by Jason Cheek
“There’s none right now as far as I’ve heard, unless you’re talking about further back near the Light Elf cities,” ChopU Ginsu said, looking at Zeppy and Tumms for confirmation, “From what I’ve seen on the Twitch Channels that I follow, most of the Nightmare start players were up around the Isolde Line on the other side of the Strait of Icelus.” There was a quick chorus of “Same” from everyone at the table.
“Let me get this straight,” Lylar said, obviously finding the whole discussion humorous as hell, “Startum is saying that having all of those Nightmare start players hanging out around the Isolde Line is going to do what, make The World respond with some sort of massive challenge,” his blue eyes swept the table, “Does anyone else know about this?”
“No clue,” Tumms said, all humor gone from his voice as his face blanched, “But, from the screenshot that Thomas uploaded of the Orc invasion last night, I’d say Startum has the right of it. I honestly don’t know how the player base is going to even begin fighting something like that.”
“Come on Tumms,” Zeppy guffawed, “don’t be so melodramatic. It can’t be as bad as all of that. I thought you were a retired Naval Officer?”
As the Zeppy’s Heroes guild laughed off the Devil Dog’s warning, one look at Tumms’ face told her the man wasn’t joking, even if he didn’t push it with the others. That alone made her curious as hell. Making a mental note to ask Thomas later for access to the Devil Dog’s private forum, she sat back and listened as the conversation moved to the PVP that they’d been doing around Requiem while they’d been waiting for her to log back in.
It was an interesting discussion and gave Jodi something to think about as she focused on the large strawberry-shaped fruit on her plate while listening to everyone’s stories with half an ear. Unlike a regular strawberry, the Ice Heart was bright blue like an overripe blueberry. There was no forks or knives so Jodi simply picked it up and bit into the fruit like an apple.
Jodi was surprised at the slightly tart taste that filled her mouth as her teeth bit into something with the consistency of an apple. The flavor was divine and unlike anything that she’d ever tasted before. Kind of in-between an apple and a pear but juicy like a strawberry. Without even conscious thought, Jodi found herself hungrily wolfing down the entire fruit in one go. She was just chomping down on the last bite, when Tumms’ knowing grin caught her eye.
“Those Ice Hearts are the best,” Tumms nodded towards the juice shamelessly dripping down Jodi’s chin. “The Rangers say they can only be found in the deep wilds during winter.”
“I still can’t get over how good the food is in this game,” Jodi said, wiping her face clean, “Seriously, how did they even come up with a new taste for fruit?”
Before Tumms could answer, the outer door to the longhouse was flung open as an icy wind came whipping throughout the main room making the fireplace flicker like mad. In the fading glow of the evening sun, Jodi saw the familiar faces of Elandorr and Bialaer hurrying through the door in a wash of flurries. Seeing both the Rogue and Ranger Assault Leaders for the local NPCs, Jodi figured they were ready to head out on their last leg to BrokenFang Hold.
As the Half-Elves closed the door, Jodi noticed a stacked blonde Half-Elf in heavy armor heading over to both men as they began wiping the icy chunks of snow out of their beards and clothing. There was none of the saluting of a subordinate to a superior going on that these militant NPCs seemed to love to do to one another. As the group huddled up together for a quick chat, Jodi did a quick Identify on the hard-looking female in armor, surprised at the information that popped up over the Half-Elf’s head, Assault Leader Ara Loratris, Level 41 Swordswoman.
For some reason, Jodi found herself annoyed at seeing another female leader amongst Startum’s Lead NPCs, especially for a position that had such a high physical requirement. She hadn’t been surprised at all upon meeting Assault Leader Nalaea Heleyra of the Priests of Light since women were typically healers in most MMOs. Though, her Level 50 came as somewhat of a shock. Jodi hadn’t even been surprised at seeing Saphielle Carzeiros as the Assault Leader for the Fire mages. Except for having a small chest, she fit the normal fantasy profile exactly.
This Ara shouldn’t have been here, Jodi silently swore. Why did Startum choose to put a female Swordswoman in a position of authority over a bunch of male Warriors? It was like the annoying man was purposely trying to fuck with the misogynistic profile that she’d mentally created for him. Startum had already assigned male leaders for the Rogue and Ranger Assault Leader positions, so why change it up for the most physically difficult position of the three main combat classes?
Jodi’s internal contemplation was brought up short as the group looked her way. They didn’t try to hide the fact that they were talking about her. Though, by the jerks of their heads, whatever the Swordswoman said had caught them by surprise. Jodi didn’t know if that had anything to do with what she’d said earlier or not, but as the group came to a consensus, the group began walking in her direction.
“Look who’s headed our way,” Jodi said, elbowing Tumms in the ribs and nodding towards the group.
“Wha-what?” Tumms stuttered, looking over at her in surprise before following her gaze. “Oh shit,” the Devil Dog said loud enough for the rest of the table to catch, “it looks like it’s time for us to start heading out.”
Without another word, the Devil Dog pushed off his stool and began downing the rest of his mug of ale while the rest of the group of players did the same thing. The casual joking and shit-talking was instantly replaced by an almost regimental reaction as mugs were drained and gear began being strapped and swung into place. Jodi found herself impressed in spite of herself as the old-timers were nearly ready to go by the time the Assault Leaders had made it over to their table.
“Well met Elandorr,” Zeppy greeted the Rogue as they gripped wrists. There was a round of “evening” from the rest of the players as the Zeppy’s Heroes Guild Leader clasped the Ranger’s wrist next, “Bialaer, looks like it’s getting cold out there.”
“Evening Zeppy,” Bialaer said in a deep rumbling voice, “A storm is passing through from the Plains of Atoll side of the pass, but we shouldn’t have any problems reaching the fortress at the top of the pass. At least, not from the weather side.” The large man nodded towards the female Half-Elf standing beside him. “Have you had a chance to meet Assault Leader Loratris?”
“Ara, always a pleasure,” Zeppy said, giving the female Swordswoman a nod of respect as he gripped her wrist. Stepping back, he turned back to the Ranger with a warm smile. “Yeah, we met earlier. Spent most of the day hunting Stealthers together with some of Elandorr’s boys and girls.” He gave the stacked blonde an appreciative wink. “Came away with some nice loot if I do say so myself.”
“Ha, tell me about it,” Ara said, letting out a friendly guffaw, “my Warriors were hoping you guys and gals would stay around for a few more days before heading for BrokenFang Hold.”
“Glad to hear they liked having us around to give a hand,” Zeppy agreeably said, as he glanced around at the full main room. “How many troopers do you guys usually have keeping watch over this outpost?”
“We try to keep twenty-five on patrol at all times,” Ara said, speaking up without any hesitation, “with a total compliment of fifty that can be called up if needed.” She nodded to her co-leaders. “The newfar discovered Requiem after Bialaer and Elandorr’s first escort trip with Lord Ironwolf and they’ve been trying to take us out ever since.”
“We did our best to dissuade them,” Elandorr said with an unhappy shake of his head, “but they ended up finding us anyway.”
“Yeah, but only after they were foolish enough to increase the local wildlife levels up from thirty-five to forty-five,” Bialaer said with a bark of laughter. “Which is why Ara usually just has her people train the larger groups of Elite Barbed Menaces into the newfar before we actually fight them directly.”
“That mostly just leaves the Rogues and
Assassins that don’t get snatched up by the Elite Shadow Stalkers to deal with,” Ara agreed, “which we’re learning some new ways to make their lives miserable.” She happily clapped her co-leaders on the shoulders. “Though, we usually like to take the battle to them when we have a full house.”
Jodi unconsciously gulped at being reminded of the numerous droves of level 35 to 40 Elite Barbed Menaces that they’d been forced to fight through to reach Requiem. While being attacked by heavily armored boars half the size of a Greyhound bus had been no joke, they had nothing on the Elite Shadow Stalkers that had hunted the droves from the shadows. Those beasts had even given Fiona a tough time of it.
You’d have thought that they would’ve been somewhat safe with the massive group that they’d been traveling with but that had been far from the case. Even with the number of high-level Rangers and Rogues that they’d had with them, they’d been forced to fight off the constant Stealth attacks without any of the slippery beasts being taken down. Though, Jodi was starting to believe that was partly due to these tricky NPCs wanting to keep the Elite Shadow Stalkers around to keep the newfar Rogues in check.
“So, what’s the plan for this evening?” Zeppy asked, getting back to the point at hand, “Do you guys want to leave more of your people back in Requiem since we have such a large group heading up the mountain?”
“While that would normally be our modus operandi in such a situation,” Elandorr said, as a grim look came to all three Assault Leaders faces. Though, none of them seemed to notice the surprised flinch from the players around them at their use of such a common terrestrial term. “We’re expecting to have plenty of action for this trip back to Fang Pass.”
“The newfar operating out of Delonshire seem to be making a major push to stop your group from reaching Fang Pass,” Ara said with a thoughtful frown that squinched up her face.
“That, or they’re after something else entirely that none of us can figure out,” Bialaer unhappily added.
“Which is why Assault Leader Carzeiros will be left in command of Requiem with a minimum force,” Ara said in the way of an explanation, “while the rest of us escort your group up the mountain at our full strength.”
“Our goal will be to bypass any fights possible with the local wildlife,” Elandorr said in a no-nonsense tone, “their levels have already been pushed up into the level 55 to 65 range from the last major newfar push.” As Jodi traded a concerned look with Tumms, the Assault Leader Rogue scanned the players that were already packed and ready to move out. Raising his voice, he addressed the main room. “If you’re ready, we’ll head out now.”
“Let’s do it to it,” Zeppy eagerly replied, as the trio turned around and headed for the door.
Chapter Fifteen
(Jodi Tempest with the rest of her new friends heading out to BrokenFang Hold.)
To Jodi’s surprise, she received a “Join Raid” request from Elandorr as she followed Tumms and the rest of their group while all of the NPCs stood up as one and began orderly heading for the door. Accepting the request without a second thought, her eyes curiously looked over the NPCs and the competent air they had about them. There was no hesitation, no scrambling for gear, or pushing and shoving that you’d expect from a group this size. It was as if the male and female Half-Elves had done this hundreds of times and had been simply patiently waiting for the order to go.
Silently impressed once again, Jodi exited the longhouse as her eyes swept the central grounds of the fort. Now that she had something to compare it to, she could see the numerous changes that had occurred in Requiem since Startum had moved his people to BrokenFang Hold. There was now a total of six Viking-esque longhouses set up in a defensive rectangle. It was built almost like a secondary line of defenses to fallback to if the walls were breached.
The smithy and fletcher shacks in the central courtyard of the buildings were also something new. So was the herbalist shed and simple smokery that had been set up. Though, it looked like all of the NPCs that had been busy at work were now gearing up and preparing for battle. It was then that she realized that these tasks weren’t being handled by civilians but as secondary jobs for the troopers that were stationed here.
Not only that, it was like the whole fort had mustered their entire complement of NPCs. As that thought was going through her mind, Jodi heard Zeppy ask what was up with all of the troopers that seemed to be standing at the ready. Ara explained that they wanted to be prepared for any surprise attacks against Requiem in case this was all just a complex diversion. That explanation alone caused more than one raised eyebrow amongst the players as they headed for the rear gate. Well, the rear only if you considered the Delonshire direction to be the front of the fort.
She rolled her eyes at the totally random thought. Sometimes her mind went in the oddest directions when she was tired, Jodi silently thought in exasperation. It probably signified just how tired she was in her in-real-life body from the lack of sleep from the night before. Shaking the mental fugue away, her eyes swept over the stakewall as they neared the rear gate.
This was all new construction too, Jodi realized, as she choked back a yawn. From the look of the secondary inner-wall that was under construction, the NPCs would soon be able to fully walk along the top of the wall which would allow them to fight off attackers. For some reason, it made her think of Davy Crockett and the Wild Frontier with the old-style frontier forts, like Fort Atkinson in Iowa, that she’d sometimes go sightseeing to on vacations as a kid.
While that might sound like an odd construction option to use in a fantasy world with Fireballs and magic, the Ironwood posts would probably be pretty resistant to fire. It also fit the technology level since stockades had been used since the beginning of time. Though Jodi didn’t quite understand how levels affected wood, she wouldn’t be surprised if that also added to the outer-wall’s overall resistance to lower-level Fire spells. Not only that, stockade forts were relatively easy to construct and repair, besides making decent defensive outposts to fight from. Although, unlike those forts, this one had an inner rock wall being constructed to strengthen the outer defenses. At least, that was the case if the handful of bags filled with stone were being used that way which she thought they were.
Jodi squinted her eyes until her Identify triggered. Ironwood stake level 60 was what made up the outer stakewall while the inner palisade was made up of level 50 Ironwood posts. With a third partial wall of stone chips being crafted between the two, that was going to make for some solid construction and confirmed what she’d thought about the bags filled with loose stones. Though, now she wondered if there was a plan to make the rubble into a solid concrete wall at a later date.
That thought brought Jodi up short as she thought back to her recent video bonanza. She didn’t remember seeing anything about Startum asking for his people to fortify the old hamlet that they’d built together when he’d headed south. Did that mean the NPCs had taken it upon themselves to turn the place into a functioning stockade fort? Could NPCs even do that, Jodi silently wondered, as her eyes focused toward the cleared forest that was on the other side of the fort’s outer wall.
There was a killing field that went on for nearly eighty-yards in all directions. Judging from the ongoing construction, that would probably stretch to over a hundred yards by the time they finished constructing the palisade. It was a crazy amount of work to have accomplished in less than a week, Jodi silently mused, but it showed what could be accomplished when you had a few hundred people working on a project.
Similar to their trip out to Requiem, Elandorr didn’t direct the players on how they should form up or even ask them to join in scouting ahead. Instead, they were asked to stay together in the middle of the NPCs’ defensive ring but otherwise left to their own devices. Jodi heard a few of Zeppy’s Heroes Rogues and Rangers already beginning to complain that they weren’t going to be effectively used once again. While it was true that the players were able to respawn while the NPCs couldn’t, nothing was said
directly to Elandorr or the other Assault Leaders who were leading the main group. That was because, except for Jodi, the players were in their twenties level-wise while the NCPs were all in their forties and seemed to know what they were about.
That in itself was an odd experience and more than one of the players in their group commented on the oddity of it all. It was even more impressive when you realized that nearly all of these men and women were military or police officers and were experienced in military tactics. As if to prove that point, the lead group of twenty Rangers took off at an unnaturally fast sprint for the treeline of the forest ahead of them. It was a curious affect and made her wonder what special skill they were using. As soon as the Rangers entered the sparse treeline, the entire group began fading away from view as their Nature’s Camouflage kicked in.
At the same time that was going on, the forty or so Rogues that had formed up at either side of their procession began fading away into Stealth as soon as they exited the gate. The effect was kind of trippy since Jodi could still sort of see their ghostly outlines if she looked closely. That, and they still showed up on her mini-map. At least, they did until they got too far away. Though it was the same strategy they’d used on the trip from Delonshire, something about the ruthless efficiency that they carried out these tactics with chilled her blood.
Mostly, Jodi thought, that was because the NPCs in The World weren’t acting like they should in comparison to any other game that she’d ever played in. In a regular MMO, NPCs were simply scripted programs. While they were supposed to emulate people and, in many ways, could trick you at first into believing that they were with their realistic responses, over time it became apparent that the perceived intelligence and feelings were just complex responses programmed into their personality. The NPCs couldn’t evolve or adapt to changing situations that were outside of their scripted programming.