have weak people in the guild. It was more that she didn't want the villagers to die first, in the event of a raid or dungeon. They had to be strong enough to fend for themselves.
Today would be a long day because the raiders always came at night, so Kary would be in the game for much longer than usual. Of course, the pod was fitted with tubes of nutritional solution, so it didn't matter how long she stayed in.
The plan was to let the raiders come into the village and trap them there. Once all the raiders would have entered the village, 2 guild members would wait until they couldn't see them anymore, and close the village gates. Since this was a small village, there was only one way in and out of it, which made this plan viable. Once the raiders were shut in, all the players had to do, was pull out of the tunnels and start killing them. The guards would also be stationed in the tunnels, but once hell broke loose, they were tasked with making sure the villagers were safe. They were to fight only to protect the citizens.
Kary ordered all the guild members to stay underground for the day, in case the raiders grew a brain and scouted the place before coming. So all the players stayed in the guildhall, relaxing. As for Kary's main officers, Marc, Carol, and Anthony, they were having a strategic meeting in the officer's lounge.
" I think you should not be seen in the village tonight, Kary. I believe you should keep your strength for your own raid, and take down the raider bosses. We will all be tired and maybe too weak to beat them. If you're still in prime shape, you stand a chance, we don't " Anthony said, looking at Kary.
" I agree with Anthony. You should keep your energy for our invasion. If you go out tonight, you might end up joining in the fight, and after that, you could be in too bad a shape, or too tired, to fight the raiders on their own turf " Carol added.
" I won't say that I agree with you two, but Kary, they do make a good point. Can you be sure you won't end up fighting tonight if you go out there? I mean, you'll see all the other members fighting it out and you will want in. Or maybe you'll end up seeing a civilian in danger and go save him or her, and you won't want to leave the battlefield after. So if you can't be sure you'll stay put, I would rather you don't get out at all " Marc topped off.
" Fine, I'll stay put. But I want someone to keep me informed on what's happening. I refuse to be in the dark. If something happens that you can't handle, I want to know right away. Can you guys promise me that? " Kary asked, almost pleading.
Kary really wanted to be part of both fights, but she couldn't. She needed to keep her energy for the bigger of the two confrontations. So she would have to reign in her chivalrous spirit and stay underground. She would only come out when the last raider was allowed to flee. Then she and Nala could track him down to their camp.
Nala was getting excited, it had been a few days since she went hunting, and her bloodthirst could be felt by anyone in a 10-meter radius. So all the guild members had been avoiding the lioness these last days. Usually, they would gather around her to pet her, nowadays, they would see her from afar, and shiver from the pressure of her stares.
Kary was also ready to hunt. She had only been sparing with Anthony, of late, and missed the feeling of killing her opponent. She knew that this bloodlust was nefarious, but it stayed human nature. The strong preyed on the weak. She had always loved the feeling of slaying a strong enemy. It made her feel powerful.
The day passed and nothing thrilling happened, but the closer they got to nighttime, the more you could taste the bloodlust in the air. The player's eyes had started to take a reddish hue, as the killing intent permeated their minds. If they didn't go out that night for the raid, they would probably start trying to slaughter each other. Their instincts were affected that much.
As darkness descended on the village, they could feel the earth start rumbling. Then came the sound of hooves, and finally, the last guards that had stayed above ground, to make it less suspicious, saw the raiders, galloping towards their village. The 2 poor guards rang the alarm bell, before disappearing into the ground and closing their hidden door.
When the raiders crossed the open gates and saw no one, they simply laughed. They were sure the whole village had simply hidden themselves, in fear of getting killed by the raiders. Only one raider had a bad feeling in his gut before going into the village, so he had stayed behind, his gut telling him something was wrong, and that he would die if he entered the village. While the raiders kept going forward into the village, The players finally burst out into action. Two of them hurriedly closed the gates before joining the others, on their hunt for blood.
Lucky for the players' side, Anthony came out near the gate too. He climbed up the sentry tower, and he saw the man outside.
" Shit! " He said, mad at himself. He then sent a message to Kary. 'You're up earlier. A raider didn't go into town and saw us close the gates. He's fleeing to the north so hurry up.'
When Kary received the message, she had just started meditating, to save her energy without going to sleep. She read the message, hoping nothing had already gone bad. When she realized her turn was up already, a hint of viciousness flashed through her eyes.
" It's time to hunt, Nala " Kary said, getting up and running towards the tunnel that led to the north.
" ROAR!! " Nala roared to the sky.
The lioness charged out, passing Kary and running out of the tunnel first. She was way faster than Kary, and could easily keep up with a running horse. So she went ahead, keeping in touch with her master through the mind-meld.
It took only 5 minutes for Nala to catch up with the fleeing raider. She then slowed down to reach the same speed as the running horse and keep out of his sights. The man was so scared he never even thought about looking behind him, making Nala's stealth job really easy for her. She trailed the man for around 2 hours until she finally saw a camp in the distance. She then stoped her chase and reported her location to her master.
Kary could vaguely feel the direction in which Nala was, and the description the lioness gave her, helped her make her way to the camp. She arrived around one hour after Nala and rejoined up with her.
" Master, there has been a lot of movement within the camp for the last hour. I think the raiders have decided to send help to their brothers in the village " Nala told Kary, keeping an eye on the raider camp.
" I think you are right. It would be the most logical course of action. Anthony has messaged me 10 minutes ago. They have finally killed the last raider in the village and they are leaving to rejoin with us. He asked us to not be rash, but do you know what I think? I think we should start fighting soon. Why should they get to have all the fun? " Kary said a mischievous smile on her face.
" Master has read my thoughts " Nala said, slightly purring.
*** An hour earlier, inside the raider camp ***
When the lone raider charged into the camp, his horse foaming at the mouth, he immediately went to his leaders' tent. When he ran into the tent, the leader was fooling around with some young girls in chains. These were some of the villagers' wives and daughters, that the raiders had captured, to have some fun with. Getting disturbed by his men, during his playtime, was something that bothered the leader greatly.
" What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy? " the leader grumbled.
" Chief, it's a catastrophe! We were ambushed in the village down south. All the men were locked into the village and I fear they won't be coming out alive " the raider said.
" What!? " The leader said. He got up, throwing the woman on the ground, and walked up to his man. He grabbed him by the throat and pushed his knife against the man's gut.
"Tell all that you saw. And don't lie, or you will die. Understood? " the leader told the man, his eyes cold as ice. The man almost pissed his pants before he recounted all he had seen before fleeing back here. The leader listened to the end, then stabbed the man in the stomach anyway. As the raider fell to the ground, his leader spat on him.
" That's what you get for running, instead of helping your brothers out " he said with disdain. " Men! " he then shouted.
" Yes, chief! " two men said, entering the tent.
" Get rid of this human trash. Then gather all the men. We are going on a hunt " The leader said, viciousness all over his face.
" All of them, chief? " one of them asked.
" Yes! All of them, you idiot. Did I stutter? " the leader burst out.
" No chief! Right away chief " the man said, suddenly scared to end like the other raider on the floor.
The whole camp was assembled and the bloodthirst was ignited into all of them. The leader wanted them to be ready to kill all in their path or die trying. He was going to hunt all those new warriors down. He wanted to show them what happened when one spoiled his hunt.
***
Back in the present time, Kary and Nala were quietly prowling around the camp. Waiting to see these scumbags leave. They had planned to follow the raiders, once they left camp, and to take them out one by one. Kary and Nala would skim at their ranks until they finally noticed. Then she would try and force them back into their camp, where she would walk in to have the final fight.
This hunt would be thrilling, and both girls were ecstatic.