That Wasn't the Plan

by Jason Cheek

  While the mount aspect was cool as hell on one level, it could possibly cause some major problems between me and the Admins if they caught wind of her changes too soon. Especially if they decided I was using a bug to get around the riding cap. It was a hard thing to gauge. In my heart of hearts, I didn’t think it was going to be a problem, especially since I’d received an in-game quest for the changes that Neysa had went through.

  Still, I didn’t want to log in one morning and find out I was wrong. While no one would really question her fighting potential, having me riding on her back into battle below level 40 could possibly throw up all kinds of warning flags, which was something I especially didn’t want with the amount of attention my Twitch Channel was getting. The seriousness of my thoughts brought both Neysa and Helgath’s attention back to me as I came to a decision.

  ‘We need to keep Neysa’s capabilities on the down low.’ I mentally sent, as a flood of questions came back to me.

  ‘I’m not sure what that source of your bloodline means.’ I sent to Neysa in all seriousness as Helgath nodded in agreement. ‘I just don’t want to have you lose any of your new abilities due to some “perceived” mistake.’ Seeing the unhappy look on my girl’s furry face, I did my best to explain.

  ‘Maybe saving you from the Goblin Slave Master was a fluke.’ I gave a mental shrug, ‘I think it would be best if the Royal Investigators didn’t find out about your abilities too soon.’

  Luckily, we shared a telepathic connection which allowed them to follow my reasoning on their own. Within a few seconds we’d come to a consensus. I’d only mount Neysa if it was a special emergency. Otherwise, we’d keep this change a secret and start focusing on her combat abilities. With that decided, I went on to the next item, the Hot Fix for NPCs.

  Unfortunately, this was an underhanded “fuck you” from V-MMORG. At least, it felt that way to a point. This was no doubt in response to my effective use of the people of The World against other newfar. While the slight tweak was meant to make it more difficult for me to effectively use my troopers without the risk of losing them permanently, I still believed I could effectively get around the twelve hour lockout by simply rotating my troopers. They’d probably tweak the Emergency Hot Fix again once they realized how little the change would actually hurt me, but, for now, it was business as usual.

  With that completed, I went to pull up my chat interface to invite Jodi Tempest, when I remembered I wasn’t in a city. Meaning, there was no way for me to send her an invite. Cursing under my breath, I began getting dressed, before packing up our sleeping gear. I was just turning around to look for Helgath, when I remembered I could at least make Jodi a friend of the House of Kayden. That would let my people know to allow her access to BrokenFang Hold and its surrounding lands. As I was making that change, the Half-Orc walked up with some cold rations and a skin of icy water.

  Notice I didn’t say clean. That’s because, there was no way for it to be truly clean drinking water if we were using the same water that everyone else was using for bathing and cleaning up their gear in. Yeah, I did my best not to think about that fact too much as I thanked Helgath and took a deep pull. Luckily enough, I did have a Minor Cure Disease spell. Still, I’d definitely have to look into introducing some kind of camp sanitation for the future with Assault Leader Dell’s help.

  Thankfully, the stream was moving along at a good pace here which I hoped meant it wasn’t as dirty as I thought it should be. I just hoped that there wasn’t any in-game diseases from drinking non-boiled or distilled water like there were in the real world. A shiver ran down my spine at the disgusting thought. Because, if this had been a medieval camp on old earth, everyone here would’ve been at risk of catching something terrible from drinking such contaminated water. A more likely means of during the Middle Ages than actually getting killed in battle. Just one of the many wonderful things about our modern society that people take for granted.

  The relaxed mental back and forth continued while I ate with Helgath and Neysa. Even if the fair was simple, our time together was enjoyable as we turned our focus to the tasks of the coming day. There was no discussion of nine-to-five jobs, the stress of traffic jams, or arguing of inane politics and perspectives that had nothing to do with people living their lives one day at a time. Instead, we talked about things like the weather, scouting the trail ahead, and the rough plans I’d come up with for freeing the Uten Syn guild members.

  I’m sure some people would think that our conversation was nothing special, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. When life was a brutal fight to just make it through the day alive and fed, conversations tended to revolve around how best to increase ones chances for survival. At the same time, I kept an eye out for Helgath’s mental health to make sure she was doing alright after the emotional turmoil that had come with her upgraded attributes.

  As I was finishing up the last of my cold breakfast, I saw Princess Reeva, Prince Lekroth, Sir Hemmet, and Councilor Fulrin heading my way. Further behind them, I could see that the Guardian Knights were lining up into a marching formation and preparing to move out. Seeing my eyes glance their way, the nearest knights clenched their fists over their chests in salute as I gave them a respectful nod back, before returning to my new guests.

  “Your Highnesses, Councilor Fulrin, and Sir Hemmet” I said, offering a polite nod. “Pull up a piece of dirt.” Seeing the confused looks on their faces, I tried again. “Please have a seat.” I said motioning towards the clear ground around us.

  “Lord Ironwolf.” All three of them murmured as they sat crossed-legged onto the ground in front of me. “Oh, pull up a piece of dirt.” Princess Reeva suddenly exclaimed, as her eyes lit up in amusement. “Crude but descriptive.” Her words caught the others by surprise as they suddenly grasped the meaning of what I’d said. While the Prince wasn’t thrilled with my coarse manner, Sir Hemmet and Councilor Fulrin both smiled at the allusion.

  “I take it, you’re headed out towards Palnisdale this morning.” I continued nonplussed.

  “We thought it best.” Princess Reeva replied in a serious tone. “If your fears that the Iron Falcon Mercenaries have made their way into the ancient fortress with more of the Chaos Storm alliance, we have no time to lose. If the stronghold falls to the northern invaders, all of the southern kingdoms will be vulnerable to the invaders depredations.”

  “Even if the defensive fortress holds, many in the south will lose their lives.” Councilor Fulrin added, shaking his head sadly. “Still, we will hold out against the endless hordes of the north or die trying.”

  “Well said,” I replied, clapping the Battle Priest on the shoulder before continuing. “Expect us on the morrow. I’ll complete everyone’s training in the fortress and then continue on to Darom. With the full support of the Council of Light, the troops we’re sending to reinforce the city, and my Dark magic zombies, we’ve stacked the deck the best we can to hold off the invaders. The only way this will fail is if our enemies are able to betray us from within. If that happens, all of this will be for naught.”

  “We’ll manage,” Princess Reeva promised as her brother, Councilor Fulrin, and Sir Hemmet nodded in agreement. Standing up together, we clasped wrists, before they headed over to the Royal Knights who were waiting to head out. As soon as they reached the head of the formation, the line of Royal Knights and Battle Priests moved out at a fast trot.

  As I watched them go, I saw Assault Leader Dell and Thomas heading my way with Kenzie in tow. While I was in the middle of greeting everyone, Kenzie began giving me odd head nods and looks as she tried to unobtrusively signal for me to check out the changes to the veteran swordsman. I immediately understood what she was getting at. Rather than acknowledging what she was trying to tell me, I decided to play dumb instead, which just made her become more insistent with every passing moment.

  Yes, I was being an asshole, but sometimes I just couldn’t help myself. Kenzie didn’t realize what I was doing, until both men finally tur
ned around to give her a weird look. By then, her face was contorted in the middle of one of her major head shaking, face twitching episodes. Seeing the shocked looks on both men’s faces was all she wrote as I busted out laughing. Freezing in place, Kenzie instantly realized what I’d been up to this whole time, but all she could do was give me a promising glare that my time would come as she assured both men she was doing just fine.

  While that was going on, I ran an Identify on Assault Leader Dell only to have my jaw nearly hit the ground. The man had more health than even I did. Obviously, the game had given him the Nightmare stat bonus from the Emergency Hot Fix for being the Assault Leader for the House of Kayden troopers. Looking around, I eyed the first group of troopers nearby and did an Identify. All of them now had Advance level attributes and were on par with the Devil Dogs stats.

  Now wasn’t that some interesting shit, I thought, considering the implications of what this change could mean. On the one hand, V-MMORG had gimped my ability to repeatedly resurrect my forces. On the other, they just made my troopers even that much tougher. Was this an unintended side effect that came from upgrading the people of The World within the cities? Or, were the game’s admins planning on using my forces as a temporary stopgap to block the larger guilds from having the power to wipe out anyone they wanted to within the game? Did this mean I could artificially boost my troopers’ levels by giving them promotions? All interesting questions that I’d have to look into.

  While the boost to my people sounded overpowered on one level, it wasn’t like V-MMORG couldn’t come out with another Emergency Hot Fix to take away those bonuses any time they wanted to. Even though strong NPCs were a pain in the ass on some levels, I’d always felt like it was stupid for developers to weaken the NPCs in their games in comparison to the player base. There had to be consequences for players running amok. Otherwise, the NPCs were regulated to second class citizens or slaves. That philosophy was no different for the people of The World. If the guards and soldiers weren’t powerful enough to protect the people of their cities, what happened in Darom and Telrain would continue to occur and it would take away from the fun of playing the game.

  Sadly enough, even with all of my people, the Chaos Storm Alliance still significantly outnumbered my forces. Not only that, I had no doubts that they would be taking over the NPC Recruiter and outbidding anyone trying to purchase new units in the future. After a few weeks, they’d easily be able to match the strength of my in-game forces, besides having the backing of their regular player base. Once that happened, there was no doubt in my mind that they’d be coming after us for blood. I didn’t see how any Emergency Hot Fix could fix that.

  Even so, all that I could do was use the bonus the Emergency Hot Fix gave me for fighting the Chaos Storm Alliance here and now. The force build-up was future Jason’s problem. By then, I’d hopefully have figured out a way for us to counteract their power. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Dell, Thomas, and Kenzie finally settled down.

  Chapter One.Four

  (Wednesday, May 7th / Day 17 of The World.)

  “Lord Ironwolf,” Assault Leader Dell said in his gruff voice. “The troopers should be ready to move out in ten minutes. The new Sub-Leaders and Team-Leaders are coming along nicely, if I might say so myself.”

  “Looks that way to me,” I agreed. “If anything, you’ve done wonders getting the new people organized into an actual fighting force.”

  “I don’t know if I would go as far as that, my lord.” Assault Leader Dell said with a dismissive snort. “While the Kayden Troopers are doing fine enough, getting the rest of them to march in the same direction is a lot different than having them fight as a single unit.”

  As soon as the words left Dell’s mouth, Thomas spewed the mouthful of water he had just swallowed as both of us looked over at the Devil Dog guild leader in surprise. Waving an apologetic hand, Thomas wiped away the water dripping from his nose. “No disrespect intended, Assault Leader Dell, but I couldn’t have said that better myself.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips at how well the two men got along. Thank goodness, otherwise I would’ve been hating my life about now. In many ways, it surprised me that the two old soldiers meshed so well. It was hard to know sometimes what Thomas thought about the people of The World, but, as time went by, I could tell he was treating them more and more like real people instead of digital code. Turning back to me, Dell continued his report with a frown.

  “About the only thing I would suggest changing is the pace of the march.”

  “What’s the problem?” I asked, as my stomach clenched up. Whenever things seemed to be going too good, a part of me always seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  “If we keep pushing our troopers this hard, they’re going to be at half strength for the battle you’re expecting tonight at best.” Assault Leader Dell replied, as he watched me closely. “I have Ayda assisting, but I’d still suggest alternating between ten minutes of jogging and five minutes of marching,” he explained. “The troopers have trained for this and with Ayda’s support it should let us arrive this evening at full strength.”

  I silently groaned. I’d completely forgotten about Ayda helping Assault Leader Dell to increase the speed of the Kayden Troopers on their march to Telrain. Yeah, I know that was pretty stupid of me, since she’d played such a big part in taking down Apoxsee. Without Dell’s constant help, I would have royally screwed this up.

  “When will that put us at the Uten Syn fortress?” I asked, trying to see how much that would affect our schedule. One of the things I’d unfortunately missed in my calculations was the ability of the people of The World to keep up the same pace as players. I didn’t even want to think how all of this would’ve gone down without the bard’s help. Although, with the new Emergency Hot Fix, this changed their capability even more. Thankfully, Assault Leader Dell had it all under control. As we talked, more of my friends and companions started to silently join the conversation.

  “We’ll arrive a little past six tonight.” Assault Leader Dell answered smartly.

  “Then let’s make it a ten-ten split,” I said trying to calculate how much later we’d arrive. “That should get us there by…”

  “A little after eight.” Assault Leader Dell answered knowingly. What can I say, math wasn’t my strong suit. Luckily, I had people like Dell helping me.

  “The problem is that I don’t know what to expect.” I said unhappily. “We’ll need everyone as fresh as possible for when we pull Domenic out. Plan on it being a fighting retreat all the way back to Palnisdale once we evac Domenic.”

  “What do you mean?” Sarka asked, from where she sat with her husband. “I just figured it would be just more running.”

  “Oh, we’ll be running our asses off,” I agreed. “But don't think those PKers are going to let us go once we steal their target away. I’m sure they’ll be chasing our asses all the way back to Palnisdale.”

  “By the way, don’t forget to have these meeting sessions blocked out of your streams,” I reminded everyone, before continuing as several people around the circle began making their signal for the stream to be private. “Right now, all of the Chaos Storm players that we took out in Telrain are probably going over our streams with a fine-tooth comb even as we speak, trying to figure out how best they can screw us over. They’ve been forced out of the game until around one o’clock this afternoon. So, once we hit the forces after Domenic, expect the fighting to be balls deep.”

  “Balls deep?” Unalia asked Tinyr, speaking a little too loud as the rest of us looked at her in surprise.

  “I’ll show you what he means later on tonight,” Tinyr somehow replied with a straight face.

  “He means, all the way in.” Jill coarsely joked, as she made a circle with one hand and stuck her finger through with the other. “You know, balls slapping up against the pussy deep.”

  Unalia’s hands clapped over her mouth as her eyes got big as saucers and her face
turned beet red, while the rest of us good-naturedly busted out laughing. Tinyr just acted like nothing had been said, while doing his best not to laugh as Unalia popped him hard in the arm. Even though the joking was all meant in good fun, I could tell that it was making Unalia somewhat uncomfortable at being the focus of everyone’s attention. Nonetheless, she surprised us all by lobbing the joke right back at Jill.

  “Thank you for such a visceral description, Kriminali. It sounds like you’ve had a lot of experience with being on your knees …” Unalia’s voice trailed off meaningfully as she looked back at the other woman innocently.

  “Oh, burn!” echoed out around the circle as the rest of us looked over at Unalia in shock. Even Jill was too stunned by the shy woman’s comeback for a snappy response. Who knew the quiet woman had it in her? Yeah, it took me a second to remember Jill’s in-game name was Kriminali. What was even more priceless was the serious tone of voice she’d used to deliver the comeback with. All that Jill could do was give the other woman a two-finger salute of respect.

  “Woohoo, so that means no more sitting around with our thumbs up our butts!” AJ excitedly said, pulling the focus of the conversation onto him. What can I say, all of us were used to diffusing catfights before they happened. Luckily enough, Jill had thought Unalia’s response was funny as hell and just laughed it off as the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I’m going to remind you about that when the whining starts up,” I said, giving AJ a thankful wink as Jill and Krystal smacked him in the back.

  “While all that is well and good, I’m mainly here to say that I’m leading the scout teams today,” Kenzie said, with a self-righteous tilt of her head as she interrupted us both.

  Kenzie smiled excitedly at the thought of face-murdering a bunch of Orcs. Instantly, Jill, Krystal, Unalia, Sarka, Zhou, Terry, Ulia, Brenna, Keela, Rayne, Neristhana, Bonnie Smash, and even Fylreh were clamoring to head out with the Rogue to hunt. Even Phoenix got in on the action without the other women even batting an eye, albeit I wasn’t sure how many knew she was really a guy. I swear it was like a group of women deciding to go to the bathroom together as all of the females in our group headed off chatting excitedly. The only women not wanting in on the action were the Devil Dog Frost Mage, Ayda, Helgath, and Neysa. Seeing my questioning look, Sara rolled her eyes.