NOVEL NEXT 101. Battle of Echportic (Part 4)
While Russel and those in his group were working around the gates, those players not assigned to crafting the main defences were tasked with strengthening the walls where they could. They were severely limited with resources so they had to rely on what materials they could find around the village which sadly did not cover a fraction of their needs.
In the end, the officers were questioned about what they should do so gave them instructions to cover up the holes as best they could, not with the direct goal of strengthening but with the aim of hiding. The players managed to find a number of cloth sheets that they fixed over the damaged wall sections as well as some of the stronger sections to make it seem more natural and not out of place.
Russel's attention was drawn from the neat trench he had been working on and was admittedly quite proud of towards a growing commotion coming from the centre of the village. He was not the only one to notice either as his new acquaintance, the farmer strode up to him.
“Lad, how much longer do we have before the rest of us need to leave?”
Russel was slowly getting used to the way the older villagers addressed him as ‘Lad’, however, he felt he would never be comfortable with it. He was at least thankful they didn’t address him as ‘duck’ like some of those up in Yorkshire. He found that one of the strangest ways to refer to someone.
After a quick glance at the system clock, Russel answered the man, leaning on his shovel as he spoke.
“You will likely get the call in the next few minutes judging by the commotion over there. You might as well head to the centre of the village now since we can handle the rest. Thanks for the help mate.”
The farmer gave a grim smile as he wished him good luck and to stay safe as he walked away.
Russel continued his work for a few more minutes before he received a message from Munro in the Leaders channel asking for all the officers to direct the members to gather in the village square for a last-minute rundown on what everyone was tasked to do in the battle.
A smile made its way onto his face as his mind thought of the hype man speech Tyrell was supposed to be giving shortly, it would be entertaining to see a fellow brother from the streets of London rising into prominence, especially when said person was as amusing as his friend.
With a bit of effort, Russel climbed out of the trench and onto the dirt rampart to be able to get enough height over the other players in order for them all to easily hear him. After clearing his throat he called out, his voice drawing the attention of all the other players that were within hearing range around him.
“Alright guys, time for a break where we get to listen to the other important guys telling us where to stand. If you are all outa stamina when the gnolls get here, we ain't gonna stand a chance. Let's get moving to the village square”
His words received a mixed reaction from the group around him as they all finished what they were doing and started to carefully make their way over the defences and towards the small open space at the very centre of the village.
Russel waited for Tyrell to reach him before making his own way over, looking over to his taller friend as the guy spoke in his jesting tone that was becoming ever more familiar as they spent time together.
“Ayy man, do I detect a little jealousy there? I'm sure if you ask nicely the boss lady will let you chat some shit to hype man up, but worry not my brother, I got your back this time. I will give you the honour of Becoming an important person by being the one to use a [Shield Bash] to get everyone's attention.”
Russel let out an amused chuckle as they made it the short distance to the village square and started to walk around the outside to get to where the other officers were standing around and waiting.
“Tyrell, you are just too thoughtful! How long till I become the official side piece to your comedy act?”
Tyrell let out a snort as he gave Russel a shoulder pat in mock consolation.
“Too late for that my man, wayy too late.”
Russel merely rolled his eyes as they arrived at the group of the other officers.
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After a few more minutes of waiting it appeared everyone had gathered together, so ALD Munro cut their discussion short and gave Tyrell the go ahead to start. It seemed that Munro and Tyrell had discussed what would be said prior as Tyrell immediately moved over and stood upon a large bench crafted from a large tree trunk.
The man's tall stature allowed him to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd of players in front of him and Russel had to admit, his friend did look quite badass as he stood there with his arms crossed, shield strapped over his back and his war hammer by his waist. He cut an imposing figure despite his usually casual nature and joker tendencies.
Tyrell spent a few moments looking over the village centre whose small space was now absolutely packed with over 300 people, but eventually he glanced towards him with a nod, its meaning easy to understand as Russel raised his shield from his side and smashed his bracer into it.
Russel's skill created a loud metal clang as he used his [Shield Bash] as per Tyrell’s earlier concession to get everyone’s attention directed to where he stood with the other officers.
The guild members began to slowly quiet down, their excitement for the coming battle hard to contain as the players finished what they were saying while they turned their attention to the tall black man currently taking centre stage.
Russel lowered his shield arm back down to his side as he too turned his attention to Tyrell, intrigued to see what his rallying speech would entail.
Tyrell had spent some time earlier when they were within talking distance while constructing the defences to express some of his concerns, namely that players had a particular penchant for ignoring group leaders, usually mocking such people for taking things too seriously and deciding to do their own thing.
Since Russel had very little experience playing games with this scale of player cooperation, he was not sure what to expect. However, it seemed that Tyrell's concerns were somewhat unfounded given how motivated the players were.
There had been a few speculations thrown around the guild leader's chat as to why this was the case compared to the usual dysfunctional temperament that was usually found when large amounts of random players banded together. In the end, they came to the general consensus that it was due to how realistic everything was as well as the generous benefits offered for towing the line and listening to the instructions given. There was also the fact that every player's appearance was very close to their real one, making people more true to their normal behaviour as there was no longer a screen hiding who they were.
Russel personally was of the opinion that the military guy’s aura of seriousness and professionalism pressured the players given their roles in leading the army. Either way, it was up to Tyrell to do what he could to get people hyped up and ready for what was no doubt going to be a brutal fight almost everyone present was far from ready to experience.
“Alright boys and gals, if I can get all your attention on this pretty mug for a minute…”
The crowd finally quietened down enough for Tyrell's voice to ring clearly through the small village square as he shifted his posture, unfolding his arms to clasp his hands behind his back imperiously.
“Ite then. For those of you who have spoken to me so far, and for those of you who have not, I am Stormbane, one of them big man officers of the guild. Apart from our mighty leader, I am the one with the most experience with large scale raids and battles, so have been asked to say a few words before we go beat us some pagan dickheads.”
The players Russel could see from his notably shorter head height seemed to crack a few amused grins while others let out brief laughs. The reception to Tyrell’s words seemed to be fairly good so far, although there were a number of players who appeared to be taking everything quite seriously which was good news for them.
“Jokes aside, I want to clear up a few concerns going about. I heard many men asking yoselves some good questions. ‘Why is the guild having us labour away with a damned shovel digging holes?’ ‘Why are some of the guild officers a bunch hard-ass military guys?’ Well, the simple answer is that this world is just about as real as you can get, so the boss lady is making sure we use every option that the realism creates to increase our advantage.”
