Our first call for help as a party was a report of an “Ice Man” going crazy and shooting people with icicles. Chief Brown told us there were two confirmed dead, several more injured, and one officer wounded and pinned down. He assigned Officer Dalton as our escort, and we all piled into my van.

  To make space for everyone, I folded the back seat down into the floor so Bhaarrt could sit in the rear. The condo complex was less than two miles away, under ten minutes even without lights and sirens. From what we knew, it sounded like an Ice Mage who’d gone power-mad.

  First, we made a quick stop at Blaze’s car so she could change into what she called her “other work clothes.” She came back wearing a dark blue ballistic vest under her FBI-issued jacket. There were big yellow “FBI” letters on her front and back and smaller ones on each shoulder. The edge of something in a shoulder holster peeked out from beneath the half-zipped jacket. She’d left her suit jacket behind in her car.

  We were going to be quite the sight. An ogre in armor and cutoff overalls, a swashbuckling mage in black with maroon trim, a female ninja dressed head to toe in black, a female Viking EMT in light blue scrubs that didn’t quite fit anymore, and an obviously female federal agent. Add a uniformed police escort, and we were a live-action movie cast waiting on a director. Talk about a motley crew.

  All five of us tossed out ideas as we drove. By the time we pulled into the complex’s parking lot, a cracked blacktop loop with a grassy center, bordered by two-story red brick condos, we had a plan. Blaze and I would draw his attention, with me shielding. Bhaarrt would SMASH through any ICE SHIELDs left standing and CHARGE him down. Shadow would STEALTH, and circle him to strike from behind. Ingrid would focus on keeping us, and any injured civilians, alive. I parked a couple car lengths behind Officer Dalton.

  If we could take him alive, Ingrid would sedate him. Until then, I’d put a MANA SHIELD in front of her to deflect ICE BOLTs. And if I ran out of MANA…I’d switch to Mentalist.

  It sounded like a solid plan. For noobs on their first real fight.

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [PARTY] [Remember. No plan survives contact. Do your best and don’t die.]

  [Ingrid:] [PARTY] [Next level I’ll have a HOT. A heal over time I can hit you with before we rush in. Blaze first, then Bhaarrt.]

  Firing off my message, I hit the buttons to pop the back hatch and both side doors.

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [Sounds good. Popping the hatches. Go–go–go!]

  The doors opened with a soft mechanical hum, like the van itself was part of the party. We jumped out as fast as we could. Ingrid waited to exit last as the least armored, highest priority target. Smart. I liked my power doors. They made my old van feel more like a hero’s combat vehicle.

  The Ice Mage stood outside an open ground-floor unit, one of four identical brick red condos in the building. The door had been forced open and frozen there with a barricade of ice. He looked like he’d dressed for a polar expedition. A puffy light blue parka and pants, thick gloves. A hood and mountaineer goggles hid most of his face. It worked for his class. The Game counted all of it as cloth armor.

  Like Bhaarrt said…no plan survives contact.

  The ICE MAGE fired the first shot. A scintillating shard of ice cracked into the side of Dalton’s cruiser, denting, but not piercing it. Dalton dove out and took cover, firing two shots back from behind his car.

  His sidearm barely scratched the ICE SHIELD in front of the mage.

  Blaze was fast. She remembered to get her FIRE SHIELD up just before she started hurling FIRE BOLTs. Bright red flares burst like fireworks as they slammed into the shimmering white wall of ice protecting him. They chipped away at his shield.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the faint shimmer of Shadow going wide around his ICE SHIELD. Her STEALTH gave her that same ghostlike outline I’d seen in the council chambers as she stayed out of the line of fire so she could get behind him.

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [Give him one chance to give up, then hit him with everything.]

  Summoning a MANA SHIELD, I poured 50 MANA into it, raising it in front of us with a flick of my will. Blue Cherenkov light shimmered as it spread wide. I rose from cover.

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  “Give it up, Ice Mage! You’re outnumbered and almost out of MANA. You can’t win! Surrender now and we won’t hurt you!”

  His response was a ICE BALL that exploded in a two-meter wide ball of ice shards. That meant he was Level 2 from its size. One meter diameter explosion per level.

  It detonated above my side of the shield in a blast of sleet and razor-sharp shards. The pain spiked hard as ice struck exposed skin and joints. Dalton caught the edge of it. So did Ingrid.

  She screamed in pain, and from the other side of her came a roar:

  “BHAARRT SMASH!”

  The fight ended seconds later.

  Bhaarrt had CHARGed him with all the momentum his massive frame could bring, and his maul came down mid-cast of the mage’s next spell. At the same time, Shadow BACKSTABbed the mage from behind with her sword. The Ice Mage’s HEALTH dropped to zero. Instant kill.

  40 EXPERIENCE flashed before my eyes.

  Shadow stood untouched. Bhaarrt had taken some hits. He was maybe down 20%. I cast REVEAL STATS on Dalton. He was down over 40%.

  [William of Brinsford:] [PARTY] [Ingrid. Heal yourself and Police officers first, then everyone else who needs it. The rest of us can wait.]

  [Ingrid:] [PARTY] [On my way.]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [PARTY] [Staying with Shadow.]

  When I looked again, Bhaarrt had his thick, gray arm wrapped protectively around a now-visible black clad Shadow. She clung to it. He took small steps as he guided her back to us.

  Blaze got on the police car radio to call in backup and request ambulances for the confirmed dead.

  Staring at the downed mage, I wondered how many more like him were out there. How many more people were going to die from this madness. It was one thing to fight monsters created by the Game…

  …another thing entirely to kill people from your own town.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [Take good care of Shadow.]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford:] [She’s takin’ stabbin’ him hard. Think she’ll be ok. Get her to help and take her mind off what happened.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [Your lead on her. Tell us what to do.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [How you doin’?]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Holding on. Hurt him, but stopped when Bhaarrt charged in. How’s Shadow holding up?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Holding. Bhaarrt’s lead on that. You handle incoming LEOs. Our escort and the other guy should have had body cams running. Any problems expected for killing him?]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Not much. He killed at least two and tried to kill us. I know Dalton had a body-cam. You gave him a chance. Glad he didn’t get a second. He looked nuts when he shot at me. They taught us, if lives are on the line, shoot to kill. If Shadow hadn’t been behind him, I’da lit him up.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Glad you didn’t have to. A Bhaarrt and Shadow sandwich is lethal. He dropped in one hit, but he was Level 2.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [I’ll talk to the other officer. Get his statement. You handle directing traffic and gawkers.]

  Nodding, I gave a quick salute in her direction.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Yes, Ma’am. Roger that.]

  She chuckled as she walked toward the cruiser.

  Dalton, already patched up, was thanking Ingrid. His color had improved.

  By the time the ambulances arrived, Ingrid had healed everyone who needed it. The frozen barricade on the door had melted enough to move it. The first officer on scene told us there was another body inside, killed by multiple icicle strikes. The mage’s ICE BOLTs.

  Shadow stayed at Bhaarrt’s side like his shadow, quiet and withdrawn.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [How’s she doing now?]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford:] [Over the worst. She hasn’t thrown up yet. That’s more than I can say for some guys I served with. Had to remind her to clean her blade, but…I think she’s got what it takes.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [I wonder if psychiatry is a skill on the Healer tree?]

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford:] [ROFLMAO. Don’t know. But those who make it through this week may need one before it’s done.]

  After a couple more police cars arrived, Blaze and Ingrid handled the coordination. Once the chaos settled, we regrouped by my van to talk about what happened.

  “Blaze?” I asked, “how are we with the police? Any problems?”

  She laughed. “They want the full report. Number of shots fired, spells cast, casing markers, second-by-second breakdown. The full after-action write-up that usually takes a few hours to do.”

  “I can sum up our side’s report in three words.” I grinned. “Veni, vidi, vici.”

  “I know that!” Shadow blurted out. “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

  “Good. Bhaarrt know that too,” he said with a nod and a smile.

  “We did Roman history in high school last year. My senior year,” she added. “Caesar was pretty cool…for an old dead white guy.”

  Ingrid laughed.

  “Seriously though,” I said. “Blaze, tell them to have the officers on site do the official write-up. We’re The Irregulars. We’ll give ‘em the basics, but when we’re bouncing from fight to fight, we won’t have time for detailed reports.”

  “We came. We fought. We kicked ass. We cleaned up and healed the wounded. And we’ll keep doing it for as long as we can.”

  “I already told them,” Blaze replied. “They don’t like it because it doesn’t fit their rules. But I’ll do my best to keep us legal.”

  “The ones here get it now,” I told her. “But most won’t…not until it hits them. Then it might be too late.”

  Blaze frowned…then nodded.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwd3sP9FjsQ