A Trap for the Potentate

by Michael Atamanov

  Before, during the Great Hunt, I had always stayed a step ahead of the majority of players, who were easy to predict, making unexpected moves and muddling my tracks. But now, Antonius Just had predicted the route of my army and the place I was most likely to spend the night, the well-defended Lower Fort on the banks of the river Styx. The only thing the traitor had been mistaken about was that he had seriously underestimated the movement speed of my army and supposed the orcs would arrive to the fort at night, along with their vampire chieftain, who should most likely be afraid of sunlight and thus could not appear in Boundless Realm until sundown.

  The Lifegiving Light's calculation was based on letting me get to the fort and change my respawn point here. After that, they would suddenly open a portal and the whole clan would burst into the fortress to destroy everything alive. At the same time as that landing party, another fifteen players from the first group were going to log in, having jumped to the fort earlier using just such a portal scroll in order to evaluate the situation on the ground.

  “As far as I know, there were other players preparing to jump through the portal together with our clan. The greedy Antonius Just even sold 'tickets' to the vampire hunt. But they were only expecting activity closer to eleven this evening, or maybe even midnight. Who could have thought that you'd get to the fort so early...?”

  I asked the paladin, as if in passing, where the portal came out in the fort and was told it was right on top of the respawn stone. Great! That simplified things greatly! The captive couldn't have known about our preparations but, meanwhile, my friends should have been nearly finished booby-trapping the stone. In just a little bit, the unfortunate guests and any players trying to respawn could expect a big surprise!!!

  Considering the conversation with the bound prisoner finished, I fed him a whole vial of Elixir of Cure Disease with my own hands in order to imitate healing and not have to explain why he'd never truly be infected with vampirism. Then, I gave a wave to Akella, who was standing nearby, and the Hardened Forest Wolf quickly tore open the throat of the helpless prisoner, sending the paladin to respawn.

  Animal Control skill increased to level 43!

  Experience received: 4720 Exp.

  Level fifty-two!

  I noted with satisfaction that my loyal Akella had gone up seven levels from just one lone enemy and was now even higher level than his master. I barely got a few drips of experience for that...I supposed, considering the curse, I needed to do whatever I could so Amra wouldn’t share their experience, otherwise it would just disappear into thin air. And as for the “particularly sweet” enemies, I should purposely feed them to the Gray Pack, because my predators were getting a respectable 75% bonus to experience.

  Based on those calculations, I didn't help my friends place sharpened stakes around the respawn stone. Let the forest nymph, ogre and naiad share the likely large prize among themselves for the attackers landing in the trap. I told my friends my decision, and found complete understanding. And while my companions were busy with construction, I decided to deal with my new messages and... froze in surprise.

  The spiked ball on a chain had long been in Amra's main weapon slot but, meanwhile, there was still a message flickering that I had a package waiting for me. What the hell?! I opened the message and, just then, a couple of ghastly looking winged demons appeared a step away. They threw a wooden box bound with metal bands carelessly at my feet, then disappeared without a trace.

  On the outside of the heavy and apparently voluminous box there was a sheet of paper affixed with red wax, and I read the measured calligraphic handwriting:

  “Our new confrere! You're just the eighteenth of us in all Boundless Realm, and the youngest of our cohort. Take this gift from more experienced and cautious players, and may it help you survive in this harsh and unjust world.”

  The latches of the box were easy to throw back. As soon as I had the lid open, I saw a bunch of flasks carefully placed atop fresh hay. Each of them had a barely visible tag describing the contents. A plaque on the inside of the lid read: “Complete Collection of Blood Samples of the Inhabitants of the Lilac Mountains of the Eastern Continent, Fifty Vials.”

  I didn't find the name of the mystery sender, and the strange letter disappeared from my mailbox as soon as I opened the package. But such clandestine secrecy was perfectly understandable. Apparently, a vampire player with carefully guarded anonymity had decided to help me level my vampiric abilities as fast as possible. Although... If I thought about it, the box of blood samples could have been sent with just as much success by someone trying to pretend to be a vampire to earn my trust. In any case, the blood was real, which I immediately became convinced of after tasting a few samples:

  Achievement unlocked: Taste Tester (93/1000)

  Achievement unlocked: Taste Tester (94/1000)

  ...

  Achievement unlocked: Taste Tester (100/1000)

  New racial ability unlocked: Incorporeity

  Your character may become incorporeal for thirty seconds, making him invulnerable to physical damage

  Using this ability will cost 50 Endurance Points, recharge time is 24 hours

  A new cloud-shaped pictogram popped up on my screen next to the icons for Night Vision, Search for Life and Undead Apathy. What could I say? This was great news. Now, Amra could escape a battle if everything turned out wrong. But after that, I decided to stop the blood sampling, so I wouldn’t repeat the error I'd made drinking too much blood in Dotur-Khawe. Last time, my Goblin Vampire had become intoxicated for a prolonged period. What was more, the boy Johnny, the best sentry in my army, came up to me just then:

  “Captain Amra, there's a thick white fog coming up the river. I can’t see through it at all, but I heard a few splashes and screeches from the river, as if someone was rowing with oars. The other sentries are laughing at me. They say I've been bitten by the fear bug. But I decided to warn you just in case...”

  I always took Johnny’s warnings very seriously, because the smart and ambitious boy had proven several times that he was the best sentry in my squadron. So, I ordered the orcs to carry the heavy chest of vials into my tent, which the orcs had already pitched in the very center of the fort, despite the fact that there were little houses perfectly suited for their commander to live in. I then went up to the northern sentry tower after Johnny. The area beyond the fort walls was so thick with fog it looked like the river and earth were covered in a layer of milk milk.

  “Hey, I heard a sound from over there!” said the boy, pointing in one direction, but immediately slightly shifting his hand. “No, the sound is coming from over there! Can you hear it? It sounds like oars splashing!”

  Perception check failed

  No, I couldn't hear any suspicious sounds, no matter how I strained my huge green ears. There was no oar splashing, nor any screeching of oarlocks. Just the croaking of some far-off frogs, the barely audible lapping of river waves on sand and the abrupt guttural cries of a swamp bird. Nevertheless, I had no reason not to trust the observant sentry boy, so I activated Night Vision and Search for Life, making the gloomy world more contrasting, and warm-blooded creatures easier to see. I nearly shouted in fear!

  On the river, just fifty meters from the walls of our fort, there were at least ten long narrow boats filled with huge creatures! The unexpected visitors were stealing right up to our fort under cover of fog. There were more than a hundred, maybe even nearly two. I could see that many of them were armed. It seemed these mysterious strangers had aggressive intentions, but I couldn't tell why they were going so slow and not attacking the fort.

  By the way, as soon as I noticed the attackers sneaking up to the fort, their markers appeared on the mini-map, and they were round and red. NPC's, not living players! Also, the mobs were aggressively inclined and, what was more, I saw black skulls over the figures on the river, which meant they were more than fifty levels higher than me. My heart still slightly slowed its pace.

  Then, suddenly, there was a bre
ak in the fog, and I saw the unexpected guests clearly. Strong muscular figures, some of them were wearing leather vests or chainmail, but most of the warriors were stripped to the belt and marked with screamingly loud war paint on their torsos. But most importantly, they had the heads of canines on totally human bodies. Rougarous! I immediately remembered that the Lower Fort was located on the border of their lands.

  I sent my sister a private message about the arrival of our aggressive rougarou neighbors, and asked her to organize our defenders on the walls without too much noise. I then ordered Johnny to remain here on the sentry tower and blow the alarm horn only if something happened to me and decisively jumped off the sentry tower down to the wall of the fort. Yes, the height was extreme, seven meters, but I did a somersault down a slope when I landed, significantly easing the fall, so I didn't get seriously wounded.

  Successful Agility check

  Experience received: 17 Exp.

  Acrobatics skill increased to level 21!

  At first glance, my actions may have seemed spontaneous, senseless or poorly thought out, but they were nothing of the sort. My big-eared Goblin Herbalist had a very significant bonus to the reaction of rougarous, so I wasn't expecting them to be aggressive toward me. And if that didn't work, I could always include the two most dangerous enemies in the Gray Pack, thus removing them from the enemy army. But I had to figure out why the high-level rougarous had shown up near the fort before the dog-headed creatures collided with my orcs in battle.

  I didn't even manage to get to the water's edge before a whole bedsheet of messages ran before my eyes about successful Charisma checks and rougarou reactions. The NPC markers on the mini-map changed color from red to yellow. The hostility had dissipated. The bowmen I had not noticed earlier, who'd already managed to land on the bank and hide in the rocks, dropped their weapons on my approach. So far, my calculation was fully justified.

  “What a splendid little goblin boy! His ears are so cute! I want to take him as my pet!” came the dainty voice of a capricious girl from one of the boats. I turned to the sound.

  Chai-nee Shu

  Princess of the Clan of the White Lily

  Level-84 Rougarou Huntress

  At the very bow of the boat in a long dark-green cloak, there was a pretty girl, whose anthropoid body transitioned surprisingly harmoniously into the snout of a shaggy little dog. Huge “anime” eyes, gold earrings on fluffy protruding ears and sharp teeth completed the image of the Rougarou Princess. Overall, the huntress looked funny and unusual. By the way, she was the only one marked with a red skull, not black, meaning she was “just” 20+ levels above my Amra. Also, Chai-nee Shu's marker on the mini-map was the only green one, meaning friendly.

  “Bring him to me, I'll take this little goblin as a living toy!”

  What?! That was already an excessive and perverse expression of friendship. I was not at all at peace with the living as the house pet of an NPC princess. But meanwhile, the two soldiers nearest me had already jumped from their boats into the shallows and were lunging in my direction to carry out their Princess’s order. I had to demonstrate my power to the rougarou. I grabbed one of the clawed paws stretching out toward me and squeezed it in my hand.

  Successful Strength check

  Experience received: 180 Exp.

  The distinct crunch of breaking bones rang out, drowned out by shouts of pain. I didn't torture the Rougarous, who hadn't done anything wrong, and quickly let the crippled warriors go. After that, annoyedly dismissing the popup system messages suggesting Amra take Hand-to-Hand Combat or Butcher as secondary skills, I spoke loudly:

  “Great and wonderful Princess Chai-nee Shu! It seems there's been an understanding and you've taken me for someone else! I assure you, I am not some inoffensive little critter, and certainly not a house pet. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Amra, the leader of an orcish army. And if you were leading your brave warriors to this fort, I'm afraid I have to upset you. My savages have already cut down the group of undying inside. Orcs and Goblins are not enemies of the Rougarou, so I am enthusiastic to see your war party at the walls of the riverine fortress, because we have something to offer you, something to warn you about, and something to ask of you.”

  The rougarous didn't reach for their weapons, although that was thanks to the fact that they were still watching their Princess, awaiting her decision. Chai-nee Shu, meanwhile, was in pensive silence, and I couldn't predict her response based on the bored expression frozen on her fluffy snout. I mean, even professional poker players showed more emotion than this frozen hairy mask!

  Finally, one of the large rougarous in the boat walked up to the Princess and whispered something to her barely audibly. Amra failed another Perception check, so I couldn't hear a single one of her advisor's words. At the same time, I was attentively watching the quite remarkable rougarou:

  Uvari-Dor Shu

  Regent of the Clan of the White Lily

  Level-124 Rougarou Druid

  Regent?! So here was the true leader of the clan, as Princess Chai-nee Shu was still considered underage! And she clearly heeded the words of her advisor because, right after his hint, she finally came to a decision and pronounced in a celebratory voice:

  “An enemy of an enemy is practically a friend! The Clan of the White Lily is happy to discuss any issue with you and invites Captain Amra, as well as all of his warriors to our camp. How many of you are there?”

  “I have around three hundred under my command,” I answered honestly. A strangely long pause followed.

  The Regent whispered something else to the Princess, but this time the girl objected:

  “But I already promised I'd invite all of Amra's warriors! I cannot go back on my word!”

  “Very well, My Princess,” Uvari-Dor Shu answered with a deep bow of respect, “we'll bring enough boats to the fort to carry all our guests.”

  Land of the Giants

  THE LAST THING I saw on the shore of the River of Death was a blaze so bright it turned night into day, with huge tongues of flame lapping above the walls of the Lower Fort. No, we didn't torch it. It was as reliable a shelter for those travelling along the Styx as could be imagined. The huge hot fire was burning right on top of the respawn stone. My sister thought it would be a better trap than sharpened wooden stakes. Valerianna Quickfoot had reinforced the raging flames with ghastly spells from her death magic arsenal. Shaman Ghuu got in on the act as well, adding his magical contribution and guaranteed me that the fire would kill anything alive and carry on burning until at least the middle of the next day.

  I was next to the Princess in the boat, and Chai-nee Shu was enthusiastically telling me the story of her tribe. Constant border wars with neighboring clans, temporary alliances and breakdowns over issues that seemed minor, but were moments of principal to the rougarou. For example, who got to sit to the right of the chieftain of a united army during a banquet, or the use of notched arrows in a hunting competition during the Autumn Rut.

  But with all their many-year if not many-century history of constant border conflicts between tribes, the rougarou had certain rules for their warfare. For example, the conflict immediately ended if any member of a ruling family was taken prisoner, at which point the parties negotiated only about payout size. Also, an injured enemy was never killed, and none of their neighbors even thought of raising a hand against a child or pregnant female. These eternal conflicts kept the warriors in good shape, but didn't threaten the existence of the clans themselves.

  But everything changed when the undying came...

  “It's like they simply have no understanding of honor!” the Princess lamented, raising her paws to the sky in a vain attempt to call vengeance on the lowdown newcomers. “For the undying, there's no difference between a warrior and a helpless newborn. They kill everyone! They even killed our truce envoy, even though he came to their camp unarmed and with peace symbols on his body, in accordance with every rule! Why do they act this way?!”

  In her naive
ty and faith in justice, Chai-nee Shu reminded me greatly of Taisha in the very first days of our acquaintance. The Goblin Girl had also sincerely not understood why players had attacked the NPC village of Tysh, saying the peaceable goblins living there hadn't done anything wrong to them, so the undying had no reason to attack. Now, I guessed that before me was another next-generation NPC and, to test that theory, I started talking about the world of the undying, but Chai-nee Shu immediately dropped out of the conversation and let all my words go in one ear and out the other. All the same, as soon as I returned to in-game events, the Princess latched back in with vigor.

  In the last year and a half, the Clan of the White Lily had seen several harsh undying attacks and, three times, had even been forced to move their main camp. The last attack had happened just two months earlier, when undying traveling on boats up the black river had discovered the rougarou camp and cut down practically half of its inhabitants. Among those killed in the cruel carve-up were Chai-nee Shu's parents, after which power in the tribe had gone to the young princess. According to the huntress, the rougarou of the Clan of the White Lily had learned a painful lesson and hidden their new camp location well so, now, it would only be possible to reach it by water, and only by those who knew the lie of the confusing waterways and swampy banks of the black river.

  “This evening, our scouts saw some people at the fortress. What was more, my subjects recognized some of them. These people were among those who killed my parents and many other clanmates. So, I ordered all warriors of the White Lily to prepare for battle and, together, we swore to get revenge on the newcomers for that vile attack!!! But you got them first...”