The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame

by Brent Roth

  Resting with my body concealed underneath the log structure and head hiding behind the cracks, I watched as a few players and NPCs walked by. Conversations about their days reached my ears. They talked of their hunting plans, their dungeon plans, and even about their settlement plans. All those plans… and yet none of them would likely happen. Not in the way they were imagining it to happen, at the very least.

  The cold water was starting to get to me as I regained my composure and took a few shallow breaths. I needed to manage my breathing so as not to become overexcited in this situation with my heart already wanting to pound from the anticipation.

  Hiding under a shadow beneath the ripples of the river water, unnoticed and alone in a hostile territory filled with dozens of natural enemies, everything had been routine up until now. But now it was time to enact the second stage of the operation.

  It was time to give the signal.

  Diving back down to the bottom of the river, I made my way against the current and towards the eastern wall, in the direction of my boat hidden two miles out behind the curtain of brown, green, and white. Easily beating the weak current I stopped at the pile of logs with only one thing on my mind. The torches that had been left unlit every twenty feet or so and attached to the top of the walls were what I would use.

  One torch on the southern side of the river would be lit.

  The smoke would do the rest.

  Looking at the torch I was quickly dismayed and disturbed by the presence of a man, clearly an NPC that had wandered over to the water’s edge. A fisherman… hoping to use the log wall as a resting spot to fish from.

  On the inside of the village’s walls and directly in the way as I needed a clear path to light the torch, he was an obstacle. Standing where he was, my path was blocked and even if I could manage to sneak around him the act of lighting the torch would draw unneeded attention if not surely give me away.

  Without a weapon due to the glint of metal possibly giving up my position beneath the surface, the only weapons were my bare hands and the body of water that I resided in. The use of lightning was strictly prohibited as the ensuing thunder would damn it all.

  Lurking beneath the shadow of the logs I waited with breath held. In the shallow depths of the river, my face staring up at the man that was oblivious to what was to come, I waited for him to turn. His hands and eyes preoccupied with the wooden rod and the fixing of his lure, he continued to fiddle as he began to look for his bait stored in a crude tackle bag perched on top of the wood.

  As he turned his face slightly away and with shoulder now pointed to the side, I moved. Hands gripping the lowest log, I pulled myself up in a near instant as I simultaneously yanked on the man’s waist. Grabbing him with an arm while quickly throwing my free hand out to reach around his face, I clasped tightly around his mouth as I twisted and turned on the log and slid back into the water in relative silence.

  The entire movement was over in a second as the only sign of struggle above the surface was a small wave from the displaced water. Beneath the water’s surface though the man was fighting for his life as I wrapped him up from behind and began to wrestle with his mouth. There was no need for technique as the man had been caught off guard and without an understanding for his situation, his frantic clawing and kicking to reach the surface was of little use.

  The kicking of my powerful legs dragged us both to the bottom as the man’s futile attempts to break away grew weaker by the second. Arm wrapped around his neck and tucked deeply beneath his chin while my other hand covered his face, he tried desperately to pull my hands off but could not muster the strength.

  Then a few more seconds passed us by as the man’s movements had all but ceased and a small burst of bubbles escaped his mouth. Still in the shadow of the log, the man was no more. The last obstacle had been removed.

  Clutching his body with my right arm, I slowly rose to the surface and pulled the tackle bag and fishing rod into the water, eliminating any evidence as to his whereabouts. Holding onto the drowned man while checking the surroundings and catching my own breath, I needed to dispose of the body without anyone noticing.

  A quick trip to the ocean side of the village while dragging the body with me, I swam a good fifty yards past the wall before letting go. Watching as the body floated lifelessly down the river, I turned back and began my swim once again towards the eastern wall.

  Scouting and scanning the area, only one NPC was left but had been facing away from me for quite some time, busy working his craft without a care in the world. Crawling out along the edge of the riverbank, I stood up and walked nonchalantly towards the torch as an NPC happened to turn the corner.

  Without hesitation I smiled and nodded as the NPC did the same and continued on his way. Pacing myself to look as normal as possible, I made my way towards the torch and tossed the small bit of hot pitch that I had stored away onto it.

  Torch now burning steadily, I turned around and walked casually back towards the river and waited for random eyes to look the other way. Two people had seen me but they were none the wiser, believing me to be another player from a distance.

  Another player enjoying the icy cool water on a sunny winter day.

  That should have been a flag.

  Disappearing into the water I made my way towards the western wall for hopefully the last time as I began to prepare for the moment to come. The ship would arrive in five minutes or so, and these logs needed to be cleared before they were less than two minutes away. That gave me three minutes to accomplish my task.

  Resting and relaxing for a second as I mentally ran my plans over once more, it was now time to act. Slipping out of the water, I quietly and casually moved towards the first of the logs that had been angled in such a way to prevent the whole thing from collapsing. Quickly picking it up as I had done thousands of times before, I walked the log towards the riverbank and gently placed it down parallel to the bank. Crossing over to the other side I repeated the process as no one had yet to notice my actions.

  Two logs were already floating down the river towards the ocean, with only ten more to go. Grabbing the log off the top while keeping my body hidden behind the remainder of the shrinking wall, I dumped the log and restarted the process until every log had been ditched into the river. Diving beneath the last log as I swam back towards the eastern wall, someone had finally noticed what was happening as shouts began to fill the air.

  Unable to understand the words as I remained underwater, I quickly pulled myself up and out on the other side and pulled the logs with a casual demeanor that didn’t seem out of place. The population of NPCs and players that ran towards the western wall were confused and baffled by the events while the eastern wall was being reduced at the very same moment.

  Then someone looked out to the east and saw the ship approaching in the distance and hell finally broke loose. Only four logs left and with the ship less than two minutes out, I finished my task and dove back into the water as I held my breath and waited for the ship to come. Another minute passed by as the village entered into a panic.

  Men and women were running about in an attempt to prepare for the raid that was sure to come, gathering their gear and forming up into groups to defend themselves. Other players were busy running around the village looking for intruders that were surely there but their search was a fruitless one. From the bottom of the river I could only see blurred bodies run past but I knew what they were doing.

  It was all too simple to see in my mind.

  And then my boat finally reached the village’s edge as it cut through the water at nearly top speed. A full sail and with all hands rowing hard along with the current, I waited for the ship to pass as I hooked my arm around a looped rope left at the edge of the boat. Pulled up by two men at the back and brought onboard with a quickness born from experience, I readied myself as I grabbed a shield and began to defend myself from the raining arrows and spells.

  Standing up as we entered the middle of the village, I stood
tall and still as I met the eyes of the men and women who tried to oppose me. Waving as if I were on a float in the middle of a parade, I turned and made sure to wave to everyone in the vicinity.

  The attacks ceased for a moment as they stared in confusion at what was happening, clearly expecting us to attack but with no such attack ever coming. Twenty seconds later we had passed through the village and were on our way out towards the coast. There was no action taken to burn the village down this time, as they had barely rebuilt what was burnt down the first time.

  No, this raid was purely for psychological reasons. We could come whenever we wanted and there wasn’t a thing they could do to stop us. This was a warning of things to come… the psychological warfare had only begun. This was my war.

  And it would be fought my way.

  Chapter 84: Return to Port

  (Sunday, December 5th Game Day / Saturday, April 24th Real Day)

  “I’ll have two servings of the mutton and cabbage,” I said clearly over the noise of the crowd immediately behind me. “Send one over there yeah?”

  “Again lad?” asked the old man.

  Simply nodding and turning my attention elsewhere, my plans were in full effect across the North and the major factor now was mainly time. Opening the in-game browser in order to check the forums, one user was kind enough to stream the harmless raid with my face luckily too far away to be clearly seen. The forum thread had already filled out to a few pages as hundreds of posters wanted to chime in.

  Joining the fun, I used a screen capture from the uploaded video and edited in a quote for the hell of it. Captioning the picture of me waving to the crowd while standing at the back of the boat, the parody read, “they see me floatin’, they hatin’.”

  I wasn’t exactly riding dirty but in a way, I kind of did them dirty.

  Posting the picture in the thread under an anonymous name that everyone could see, I left without bothering to read the rest of the replies as there were far too many. The few that were read though only continued to prove to me that people had wildly differing perspectives. Some took the situation as a stupid waste of time, others saw it as trolling at its finest. My belief was that it was somewhere in between.

  One single event wasn’t enough to sway the hearts and minds, especially with such a small event. Tomorrow was another day though and with it came new opportunities to terrorize and disturb. After the day is over and they return to their normal activities, believing it to be over but certainly more cautious than normal, they’ll find that even the forests that surround them are no longer as safe as they once were.

  They had imagined plans and were ready to carry them out.

  Unfortunately it wouldn’t be that simple for them.

  “Hey Barik, where are you and the guys at now?” I asked, having sent a voice call to the dwarf that had recently logged into the game.

  “We’re set up down south of ye,” he replied after a minute had passed. “Got a place ‘ere near Byrnfast, south a bit of Wesstown, the heartland.”

  “South of Wesstown?” I asked again to clarify, surprised that they had moved so deeply into the central kingdoms. “Byrnfast by the coast at least?”

  “Yeh ‘bout an hour from the coast, two hours down from Wesstown,” he answered.

  “Well shit,” I exclaimed somewhat in disappointment as they were too far to pick up by boat. “Was going to invite you guys for a little fun but hah never mind that, you lot are too far gone for me to come and get you.”

  “Ye don’t need even need us mate,” he laughed back in reply. “I see ye trollin’ and rollin’ on over ‘em without a care in the world. If ye wanted, ye could ‘ave smashed ‘em.”

  “Eh there’s just no fun in that,” I whined. “All the buildup just to end it all at once? Nah no way, needs to be drawn out so one can savor the finer details!”

  “Or ye can join us down ‘ere where the big boys play,” he countered quickly. “There’s fightin’ every day down ‘ere, big guilds moving too. Money to be made mate.”

  “When I’m done with my business here I’ll head down,” I said with a sigh. “Have a few things to take care of, clean up, if you will.”

  “Meh do what ye need to do,” he said calmly. “We’ll be around for a while yet.”

  “Yeah, sounds good then, I’ll hit you up later.”

  Ending the call there with some disappointment lingering in my mind, the thought that I might actually be missing out on a lot of fun in the middle kingdoms was an unfortunate one. Speeding up my current plans struck me as an option but to do so meant cutting corners and I wasn’t a fan of that.

  One should finish what they start.

  Well, the central territories, the middle kingdoms, they were certainly filled with the largest guilds in the game and if one of those mobilized and decided to push into the North there would be little in the way to stop them. Barik said there was money to be made as well, which meant there was either an abundance of NPC quests or guilds were offering quests of some sort. I could offer quests in Dragon’s Breach if I wanted, so perhaps the large guilds did the same. Offer coin for every enemy player killed.

  That seemed logical if one was short of manpower.

  Costly, but big guilds had big budgets to go along with their size. If they had territory then they could raise taxes and demand tribute. If the area was war-torn then there was all the more reason for people to seek protection. It made sense.

  Taxes huh, my land was tax free.

  And it would stay that way for all of my NPCs. Players might be taxed reasonably in the future but I would never tax my NPCs. They already worked for me and in return for their services they all received a daily wage and a portion of the profit generated from their work. In the end it made for a happy population without any signs of dissent and a workforce that worked hard at every turn.

  Give a person freedom and the opportunity for success and they might surprise you. Freedom in Dragon’s Breach wasn’t truly free though, they were directed slightly. Strings pulled from above the curtain, they worked the way I wanted them to work.

  Their freedom… was what they did on their spare time.

  I was the employer after all.

  It was only fair.

  By the end of the night the bar at the inn had largely cleared out as the majority of the NPCs returned to their homes. The few stragglers left were the usual curious sort, drunks and bums and a lonely girl that only stared at the wall.

  She ate her plate this time as well.

  As I was about to call it a night, the oldest bum made his way over to my side of the bar and sat down next to me with an empty mug in hand. How he could afford to drink while clearly unemployed was a mystery to me but there were always cases like that in the real world too. When one is down and needs a drink, one always seem to find a way.

  “Good evenin’,” I said to the old sailor with a nod.

  “Lovely evenin’ ain’t it,” he replied with a little spin on his wooden stool. Peering at me with large, wide eyes that seemed far too big on his shriveled old head, he lifted his chin slightly as his lips curled up and then took a peek at my drink.

  “Whatcha’ havin’ there sonny?” the expressive old man finally asked.

  “Ah, house specialty, when in the region one should drink local right?” I said.

  “Hm hm house specialty, I’m not sure I’m familiar with that one,” he replied with a frown and wandering eyes that shifted towards the upper corner, as if he were deep in thought. Twiddling his fingers as he continued to avoid my gaze, I couldn’t help but grin.

  Realizing his play, I was in a good enough mood to give a wink at the barkeep that was busy shaking his head off to the side. Putting two fingers up to signal my intent, I resumed my conversation with the drunk old sailor.

  “Oh it’s your lucky day then,” I said playfully.

  “Am I lucky sonny?” he asked. “You don’t say, well I did feel lucky this morning!”

  As the ales were brought over and
one was pushed in his direction, his large, wide eyes nearly doubled in size for a second as he licked his lips and grabbed the mug carefully with both hands. Holding the mug as if it had been filled to the brim and would spill at the slightest movement, he slowly sipped from the top and seemed to be enjoying every moment. Clearly cherishing the little pleasures in his life, I couldn’t find it in me to be upset with his game. He might not have been real but the sentiment remained.

  One had no clue as to what another person’s life was like and that crazy old man could very well have been a standup individual at one point. A hard life nearing its end, and it turns to the one solace that remains.

  I didn’t know the man’s story but it didn’t matter, he could enjoy the ale.

  A few minutes passed as the old sailor finally finished his drink with a verbal sigh of happiness. Pushing the fresh empty mug away and grabbing the original empty mug that he had brought with him, he turned to me and gave his thanks.

  Then as quickly as he had entered, he left.

  Taking his original mug with him.

  “So he brings the empty mug into the bar,” I said out loud as the barkeep came by.

  “Indeed, he brings it every day,” was the reply.

  “He keeps it clean.”

  An old man bringing his own cup, socializing and trying to fit in while unable to actually afford a drink. To socialize with those far younger as his friends were likely all gone from the world. A sad reality of life.

  Opening my dwindling coin purse, there was enough left to pay for two more nights at the inn plus a couple coppers in case of emergency. Placing the extra coppers on the counter and pushing it towards the end of the bar with the empty mugs, I got up and headed towards the stairs.

  “If you could, spread that out for him yeah?” I asked the barkeep as I left.

  “Sure,” was the reply.