The True Enemy Revealed

by Jason Cheek

  We went over the plan for a good hour before coming to an agreement. No one was happy at the rotten reject of a plan we finally hammered out, well no one except me. Then again, I was willing to be at ground zero to make sure this came off without a hitch. No, that wasn’t a figure of speech either. It was an essential part of the entire plan, and one I was holding close to my chest. Because, if there was anyone who could get Julie to lose her temper, it was me.

  Standing up, I held out a hand to Prince Lekroth to shake on the agreement. As he took my hand, a system window popped open before my eyes with the specifics of our plan.

  New Quest! Evacuate the townsfolk from the city of Telrain and bring them to safety!

  You have uncovered the Chaos Storm guild’s plot to sellout the Kingdom of Kader to the northern invaders and their plan to blame the royal family for the fall of the Isolde Line so that they can rule over the survivors. You’ve confirmed that they are responsible for assassinating the King of Kader, selling-out Princess Reeva to the Sea Orcs, and kidnapping Prince Lekroth to take control over the monarchy, and are now holding the city of Telrain hostage upon threat of annihilation with a scroll of Meteor Strike. You have also confirmed the guild’s complicity in betraying the city of Darom and its people to the northern Sea Orcs as payment for their assistance in destroying the kingdom and the Isolde Line. You have come up with a bold plan to rescue Princess Reeva from her execution, a way to save Prince Lekroth from his captors, and a method to safely evacuating the people of Telrain. Prince Lekroth has agreed to carry out your plans if you can evacuate eighty percent of the population of Telrain before his sister’s execution. Lastly, remove the ability for the Chaos Storm alliance to hold any other cities hostage with the scroll of Meteor Strike.

  Objective 1: Evacuate eighty percent of the city of Telrain’s population before Princess Reeva’s execution.

  Objective 2: Get the survivors to safety or as many to safety as possible in the coming invasion.

  Objective 3: Remove the scroll of Meteor Strike from Chaos Storm’s arsenal.

  Objective 4: Stop the Kingdom of Kader from falling.

  Time Remaining for Princess Reeva’s execution: Fourteen hours and thirty-seven minutes.

  Difficulty: Nightmare.

  Reward: Unknown.

  Accept: Yes / No

  For a long moment, I just stared at the quest details in shock. It almost felt like someone was messing with me. How was the game able to setup a quest with the points we’d just agreed to that covered the actions of a newfar guild? The quest objectives were insane and looked nearly impossible to accomplish. As I read through the details, Prince Lekroth simply waited while holding my hand.

  Looking over the objectives, I began to see a pattern. These were the main points the four of us had identified as key points to the whole mission. Each one had much further reaching consequences then a simple quest could possibly cover as a reward. Take “Objective 3: Remove the scroll of Meteor Strike from Chaos Storm’s arsenal.” for an example. I might receive recognition and experience for completing this quest, but reward-wise, it could be a number of different outcomes.

  A good example of this would be not having Chaos Storm be able to use the scroll against my own defenses. Another would be removing Chaos Storm’s ability to blackmail the other race’s leaders. Well, maybe that last one wasn’t the best example. I could see Julie using that somehow to her advantage. Anyway, you get the point. With a silent sigh, I accepted the quest.

  What was that saying? Go big or go home? With that accomplished, we began preparing to leave as Prince Lekroth killed the lights. He was just escorting us to the open window, when a dark silhouette suddenly filled the opening.

  “What the fuck? Are you guys sitting around singing Kumbaya in here?” Kenzie’s sarcastic voice called out in annoyance, from where she crouched on the windowsill. “Or are you boys and girls having an orgy with lover boy here?”

  “What, feeling left out for a change?” I shot back without hesitation as the Rogue’s face darkened at the comeback. One glance at Neristhana’s face told me she wasn’t at all happy about the comment. Inconspicuously, I put a hand on the back of her neck to stop her from pouncing on the other woman only to be caught off-guard by Prince Lekroth’s sharp tongue.

  “I take it this spiteful trollop is with you?” The Prince said in the most hauteur voice he could muster. Somehow, I smoothed the grin on my face as Kenzie snapped back irritably.

  “I take it that Blondie here was the Prince Backstabber you were looking for?” Kenzie asked sweetly as I was forced to stop Prince Lekroth from lunging past me. Keeping a tight grip on him, I shook my head at the woman.

  “Are you here for a reason?” I asked, trying not to snap at my friend. “Because, we just finished and were headed back down.”

  In one way, I understood her annoyance. Kenzie had an itch to slaughter fucktards and she’d been stuck waiting for action all day without any release. It was driving her mad. Besides, even if she could be a rotten bitch at times, she was my rotten bitch and she’d come all the way from BrokenFang Hold to give me a hand. The least I could do was take some of her shit. Realizing that, I spoke up before she could come back with a snappy reply.

  “The good news though, is that tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath.” That brought a smile to her lips.

  “What’s the bad news then?” Kenzie asked, knowing how these things typically worked out.

  “We’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.” I said, nodding for her to let us past.

  “We?” Kenzie asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “If you want a check in the win column, then it’s a we.” I said in no uncertain terms.

  “Well then, WE need to get going.” Kenzie said, giving the “we” emphasis. “Patrols have started showing up inside the keep and outside the walls.” Seeing the look of concern on my face, she hurriedly held up a palm. “They’re just regular patrols, but I didn’t want you caught off-guard.”

  “Then let’s head out,” I said, signaling for her to proceed. Giving me a final sarcastic grin, she ducked back out the window and disappeared into the night. Turning around, I gripped the other man’s wrist as first Rani and then Neristhana followed her out. “Just follow the plan, Prince. We’ll get you out of there alive, I promise.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Prince Lekroth said uncomfortably. “You’re not the one going splat.”

  “Nope,” I agreed, slapping the Prince on the back. “I’m the man going to be crushed and burned alive.”

  “True enough,” Prince Lekroth agreed, uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck.

  “Don’t worry about it.” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. Thinking about Neristhana and Kenzie being together without me down below, I hurried to the window. “It’s a good plan.”

  “Hold up for a moment,” Prince Lekroth suddenly said. Hurrying over to me, he quickly took a necklace from around his neck and tucked it in my hand. A quick glance showed that it was an amulet with a star on the front that was capped with a golden crown. “This is my personal sigil. It will let the people know you speak with my voice.”

  Without saying a word, Helgath leaped up next to me as I tucked the sigil in my pouch. Giving the Prince a nod in farewell, I snaked an arm around Helgath’s waist and ducked out into the night as the Half-Orc swung onto my back. The descent was easy enough and I arrived just in time to stop a fight. While Helgath dropped down to the ground next to me, I stepped in-between Neristhana and Kenzie who were eyeing one another unhappily. Neither had attacked the other, but I figured it was only their professionalism that had held them back. Frowning at them both, I signaled for everyone to move out.

  Our trip back was uneventful. Phoenix greeted me with a relieved smile as we scaled the wall after a quick check with Sarka. The fighter urged us to hurry, since patrols had noticeably stepped up. As I dropped over the wall, Helgath dropped down next to me while Sarka gave me a quick hug in greeting, before urging me to cro
ss the kill zone. I didn’t argue but trusted her to know what she was up to. Half way across, I was met by an excited Neysa who nearly bowled me over.

  Helgath leapt to the Silver Dire Wolf’s back as we sprinted to the building where Tinyr and his group kept watch. In less than a minute, the rest of the raid had made it across without any shouts of alarm sounding. Calling for Tinyr and his people to join us, I nodded for Rani to lead the way as soon as they arrived.

  Our last stop of the night made me somewhat uncomfortable. Not that we had any issues with newfar patrols. In fact, it seemed most of the Chaos Storm members had either been called back to the keep or had logged for the evening. The problem was who we were meeting up with. Since my dealings with the Royal Forces and the Kingdom of Kader, no one had anything good to say about the Priests of Light. If anything, as an organization they seemed more corrupt than a two-mouthed politician.

  The massive structure that the Priests of Light called home in Telrain reminded me of a gothic stone church from Earth. It was decidedly different than the massive tree that held the priests in the center of Delonshire and made me wonder if the difference was cultural in nature. Rani didn’t lead us to the main entrance, but instead, guided us to the rear of the property where there were crumbling stone walls and mausoleum-like structures that looked to have been abandoned for centuries.

  Leading us to a nondescript stone crypt, Rani guided us through the stone archway. Inside the squat structure was a simple ramp going down into the bowels of the earth. The Investigator led us down without hesitation as Kenzie and Tinyr scouted ahead. As always, I followed the concept of trust but verify. Everywhere I looked, there were rows upon rows of stone coffins that made up the sloping walls. Each was marked with the names of the dead, the dates they lived, and a short description of the person’s life. I would have found it interesting if not for the quest’s timer ticking down with every second.

  The ramp let out into a four-way intersection of a catacomb. Three of the corridors required Dark Vision, while the last was lit with torches every twenty feet. Nothing was visible down any of the darkened corridors, but the lighted one seemed to let out in a larger room not a hundred yards out. Even without Rani to guide us, it would have been obvious where to go.

  I signaled for Tinyr to keep watch at the ramp, while Phoenix’s group took his place to scout ahead. My reasoning was that Tinyr’s perception was much higher than anyone else’s in the raid, so it made sense to have him keeping a watch on our six. We were only half way down the corridor, when Kenzie voice reported in raid chat.

  “We’re coming up to the cavern now. I see a group of twenty Combat Priests all level forty guarding the entrance. All are heavily armed and armored.”

  “I wouldn’t proceed further.” Rani hurriedly said in raid chat. “There are anti-stealth runes etched into the floor just inside the cavern.”

  “Thanks for that advanced warning on the Stealth runes!” Kenzie replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “We’re holding position.”

  “What’s with all the players and people around here?” Phoenix asked in surprise. “It looks like they’re all living down here.”

  “I see Priest Trainers towards the back of the cavern and stairs going up.” Kenzie continued with her report. “Along with what appears to be several hundred refuges in the main cavern. Most of the newfar were in their level twenties, with just five in the low thirties.”

  “Refuge refugees or civilian soldiers?” I asked in a tight voice.

  “What’s the difference?” Sarka asked, looking at me in surprise as Kenzie answered nonplused.

  “Normal refugees, lots of families with women and children along with some ex-soldiers.

  “Sometimes in the sandbox, the terrorist would send in soldiers dressed as civilians to infiltrate the refugee camps.” Zhou answered, her voice tight as if she were living an uncomfortable memory. “You’d think the tactic would be relatively obvious to catch with anyone with half a brain, but it’s amazing how blind some people can choose to be.”

  “Everyone, make sure to keep your guard up and your eyes open for anything unusual. Even if this place is on the up and up, I don’t want to get blindsided.” I ordered, making sure my sword was loose in its sheath and my shield was free.

  “These people are not your enemies,” Rani grumbled, doing her best to remain calm while trying to reassure everyone. “They’re newfar that are being hunted by Chaos Storm and their allies and people of The World that were imprisoned in work camps or rescued off the streets.”

  “Any idea who’s running the rescue operations?” I asked, trying to get as much information on the situation as I could. While everything she said might be perfectly true, I still did a quick set of buffs while Rani talked. Light’s Blessing, Holy Shield, and Enhanced Mage Armor, I held off on Bone Shield and Bone Fangs for now, figuring the Priests of Light would be all butt hurt over my Dark Magic enough without rubbing it in their faces.

  “The guild members of Midnight Sun usually make the runs with a bunch of lower level newfar. They head out nightly to rescue those they can.” Rani explained as we reached the main corridor and came to a stop behind our scouts to scan the cavern.

  It looked like any refugee camp I’d ever seen on TV, albeit there seemed to be a divide between the players and the people of The World. The guild Midnight Sun sounded familiar. I know I’d heard of the guild from somewhere before, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember. Still, nothing seemed to be triggering my gamer sense. The only usual thing about the whole arrangement was that the Combat Priests weren’t here to keep the refugees inside, but were here in case they came under attack.

  The Combat Priests were the first I’d seen in game and looked quite impressive. They all wore a fitted iron chain-mail shirt with a highly ornate copper neck ring and belt. Similar to the Royal Knights, they had elbow-high gauntlets and pauldrons to protect their arms. Their lower legs were similarly protected with iron shin guards and thick brown leather boots. On top of everything, they wore white hooded cloaks that would easily act like heavy leather armor if they were attacked from behind. That same thick leather was also worn as war-skirt to protect their upper legs and groin.

  Weapon wise, each unit of ten had two configurations. The front row carried large kite shields that were colored white with a golden four-sided star in the center. Their bared bastard swords had a similar star design worked into the hilt and were planted at their booted feet ready to use. The repeating star symbol reminded me of the Templar’s cross in the real world. Those in the back row were missing the heavy shield and sword, but carried Ahlspiess spears instead. Once again the four-pointed star was crafted into the spear shafts just below the points. For those of you unfamiliar with ancient polearms, the weapon was basically a five-foot long spear with a foot-long, double-sided blade at the tip that could be used for slashing or stabbing. Used in conjunction with the other troopers’ shield wall, it would be a deadly combination in these tight catacomb corridors.

  “We ready to do this?” I asked, looking around at my friends. Seeing the blades in Kenzie’s hands, I said. “Without weapons drawn?”

  “Would someone please explain again why we left our zombie pets outside the city?” Sarka rhetorically asked, ignoring my rolling eyes as she nervously checked her weapons.

  “Let’s do it.” Phoenix excitedly agreed, as Kenzie grunted unenthusiastically next to her.

  I silently agreed with the Devil Dog Rogue, but there was nothing to do about it. I needed the additional Resurrection abilities to save as many of the people of The World as possible. Besides being the right thing to do, it also got me that much closer to saving the eighty percent population which I needed to complete the quest.

  Stepping forward, I nodded to Randi and we both dropped out of Stealth as Neysa hurried to my side. Immediately, Helgath dismounted as we walked out into the cavern together. A second later, the rest of the raid appeared behind me as the Combat Priests’ lines snapped to
alert status. Eyeing the warriors before us, I knelt down to inspect the runes carved into the ground. There was no doubt in my mind that anti-stealth runes were something that would be needed in the near future and I could see taking the time to place them in a number of locations around BrokenFang Hold and our other defenses. Mentally taking a screen shot, I did my best to commit them to memory.

  While I might not know how to use them now, I could remember them for someone who did have the skill, if I didn’t get the crafting skill for myself. So far, that was the one area of the game that was frustrating me the most. I hadn’t had time to spend putzing around crafting new items. Don’t get me wrong, I copied some good designs and concepts and got my people working on them, but I really wanted to do more than just manage other people crafting.

  I will say one thing, the troopers discipline was excellent. None of them lifted their weapons or made any threatening gestures. They seemed to recognize Rani as what looked to be an officer stepped forward. My Identify displayed his information above his head, Alex Quaiel, level 42, Battle Priest. I rose smoothly back to my feet as the man came to a stop before Rani. There was little I could see of the man, except for his straight Romanesque nose, high cheekbones and chiseled jaw.

  “Greetings, Royal Investigator Lamkin,” Officer Quaiel said formally. His voice was rich and deep, but full of respect as he gave Rani a bow. It was a martial arts fighter bow, since his eyes never left us. I had to give the man credit, he was smooth and didn’t even bat an eye at the massive Silver Dire Wolf standing beside me that was tall enough to look him in the eyes. “I am Advance Team Leader Quaiel. How might the Priests of Light be of assistance to you and your guests this evening?”

  “It is a blessing to walk in the Light, Team-Leader Quaiel.” Rani replied, bowing back respectfully. “I thank you for the warm welcome in this time of trouble. My friends and I won’t be staying throughout the day, but have come to learn from your trainers and to pass along an important warning from Prince Lekroth to the Council of Light.” Her words set off a small murmur amongst the Combat Priests within hearing as she elbowed me in the side and whispered softly. “Show him the sigil.”