The Company Of Longblades

Prologue - part 1

12 years ago

Age of Faith Online
Goblin Hills
Major Quest

Their banners fluttered against the wind. Thousand upon thousand of players; warriors, soldiers, and mercenaries, in a wide field of rolling plains and hills, waiting patiently as the counter for the major quest to count down.

This was an unprecedented event. This was the end game. Borderfort Games, Inc. spared nothing in preparing and implementing this quest. Almost 70% of the players, nearly ten thousand, had signed up for this.

Arrayed against them were the goblin horde. The menace of the society, the main antagonist of the game. Considered as the Armageddon, whatever happens here will be used by the company for the sequel of the game.

Amidst this epic backdrop sits Chris, atop his warhorse. He was a lieutenant in a mercenary company, The Longblades. All of this, everything that he could see, was virtual reality. Their group consisted of nearly a thousand players. Their captain was one enigmatic, but strong-willed individual. Chris would readily admit that he admired the man - okay, maybe worshipped him a little. But despite this loyalty and dedication, he barely knew him. He never did showed himself on any events, nor any group eyeball. Heck. He does not even know how old he was. He could be a kid for all he knew. However, he doubt that would be the case.

Captain Jack the Solitaire. Strong. Wise. Like a mountain. When he spoke, everyone listened. When he commanded, everyone followed. That was the kind of man he was. Everyone on the group will follow him - to hell and back.

The counter showed 0:29:59. Everyone was busy taking videos and screenshots. Captain Jack was giving them some final instructions. All this group was a coalition of player characters and hired NPCs. It would take very little for this organised group to descend into chaos once battle was started. That's why the Coalition opted to elect a General to direct the fight. This would be the first time in this game that someone would attempt such feat. It was done a lot, but only on small scale battles and sieges.

The Longblades were divided into five team of about 200 fighters each, all mounted. Chris would lead one and would act as a sweeper. His team consisted of fast moving fighter and would follow behind the Cataphracts, led by his fellow group mate and real life friend, Mark.

The battle plan actually sound simple and easy to follow. The mercenaries would act as a flanking force and would exploit any and all weaknesses of the opposing army. While the vanguard will march head-on, donned in their heaviest armor. They would slug it out and hold the centre. The battle will be decided whether they can hold and weather the goblin storm.

Funny how this event culminated into this. The moderators had given them quests after quests of goblin subjugations that led to this place, the Goblin Hills, their home. Their stronghold.

Chris looked at his raid party. They were ready. Only an idiot would come unprepared. And there's no idiots in the Longblades.

"How long do you think this will last?" Asked one of his teammate.

"I honestly don't know." Chris muttered amidst the din around him. Everyone were excited. "A few hours maybe. Half a day, I hope."

"I took a day off just to be in this." he grinned. Chris grinned back. He would too if he have a job.

A hush felled through the ranks. It was the General. The leader of the biggest guild in the server. An impressive man, but not as impressive as Captain Jack, Chris thought.

This was it.

**World Alert! The Battle for the Goblin Hills has began. Heroes will rise and fall. Legends will be born today.**

*The Goblin horde is before you. Your knees weakened as you surveyed the vast sea of monsters arrayed against you. Will you survive this day?*

**The battle has started. **

'Keep calm everyone. Stick to the plan as much as possible,' Captain Jack piped into their private chat. 'Make sure to watch the command chat. Don't loose your head out there. '

Chris chuckled at the double meaning. One thing about being given a command was responsibility. He has to take care of his team. Dying out there means being out of the game for 24 hours, but for this particular scenario they can survey the field in ghost mode. They could not chat amongst the living though, only through other dead individuals.

Age of Faith was a fantasy medieval game with minimum magic. Healing spells were only available through NPCs which were usually in Churches or Groves. Needless to say, there won't be any in this battle. They had to make do with bandages, healing potions and first aids.

The vanguard were consisted of winged rectangular blocks. A hundred Sheildmen wielding swords or spears flanked by 50 Warriors on each end. Each block had two archer units behind it of 25 individuals. Each blocks operates in pairs so each would have 500 warriors total. Ten paired blocks, or 5000 soldiers, belonged to the vanguard. About 2000 were placed in reserve and the last 3000 were mounted troops of cavalry and mercenaries were placed in each flanks of the army. It was an impressive organizational feat since almost all of these individuals were player characters and a few npc only carried support roles.

There were limited slots that you can put into your chat and only key individuals were placed there. Captain Jack had his 5 lieutenants in his chat and a liason from the general staff. He probably had other chat groups as well but Chris can only guess what. Chris on the other hand had ten people in a separate chat in his 200-men team. He just hope that they'd dive into battle with semblance of order and team work.

As the vanguard moved forward, kicking dusts into the air, their feet was a crescendo of marching. Chris whistled in spite of himself. This shit is not going to happen again sometime soon, he thought to himself.

The goblins howled in anger, shaking their crude swords and spears at them. Curses and spittles flew forward as if that would help. Perhaps it did. Their fellow seemed motivated. There's more than a hundred thousand of them. More maybe. Definitely more.

Drum rolled in the background. A huge goblin, this one clad in armor and ornate headdress, obviously their general, raised its arm and the sea of goblin surged as one. It was terrifying and amazing to see. The vanguard saw this and planted their shield on the ground, bracing for the charge.

A few arrows from the goblin ranks flew ahead but they felled short and useless. Human archers with top of the line bows, however, were more effective.
Goblins fell and were trampled but the surge did not abate. The clash echoed across the plain. Human shield prevailed and held. Chris does not wish to be in that meat grinder.

'Forward.' Captain Jack ordered through chat. 'Flank and charge. Keep nipping on their soft side but do not commit. This is going to be a long day and you don't want to watch on the sideline if you're dead.' There were chuckled affirmatives across the chat. 'Lieutenants, I give you free reign on your teams. Just watch out for updates and new orders.'

That was it.

The Longblades trotted forward to a fantastic charge.