Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  “I’m fine, milord Ironwolf,” Ayda slurred, as she nearly face planted. Ignoring her protests, the guards that Dell assigned simply lifted her up behind me. “Make sure you collect her from me once we reach the barracks.”

  “Yes, milord,” the five troopers said, giving me a fist salute. Before Neysa turned away, the leader of the group stepped up to me.

  “Thank you for taking care of Mistress Keywarin,” the Team Leader said, “without her magic, many of us wouldn’t have made it to Palnisdale.”

  “That’s why we’re taking care of her,” I agreed, giving the Swordsman a brotherly clap on the shoulder, before continuing on our way to the front of the column.

  “I would’ve been fine marching to the city with everyone else,” Ayda insisted between yawns, as she laid her head against my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Maybe resting my eyes for just a few seconds would be okay.”

  I shook my head as the Bard immediately fell asleep. It was obvious just looking at her that she’d pushed herself too hard. While I’m sure a few of my new and more easily offended fans watching my Twitch Channel would accuse me of wanting to be sandwiched between two sexy leather-clad women, that was far from the case. Not saying that I didn’t mind having Ayda pressed against me, but the Bard was too precious to my people’s well-being to take her lightly. She’d sung her heart out to keep us all alive.

  Giving Ayda’s leg a friendly pat, I was just going to pull up Neysa’s Character Sheet, when I noticed Helgath squirming in front of me. At first, I didn’t understand what the problem was but, catching a glimpse of her blushing cheeks and the flavor of her emotions through our shared link, I suddenly realized that she’d caught my random thought of comparing her looks to that of Ayda who everyone thought was beautiful. Figuring that she was somewhat uncomfortable with the new changes to her body, I reassured her that her soul had always been beautiful. The only difference was that now her outer beauty was starting to match what had always been on the inside. Hoping that I’d explained myself well enough, I went back to where I’d left off on Neysa’s Character Sheet to look over the available Feats.

  Intimidating Howl – (50 Mana) - instant cast – Causes all enemies within five yards to cower in fear and all enemies between six to ten yards away to flee for up to 5 seconds or until attacked. Enemies within 5 yards of Combat Pet are disoriented for another 5 seconds and fight at half their combat skill and power level. At the end of the feat, the Combat Pet goes to the top of the affected enemies’ aggro list. Cooldown is 5 minutes.

  Ferocious Bite – (20 Mana) A powerful bite that does an additional 200 points of piercing/crushing damage on top of a Combat Pet or Combat Mount’s regular bite. The Feat has a fifteen second cooldown.

  Claw Strike – (10 Mana for every claw used) A powerful slash that does 50 – 60 points of slashing damage per Claw used. The Feat has a five second cooldown.

  Looking over the three choices, they were all good and could be very useful for combat in their own way. While Neysa’s natural combat abilities weren’t anything to casually dismiss, Ferocious Bite and Claw Strike would definitely increase her damage output and truly make her a threat even to a Nightmare player. Hell, the armor piercing and crushing ability of Ferocious Bite might have let her actually hurt those Ogres.

  Claw Strike wasn’t anything to sneeze at either. If the attack was used in conjunction with Neysa’s natural Knockdown ability could be brutal. I could see her shredding targets with all four of her black nails per claw shredding the enemy. In a situation like that, the DPS would be incredible.

  While all that was true, Intimidating Howl was the one that mostly caught my eye. After our experience with the Ogres, I had a lot more respect for the mental attack. Though it was probably only a one-shot use in most fights, being able to fear the enemy in a ten yard radius was huge. Even more so with us having to fight Orcs with their resistance to my favorite AOE spell, Frost Nova.

  ‘Any preference or thoughts on what might be best?’ I asked the girls.

  ‘I want them all,’ Neysa said simply, as me and Helgath laughed.

  ‘While Intimidating Howl could be very useful,’ Helgath contemplated thoughtfully, “the quick and consistent damage from Claw Strike could ultimately be the most useful for when we’re fighting together as a group, besides being an fine finishing move.’

  ‘Though the idea of having prey cower before my howl fills me with excitement,’ Neysa sent, as she seriously considered the question in all earnesty. ‘I have to agree that being able to inflict serious damage for a change would be ultimately the most useful.’

  Ugh, I mentally grumbled, caught between my desires for another CC spell and wanting to make my ladies happy. While I could’ve simply made the decision on my own, I’d asked them both because I wanted their input on the issue. Not only that, Helgath and Neysa had spent so much time fighting together that they had cold hard experience to back up their opinions, which beat out my general guesses from the previous MMOs that I’d played. Saying goodbye to Intimidating Howl for now, I selected Claw Strike. Before accepting all of the changes, I also updated her Shared Experience to the full fifty percent split. Neysa’s new stats looked like this once I was finished:

  Combat Mount: Neysa (Elite Silver Dire Wolf)

  Level: 40

  Strength: 138

  Intelligence: 138

  Spirit: 138

  Agility: 138

  Stamina: 138

  Charisma: 138

  Primary Attack: 187-202 (Bite)

  Secondary Attack: 50-60 (Claw – can be up to four separate attacks)

  Speed: 0.4

  Weight-Carrying Capacity: 591

  Weight-Carrying Capacity Teen Growth Spurt: 204

  Special Abilities: Increased carrying capacity 128.2 lbs x5

  (Teen Growth Spurt adds +5 to each ‘Increase Carrying Capacity’)

  Shared Experience: 50% (up to a max of 50%)

  The changes were immediate. As soon as I’d dismissed the window, Neysa’s body began to transform. On each of her paws the harden nails began to thicken and lengthen into proper weapons. Not only that, her paws noticeably grew in size to accommodate the changes. As the transformation completed, Neysa’s growl sounded in my head.

  ‘I need something to kill.’

  ‘Not now you don’t,’ I sent back, rolling my eyes at the viciousness of her thoughts. Not that I blamed her. If I had a new set of weapons, I’d be jonesing to check them out too.

  ‘Maybe someone inside Palnisdale will be dumb enough to challenge Star and you’ll be able to try out your new claws then,’ Helgath added helpfully, as I silently shook my head. Our discussion was abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “The fuck, Jay!” Jill’s voice called out as I rode up. “You picked up another digital slut for your NPC harem.”

  Before I could ask her what the fuck was wrong with her, Jill let out a shriek as Neristhana seemed to appear out of nowhere. The look of absolute fury on the Gnomeling’s face would’ve been terrifying if it had been directed at me. It wasn’t that she was drawing weapons, but her little fists were balled up and ready to beat out an apology from the other woman.

  “Gah, get her off of me … get her off of me!” Jill screamed as she ducked and dodged trying to get away.

  In my peripheral vision, I saw Hefe and AJ making bets as Krystal and Bonnie Smash rolled their eyes at the whole thing. I didn’t see the final smack when it happened, but the crack could be heard by everyone. A few moments later, I saw a satisfied Neristhana take her place next to me as if she’d been there the whole time.

  ‘What’s up with Neristhana?’ I asked the girls. To be honest, her normal easy going nature was completely gone. In all honesty, I’d never seen her so uptight.

  ‘She feels dishonored because she ran from the Ogre’s Intimidating Shout,’ Helgath explained, as her withdrawn attitude after the fight started to make more sense.

  ‘But that’s crazy,’ I mental
ly sent back in frustration. ‘It’s not like she was the only one that was affected.’ Before the Half-Orc could comment, a chastised Jill came stumbling back into view staring daggers at me.

  “That’s bullshit, Jay,” she grumbled holding her red cheek. “You know I was only messing around."

  “I didn’t do anything,” I said with a shrug, making a mental note to have a talk with Neristhana about the battle.

  “That’s exactly my point,” Jill grumbled. “You could’ve ordered her to stand-down.”

  “Look, it’s like this,” I said, as Jill uncomfortably flinched at my tone. “Everyone’s very protective of Ayda after she worked so hard to save everyone’s lives. Without her help, we would’ve never made it to Domenic in time, let alone, managed to escape that horde. She deserves a little bit more respect than that.” My friends caught my drift as I meaningfully looked around at the people of The World that were silently listening in on the discussion.

  “I’m serious enough about this that I would’ve given up my place on Neysa’s back if it was needed. Luckily enough, it wasn’t a problem after that last Hot Fix. Neysa herself said that she could handle the extra weight and offered to carry Ayda herself,” I meaningfully added, as Jill shifted uncomfortably at being berated in front of everyone. “Besides that, you know as well as I do that my companions don’t like being called sluts, so why don’t you give that shit a rest.”

  “Sometimes, you’re such a freaking asshole, Jay,” Jill shot back angrily.

  “If Star's the asshole,” Kenzie teasingly said in an aside to Jill, “AND we both know, he most definitely is. Then why do you keep calling his companions sluts?”

  “Gah,” Jill screamed in frustration at being teamed up on by her girlfriend. Shrugging away from AJ and Krystal’s grip, she glared at Kenzie, before angrily stomping away.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Kenzie asked out loud to everyone, as I looked around innocently saying nothing.

  Giving me a hard time was simply Jill’s thing after all the years we’d known each other. Privately, I’d argue that was how she dealt with losing against me all the time in the games we played. While I didn’t particularly take it seriously, part of that game was getting other friends to join up with her in giving me a hard time. Kenzie made the mistake of siding with me.

  “Is she PMS’ing?” Thomas jokingly asked, as Kenzie whirled on him angrily.

  “God, you’re such a dumbass,” she snarled, smacking Thomas upside the head, before chasing after her friend too.

  “Smooth move, Exlax,” AJ grumbled at me, before following after his girlfriend.

  “How the fuck is this my fault?” I called after him before he got too far away, as Thomas and I looked at each other in confusion.

  “Because it’s always your fault, Jay,” Krystal said, as if that was obvious. Even though she kept to the party line, Krystal still gave me a knowing wink, before turning away to head after Jill as she called over her shoulder. “We’ll catch up after our shopping trip.”

  “Psychos,” Sarka silently mouthed at me, as she twirled her finger at her own head.

  “Be nice,” I silently mouthed back.

  More than once, I’d been asked by new guildmates how the rest of us had managed to stay friends all this time. Mostly, I think the question came up because the new members didn’t understand how we could talk so much shit to one another and still be friends. It simply wasn’t a problem because we were friends. All of us had strong personalities. Even though we typically didn’t hold our punches, I think the brutal truthfulness was what kept our group together. Kind of like any dysfunctional family, I thought with a chuckle.

  Though we joked and played hard together, we ultimately had respect for one another. Even with how Hefe could be at times, he was generally a good guy and a respectable gamer. We enjoyed playing together, we respected each other skills, and we were super competitive. Personally, I was sure that half of the reason for this last fight between us was because I had a Combat Mount and Jill didn’t. Ayda was just an easy target for her frustration. While that might sound childish to some, I personally thought it was simply human nature. Mentally shaking my head at all the drama, I turned back to the small audience that had gathered around.

  “Come on, people, the shows over,” I called out, clapping my hands to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s keep moving.”

  As everyone began to clear out, I gave Fylreh a nod in greeting as she came trotting up to me, while I looked around for the person I wanted to talk to next. The filly didn’t say anything, but simply fell in behind us as if she were guarding my back. Palnisdale was central to my plans for the Kingdom of Kader to hold out against the Orc hordes. The fortress’s current political situation was a complete unknown. I needed to know what was happening with things like; the happenings of Chaos Storm Alliance players inside the city, the current capability of the forces for standing against the coming horde, and if they’d managed to setup any quests for encouraging regular players to assist with the defense of the city. I figured there was no sense in walking into the city blind when I had a vassal that could catch me up to speed, just when I spotted the man I needed at the very front of the column.

  ‘There’s Sir Anon,’ I sent to Neysa, as she took off at a trot for the group of eight riders leading the column of troopers. I caught a wave of greeting from General Dell who gave me an approving look as soon as he saw where we were heading.

  “I’m glad to see you were able to join us, Overlord Ironwolf,” Sir Anon greeted as soon as I rode up, giving me a fist salute along with Lance Leader Warf and the rest of the riders. Well, everyone except Scout Leader DeKhayed who was glaring daggers at me. I was returning everyone’s salutes, when Neysa let out a rumbling growl of warning at the Scout Leader’s overt disrespect as her fur stood straight out. Before I could address the issue, Sir Anon turned in his saddle to address the Scout Leader directly.

  “This disrespectful attitude is unbecoming of an officer in the Royal Cavalry, Scout Leader DeKhayed,” Sir Anon said to the glowering man in no uncertain terms. “Choke down your pride or be relieved of command. We have no time for such prejudices with the calamity the Kingdom of Kader now faces.”

  “The only calamity that I see here is that the lot of you are saluting this Halfling Lord as if it were nothing!” Scout Leader DeKhayed snarled, as he savagely rounded on his colleagues. “He openly consorts with demi-humans and treats with them as equals, yet none of you dare to question his claims of a massive Orc horde invading our lands?” He whirled back to me spitting vitriol. “I already told you our patrol of the Isolde Line found no signs of incursions.”

  His hostility disappeared in the blink of an eye as his face went pale as a sheet when he realized Neysa had begun stalking towards him. Her rumbling growls had only grown deeper and more threatening by the second as he’d gone on his rant. To see how terrifying she looked, you'd have to realize that the Silver Dire Wolf was noticeably larger than even the Destrier horses that the Heavy Cavalry and the Guardian Knights were mounted on. Besides that, the Scout Leader had already endured one of Neysa’s assaults when she wasn’t particularly interested in killing him. Now, on the other hand, there was no doubt to the Silver Dire Wolf’s intent as her black lips pulled back from her deadly fangs. Besides we all knew she wanted to test her new feat out.

  While that was going on, I was intently studying the faces of the Humans in the group. All but Sir Anon held onto their reins in a white-knuckled grip. Though he wasn’t happy, not once did Lance Leader Warf flinch from the bestial fury in Neysa’s eyes. The Heavy Cavalry guards were most notably unsure of what to do. Nonetheless, they held themselves at the ready watching the scene unfold with conflicting emotions flashing across their faces.

  What I found most interesting, was the Scout Cavalrywoman that calmly sat astride her horse without flinching. The angry scowl on her lips while she closely watched Scout Leader DeKhayed spoke volumes to me. A quick Identify gave me her inform
ation readily enough, Helga Tanner, level 46 Sub-Scout Leader of the Royal Light Cavalry Unit. Obviously, she knew something about all of this that had her pissed off at her superior.

  Even though I was no expert in the medieval world, I knew enough to understand the basics for the prejudice that was probably going on here. The only reason Helga was Sub-Scout Leader instead of the Scout Leader at level 46 was because her family probably were or had been tanners and not nobility. If I remember my history correctly, there were few people that were lower on the social class ladder than tanners in a medieval city.

  Sir Anon and Lance Leader Warf gently made a path for me to Scout Leader DeKhayed. As we came to a stop in front of the terrified man, I nodded to the female officer behind him as she watched me closely with emotionless eyes.

  “Do you mind introducing yourself?” I asked, as the woman unconsciously flinched at being the center of attention.

  “Sub-Scout Leader Tanner of the Royal Scouts, Overlord,” she snapped out smartly.

  “Excellent,” I said, giving her a smile that never reached my eyes. “Could you give a report as to your scouting mission of the Isolde Line?”

  “Don’t you say a word-” Scout Leader DeKhayed’s words were cut off, as Helgath leaped across the distance between us before anyone could react. There was a quick struggle as she skittered around onto his back to hold a dagger at his throat.

  “Excuse me, Dickhead,” I casually said, completely mispronouncing the young man’s name as he froze. Everyone else was pronouncing it De-Cay’d, but I didn’t let that stop me from coming up with my own pronunciation. It was kind of my thing when people pissed me off, especially if it worked for the name. From the nervous smiles, I must not have been the first to come up with this alternate pronunciation as I continued nonplussed. “But, I’d really like Sub-Scout Leader Tanner to answer the question for herself.”