Kingdom Come

by James Osiris Baldwin

  “Leggo! Leggo of me!” Karalti was giggling now. She stopped kicking and tried to bite Suri’s arm. When that proved ineffectual, she lashed her head from side to side. “AAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHHH!”

  Shaking my head, I ignored the sound of smashing pottery and breaking furniture to my right, I recalled the Message Center and composed a P.M to Rin. “How’s it going over in Crafter land? Did you get an update to Unto Death? Get back to us when you can.”

  By the time I’d finished that, the two of them had already settled down. Suri was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes while Karalti squatted on the floor like a gargoyle and glared at her, sullenly licking the corners of her mouth.

  “Alright. All sorted? Ready to plan things out?” I looked over at them both.

  “Sure.” Suri plopped back down. “Quests, right… let’s see here…”

  I bought up the quest, letting it hang in front of me. “We should probably read the detailed descriptions and work out which one we want to tackle first. “Karalti, can you see the quest as well?”

  “Me? Nope.” She shook her head, pawing through the reeds on the floor and sniffing deeply. “I know it when you know it.”

  “Nothing like a little casual mind-reading between friends, I guess.” I opened the sub-quest window and had my HUD read them out to me.

  Sub-Quest: All the King's Men

  Many soldiers in Vlachia are paid mercenaries, including the Orphans: a free company of battle-hardened veteran soldiers who were committed to holding the Line against the Demon’s horrific forces - until suddenly they weren’t. The Orphans are believed to have crossed the Sarviz and headed north-east toward the city of Boros. Istvan isn’t sure what caused them to leave, but he badly wants them back.

  Reward: 500 EXP, Renown +150, unlock the Orphan Company units for Mass Combat.

  Sub-Quest: Into the Swamp

  Unwilling to have his authority questioned, Lord Soma sent Vash Dorha, a warrior-monk of Matir, into the deep Endlar to scout the swamps and report back on any sightings of the Demon or his army. That was four days ago, and neither he or the disciples who went with him have returned.

  Vash is the hero of the garrison, serving as warrior, spiritual advisor, and healer. His loss has dealt the Defense Force’s morale a mortal blow. Even closure would be better than nothing. Bring back Vash dead or alive, and you will bolster the men and either restore their hope or give them relief.

  Reward: 500 EXP, +50 Renown; +100 renown if Vash returns alive. Unlock the Baru unit for Mass Combat.

  Sub-Quest: Supply Train

  The route between the industrial city of Boros and Fort Korona has become treacherous since the Demon invaded the province. Airships loaded with cargo cannot fly over the mountains, and ships carrying vitally important goods - explosives, munitions, food, oil and mana - is shipped to the front lines through the ancient trade route of Krivan Pass. But someone - or something - has made the Pass unusable. You must reopen the passage before it’s too late. Learn more from Lord Soma or his top weaponeer and commander of the Korona Sappers, Viktor.

  Reward: 500 EXP, +150 renown.

  “Damn. We really have our work cut out for us, don’t we?” Suri remarked, breaking the stream of narration. “Sounds like maybe Vash can train up more Baru for us, though. We need more healers, so-”

  “Hang on. The system helps with reading, but I still take longer.” I held up a hand, and tried to read along as my virtual siren continued narrating.

  Sub-Quest: Bayou Warriors

  The Endlar swamp is a vast, harsh land, concentrating some of the worst monsters to be found in Myszno into one humid, hot, disease-riddled mire. And yet, despite the dangers, the Endlar is also the home of the Yanik tribe, fierce dinosaur tamers and raiders who have resisted the Vlachian conquest of Myszno for hundreds of years.

  Fielding dinosaur-riding mounted archers and cavalry, powerful mages and even packs of trained Allosaurus and T-rex, these people would be a powerful force against the Demon’s armies - if they could unite with the Defense Force. The Yanik have no love for Vlachians, but they respect heroism and the Demon is as much a threat to them as anyone else. Impress their chieftain, and you might be able to win them over to your side.

  Reward: EXP, +150 Renown, unlocks the Yanik Warrior units in Mass Combat.

  Sidequests: Hold the Line

  There is a constant battle against entropy on the Prezyemi Line: officers behaving badly, broken equipment, rats eating supplies. Listen to gossip and pay attention to problems you see around Korona to gain sidequests that will give you EXP and Renown, special items, and more. You can find points of contact anywhere in the Fortress or along the walls.

  Current Sidequests:

  Istvan remarked that one of his scouts, a man named Zlaslo, has fallen ill with a seemingly incurable disease. Go to the Fort Hospital to see if you can help.

  “Okay, there we go. And yeah… you’re right. This quest-line is like an entire game of its own,” I muttered, closing the window down. “What do you think, Suri? Where do you want to start?”

  Suri shook her head and puffed a lock of hair out of her face. “Yeah no, I’m a bit overwhelmed, to be honest. Never had a quest this complex before.”

  I had - in other games. “It’s alright: they’ll tie in together at some point. The thing we need to figure out is how to optimize the quest sequence. My vote is we leave any quests where we have to impress someone until last. We need that renown to back up our approach to the Yanik and the Orphans.”

  “Yeah. So that leaves the sidequests, the swamp, and the caravans.” Suri rolled her shoulders, then closed her eyes and sighed. “The caravan one isn’t close to Korona. That’s a dragon mission, in my opinion.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Karalti stopped investigating the fireplace and turned on her, eyes blazing.

  Suri smirked. “It means you can fly, you big flappy cunt.”

  Karalti hissed and flew up to her feet, fists balled. “Hector! She’s calling me names!”

  “You call her names all the time, Tidbit.” I replied. “I seem to recall ‘two-legs, no-wing whore’ being thrown around a couple of days ago.”

  “Yeah! But to you! Not to her face!”

  “That doesn’t make it any better.”

  “Fine! Whatever!” Fuming, Karalti sunk back down on her heels. Shooting us dark looks over one shoulder, she wrapped her arms around her knees and began muttering to herself. Even in human form, the bird-like mimicry sounded weird: like a demon grumbling into a bad radio.

  “Anyway, yeah. As you said: excluding the quests that rely on renown leaves us with the Happy Fun Time Swamp Adventure, the caravan, and sidequests,” I said aloud, picking up my conversation with Suri. “My vote is that we get Vash back first. Bringing him home will open up a lot of shit for us, including sidequests. I’d bet real money that most of the ‘Hold the Line’ quests only appear once you have a certain level of renown in the Fort.”

  “Huh. What tier do you reckon they open at?”

  I opened my mouth to ask her what tiers were, but then remembered I was a strong, independent man who could just wiki it. “Hang on.”

  I queried ‘Renown Tiers’, and called up the relevant article:

  Renown

  Renown is the measure of fame or infamy you possess in a locale. In every location where you complete (or fail to complete) quests, you can potentially gain renown. Renown is important for players interested in Mass Combat.

  Like most things in Archemi, Renown is accrued through points. After accumulating a certain number of renown points, you gain bonuses or penalties to dealing with people in your locale. The size of the locale where you command fame or terror varies depending on your renown tier. The tiers are as follows:

  0-300 - Stranger: Unknown and unnotable.

  301-700 - Adventurer: Some people have heard of you, and neighborhoods where you completed adventures are friendly/hostile. You can gain the alliance of small units.

  7
01-1081 - Local Hero/Villain: You are a person of note in your city, able to command respect, fear, or both. You can potentially command loyalty from a medium-sized organization.

  1080-2217 - Public Figure: You are well-known everywhere in your locale. Bards begin composing and singing about you, spreading the news of your deeds. You can command small armies under a General or other important figure.

  2219-5628 - Idol: You are known across your nation and are sought after for your abilities. You can potentially command larger armies as a general.

  5629-12450 - Celebrity: Your deeds have spread internationally, and your fame is recognizable across borders. You may command generals in warfare.

  12451+ - Legend: Your deeds will go down in history, heroic or villainous. You may qualify to rule a kingdom.

  View individual tiers for information on bonuses, penalties, and other perks.

  “Probably just the Adventurer rank. That’s the tier where people are talking about you to each other,” I replied, closing the window. “I’m betting that you need ‘Public Figure’ to successfully command an army.”

  “That’s a lot of renown,” Karalti said. “These quests give like… six hundred total?”

  “Yeah. I’m guessing the side-quests give twenty to fifty each.” Suri answered her. “So if we clear five or six of those, we should have enough to turn this place around.”

  I listened, rubbing my hand over my mouth in thought. After they finished, I nodded. “Yeah. I think we should stay together for the main quests and then take the sidequests individually. Rin will probably take any magitech quests. Suri, what do you want dibs on?”

  “Combat training, rank and file discipline, anything like that.” Suri replied. “Karalti?”

  “Uhh.” The dragon looked anxiously to me. “I dunno what I’m good at.”

  “You’re good at lots of things, Tidbit,” I said. “Vlachians worship the dragon gods. You can inspire them and give spiritual counsel or something.”

  Her eyes got big. “Yeah! I can do that!”

  “I can heal,” I added. “And that’s probably going to make some quick friends here. If we go at this strategically, we can maximize our time. We have to get as many of these things done as we can. But Vash first.”

  Suri nodded. “Yeah. Looks like we have to go digging for info on the Endlar. How dangerous do you think it is? I’ve never seen a swamp.”

  I paused for a second. “...You’ve never seen a swamp?”

  She flashed me an exasperated look. “Mate, I’m from the bloody desert. Ninety-nine percent of my life was spent underground, and the rest of it, I was traveling with caravans or fighting in arenas. I know they’re wet and crocodiles live there, and that’s about it.”

  “Uhh… well, the short answer to your question is that swamps suck. The Endlar is apparently enough of a challenge to keep thirty thousand undead at bay, so I’m guessing its reputation is pretty much on point.”

  Suri rocked back onto her hands and sighed. “All that for a hundred renown points. This castle we’re fighting for better have a fuckin’ hot tub.”

  “You know who will know all about the Endlar? Yanik soldiers.” Karalti finally circled back to join me on the bed, rolling onto it and balling up against me. “They live out there.”

  “Yeah. They should be able to tell us more.” I looked over to Suri. “But seriously, if we don’t eat shit out there at least once, I’ll be really surprised. You need to be careful. You can’t afford to die.”

  “Fighting things bigger than me is what I’m made for.” Suri flashed me a sharp-toothed smile. “I can’t afford to die. So I won’t.”

  My HUD chirped. Suri stopped talking and Karalti perked up, suddenly alert. They were getting a call as well.

  “Hi guys!” Rin’s voice hummed against my inner ear. “Sorry for the late reply, but it’s madness over in munitions and engineering right now. These trebuchets are all warped from the humidity, and-”

  “How’s Soma going?” I cut her off just as her voice sped up into the early stages of a nerd rant. “You able to wrangle him?”

  “Oh, he’s not that bad: he’s just not a military person and Istvan is driving him mad,” she replied breezily. “He’s a genius in his field, but that field isn’t like… this. Until now, he basically just lived at the university in Litvy. But his father died recently, and now he’s expected to be something he’s not.”

  “Istvan is driving Soma mad?” I looked to Suri, who shrugged.

  “Yeah. Soma says he drinks because he’s upset about his family and Lord Bolza, but he won’t talk about what really happened in Karhad to anyone. On top of that, Istvan doesn’t take technology seriously. He’s got a phobia of magic that has leaked down to the soldiers and has absolutely crippled the engineers’ ability to do their jobs. Istvan wants these old-fashioned cannons and things, even though there’s much better equipment they could be using, and it costs lives every time the Demon assaults the Fort.”

  “Right.” I reached out and wrapped an arm around Karalti’s shoulders as she snuggled in against my side. “We heard a totally different story from Istvan.”

  “I know, right? The two of them can’t agree on anything. Istvan wants infantry and cavalry on the ground to take out the Demon’s mana sources, while Soma thinks he might as well just throw the men into a meat grinder. Explosives, magic and turrets would be more efficient defenses against a giant shambling mob of zombies. The problem is, they’re both right. If Soma could just trust Istvan with the men and Istvan would let the engineers do their jobs, we could probably beat the undead back like… tomorrow. Except with those caravans being held up...”

  “You got the quest chain too?” Suri asked.

  “Yeah, I did! But the combat ones are definitely too much for me,” the Mercurion replied.

  “I disagree,” Suri said. “Rin, we’ve got a tank, a striker, and... whatever Karalti is like this. We need ranged and magic support. Your turrets can take the heat off us with both. We really need you out there.”

  “Umm... I don’t know.” There was a barely concealed note of panic in her voice. “I’d have to find a way to modify Lovelace and Hopper to be able to deal with mud, and we don’t have much time.”

  “If you can do it tonight, do it.” I replied. “Suri’s right. You took that Combat Engineer class so you could go on adventures. We need you.”

  “Okay,” Rin agreed reluctantly. “G-Give me like... until tomorrow morning. Soma has some amphibious traction designs here already. I can probably work something out.”

  “Awesome. Also, we were talking about how to handle these side-quests. The plan is to go and fish Vash out of the swamp, then tackle some chores around the Fort. We’ll handle Istvan’s people and you handle Soma’s. Does that suit you?”

  “Sure! There’s a lot of yellow rings where I am here.”

  ‘Yellow rings’ were the floating side-quest markers that appeared around some people’s Coronas. “Great. Suri? Karalti? Sound good to you?”

  “Sure does.” Suri clapped her hands on her thighs. “Okay, kids. Let’s do it.”

  Chapter 17

  In my sober moments, I told myself I’d picked up the Healing skill tree because it was fun and interesting. But if I was being honest with myself, a big part of my hunger to learn was because it made me feel like I could conquer disease, which was the only thing that had ever kicked my ass and gotten away with it. Healing skills also had the side benefit of making me popular, because people don’t like to be sick or in pain. In a world without magical healing, these skills were always needed.

  While Suri split for the barracks and Karalti for the mess hall, I hurried toward the Fort’s hospital: a squat, square, three-story building within a small courtyard to the north of the parade ground, lit by torches and a couple of barrel fires. As soon as I entered the courtyard, the metallic stench of rotten meat hit me, and I gagged. Yiiiikes.

  Even at night, there were a lot of sick people and a commotion going on just
outside the door to the hospital. Two acid-burned Vlachian soldiers were screaming at a medic in a bloody apron who was standing between them and the entryway. The man was screaming right back at them.

  “I told you useless worms four times already - there are no more Cryptbane Potions!” The medic yelled. “I know that’s what you need, but you’re stuck in the line until we get more ingredients, and there’s nothing I can do about it!”

  “Can’t you see he’s dying?!” The soldier shouted back, gesturing at his friend with both hands. “He’s dying! I’m dying! Are you going to let us be turned into one of those monsters!?”

  “You’re not dying yet. Grave Rot won’t show symptoms for two days and a night, and the battle was only two hours ago. I you don’t get back into that line, I’ll hack a limb off and give you a reason to be at the front!” The medic pushed his spectacles back up along his beaky nose and gestured angrily at the straggling queue waiting to receive help. Some of them were very badly off - gauze clamped over bloody missing eyes, broken limbs, burns and arrow wounds. “Do you see these people? You’ll get the damn potions when we get our herbs!”

  At that moment, a golden ring appeared behind the medic’s head, rotating in an eye-catching way: a side-quest’s marker.

  “Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but what herbs do you need?” I sidled up and inserted myself into the argument before the pleading soldier could get any more aggressive. All three men turned on me.

  “And which cursed ocean spat you out into our conversation?” The medic demanded.

  “Dragozin Hector. Count of Racsa and wannabe Healer.” I replied with a salute. “What do you need?”

  The medic blanched, then sketched a deep bow. “My apologies, Your Grace, I haven’t seen you around this shit-wagon of a fort before. And the answer to your question is everything. Bandages, beds, hands, herbs. Pardon my inquiry, but you are not Vlachian. Where do you hail from?”