Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume IV: To the Deeps
Page 5
That caused the voice to start sputtering in shock and no small amount of rage, if I hit my guess. “Impudent fool! Do you not know your position?”
“Obviously not, since you’re not bringing any light for me to see by, and haven’t even introduced yourself. But hey, I understand you might be shy, and using the kinky games to keep from being exposed, ugly girls usually are like that.”
“Why you little! I’m going to enjoy ripping that oversized dick off you and beating your whores with it for your viewers!”
I chuckled, despite the rather nasty threat she just gave me. “Ah, so we’re the prisoners of another player. Very interesting. So, am I speaking to Kali, or just another nutcase? I’d really like to finish this up so I can get back to what I was doing.”
“H-how did you know that? You shouldn’t be able to see my name in the dark!”
“Well, for starters, you’re about as intelligent as ogre dung, since you just confirmed my guess. Good going with that, by the way. And as for your name, not everyone died when you used that spell. You were seen, and your name was reported. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bounty on your head already.”
I heard her click her tongue at that. “Tch. Damnit, they weren’t supposed to know my name until after the villages had been overrun! Now I’m going to have to move up the schedule!”
“Oh, you mean letting the nearby villages get overrun with the undead that escaped from Ullelone? Yeah, they’re already being hunted down and destroyed by the royal guards and players.”
“WHAT? How the fuck did someone get a group to start hunting that fast? It should have taken days for reports to get back!”
“You’re really quite stupid, aren’t you? Travelers have many ways of spreading news, especially those in a guild. Don’t worry, you’re doing wonders for my guild’s reputation. Just like a good stepping stone should be.”
That brought a scream from Kali. Nice to see she was so easily manipulated into a rage. I could use that, once I figured out a way to get free. Or got some light. Angry people made mistakes. And I was apparently pretty good at trolling people.
Of course, angry people also lash out, which is why I felt a blow from a club of some kind come down on my head, and stars filled the blackness for a moment, before everything went out.
Chapter 43 – Operation: Jailbreak, Part 1
When I came to, I was surprised to see that there was actually light. Not much of it, but there was light. And I was in a dungeon. Of course. A quick check revealed that, yep, I was still naked. But at least this time I was chained to a wall, instead of an altar. OK, sure, that was only going to last until Kali calmed down enough to devise some really nasty way to torture me, but it wasn’t like I was completely out of options.
So now we begin Operation: Jailbreak. A fool-proof scheme I’ve concocted in just these few moments after recovering from a head wound! Nothing can possibly go wrong!
“HEY! I WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE IN CHARGE!”
Yes, the ever popular ‘annoy the guards until they come to beat you into silence’ routine! Sure, I’d do more, but, y’know, chained to the wall and all that.
While I shouted, I amused myself by recasting several buffs, in part to help compensate for my lack of clothes, but also so I’d be ready when someone actually came to check. According to the game clock, it took exactly ten minutes of shouting and general annoyance for a guard to come to the bars of my cell.
Prison Guard
Drow Elf Male
Level 35 Fighter / Rogue
Titles: Sadist
Eh. It was a guy. Not really my thing, but beggars can’t be choosers. I hit the NPC with a jolt of Cupid’s Arrow to make him fall in love with me. I could tell it worked, because the elf’s body language changed immediately, and he no longer looked annoyed, but interested. I slapped on a hit of Seduction, as well, to further tilt the odds in my favor.
In Undercommon, I said, “Well, hello there, handsome. You got the keys to my chains in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” I smiled, doing the full flirt routine. I’d have to have a stiff drink when this was over, but I’d be free to have that drink. “What is your name, soldier boy?”
“Myriil Uriphine. How does an incubus know the tongue of the Underdark?”
I waggled my eyebrows as I privately thanked Sharess for the perfect setup line. “I’m very talented with my tongue. Perhaps you’d let me give you an example?” Myriil nodded slowly, liking the idea quite a bit. I smiled at him, “Then why don’t you come unlock these chains, and I’ll show you how an incubus does it.”
Myriil frowned. “Can’t let you free. Orders from Mistress Kali.”
“Don’t worry about her. She never has to know. And you can close the door behind you, so I’ll still be in here. You’ll just get some… relief, while I get to feel my hands again. Don’t you look stiff. You could do with a good, skilled relaxation session from someone who knows just what he’s doing.”
Honestly, this was like shooting fish in a barrel. Against an NPC only a few levels above me, my CHA, skills, buffs, and insane stats meant that there really wasn’t much chance of him refusing me, so long as I didn’t try and intimidate him. Jedi Mind Tricks for the win!
Myriil got a stupid grin on his face, and entered the cell, using a key from his keyring to unlock the door. A separate key was used to unlock my shackles as he began to feel me up. Once my hands were free, I smiled, and whispered, “Shadowclaws.” Claws of black energy formed over my hands, startling the foolish guard, but I slashed out with the claws, slicing open his throat before he could scream for help. The frightened gurgles (and the betrayed look on his face) while he desperately tried to grab his throat and stop the bleeding did nothing to stop the follow-up attacks, killing him fairly quickly.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to trust strange men in dungeons? Tsk tsk.”
I quickly identified the guard’s gear. A lot of it was crap, as you’d expect from an NPC, but I got some gold, the keys, and a map of the cell block, with a list of prisoners. The guard’s armor was, frankly, junk, especially considering my other abilities, and it had a gaping hole where the heart would be, which made it less than helpful. I pulled on the guard’s pants, at least, so I could at least not be swinging in the breeze, but kept his boots and gloves, as they were better than the stuff I’d made long ago, back in the tutorial. Of his weapons, I slipped two daggers in my new boots, and grabbed the man’s sword. It wasn’t as good as mine, but it would do.
Spider-hide Gloves
Type
Gloves
Rank
Uncommon
Made by a skilled leatherworker out of the hide of giant spiders common to the Underdark, these gloves are supple, yet surprisingly resilient. The gloves are embroidered with silver thread to have an image of a spider on them.
Durability: 40/40
Requires DEX 80
+10 Defense
+20 DEX
Enchanted: Spider-Climb – Can climb walls/ceilings at normal ground speed. Able to stick to walls.
Spider-hide Boots
Type
Boots
Rank
Uncommon
Made by a skilled leatherworker out of the hide of giant spiders common to the Underdark, these boots are supple, yet surprisingly resilient. The boots are embossed with a web pattern.
Durability: 50/50
Requires DEX 80
+10 Defense
+10% Move Silently
+10% Movement Speed
Enchanted: Web-walker – Can walk through spider webs without penalty. Immune to Web spell and similar effects.
Deadly Piercer
Type
Dagger
Rank
Uncommon
Damage
30 – 40
Damage Type
Piercing
A wicked blade designed for close-quarters work. The craftsmanship on this blade is better than average, despite
its simple appearance. The thin blade is designed to easily find the gaps in armor.
Durability: 30/30
Requires DEX 80
+10% chance to cause Bleed effect, dealing 5 damage per second for 30 seconds.
10% chance to ignore armor.
Enchanted: Elf-bane – Deals double damage to Elves.
Heartseeker
Type
Dagger
Rank
Uncommon
Damage
30 – 40
Damage Type
Piercing
A long dirk designed for assassinations. The craftsmanship on this blade is better than average, and there is a maker’s mark at the base of the blade. The blade is made of steel, but is a dark black color, preventing it from giving away the user’s position until blood is drawn.
Durability: 40/40
Requires DEX 80
+30% damage on Sneak Attacks and Critical Hits
20% chance to ignore armor on Sneak Attacks and Critical Hits
Enchanted: Elf-bane – Deals double damage to Elves.
Spider’s Bite
Type
Longsword
Rank
Rare
Damage
45 – 80
Damage Type
Slashing
A sword made of corrupted Silver, the blade glows a sickly green shade when drawn. This weapon is designed for combat in the unforgiving world of the Underdark.
Durability: 60/60
Requires STR 80
Venemous – 10% chance to poison foe on contact.
Current Poison: Giant Spider Poison – 5 damage per second for 30 seconds, Paralysis 30 seconds
Enchanted: Poison Seeker – Absorbs the essence of poisons the blade is bathed in, taking the best properties of those poisons and combining them.
Now that I wasn’t quite so helpless, it was time to engage in Part 2 of Operation: Jailbreak. I opened the Party Chat.
Zayn: All right, ladies. I’m free. Situation report.
Della: Master, we’re all in a set of cells, with other prisoners nearby. Where are you?
Zayn: They put me in the high value cells. What is your status?
Severa: We’re all fine, but have no gear. They didn’t take what was in our inventories, though, so we’re not completely helpless.
Yukiko: I think I saw where they took our gear. They just brought in a new prisoner, and looks like they took their gear into a storeroom.
Zayn: Good, I’m on my way now. What’s this new prisoner like?
Nithroel: Looks like a drow. Didn’t get a good look before they got tossed into a cell.
Zayn: Right. Might be able to use that. Sit tight, I’m coming to you.
Closing out the party chat, I began stalking through the halls. This section of the dungeon was lighted, probably because the guards didn’t want to deal with having to feed blind prisoners and the like. The light came from a series of everburning torches set to the wall in iron sconces. If we couldn’t get our gear back, we’d need to free a few of those before we could progress in this dungeon.
Getting to the others proved a bit of work, since the guards started getting suspicious when patrols started disappearing, and I hadn’t exactly trained up my stealth skills that much. But still, I managed to stealth kill several guards before arriving in the ‘general’ cell block. This was going to be more of a challenge, since there were five enemies, two of them named.
Vashti Erxidor
Drow Elf Female
Level 28 Lightning Sorceress / Shadow Sorceress
Titles: Elfslayer, Sadist, Slave Trader, Lichloved
Enania Xyrzumin
Drow Elf Female
Level 30 Dominatrix / Priestess
Titles: Manslayer, Sadist, Spiderkissed
Now, in a ‘traditional’ MMO, if you were stuck facing a five on one situation like this, you’d have to try and wait for a good chance to pull only a couple of them, and wear them down like that. And that’s not a bad idea, when dealing with mobs that have limited intelligence. But with a ‘living’ world, you’d have to face the situation like you would if it were real life. Trying to pull the guards would pull the named ones, for certain. But in real life, crazy tactics can work, especially if you cheat.
Which isn’t to say I didn’t wait to pick my moment. I waited until Vashti and Enania were close together, and then unleashed Dark Tentacles, my favorite ‘shut down the opposition’ spell. Both women screamed as tentacles assaulted them, but I made sure one each aimed to go down their throat. Maybe they could do subtle casting, but their concentration would be shot. That was as good a chance as I was going to get.
Rushing forward, with Spider’s Bite in one hand, and Heartseeker in the other, I made short work of the nearest guard, who was caught flatfooted, turning to see what caused the females to scream. He was lucky, and had it quick, as Heartseeker found a gap under his ribs, and Spider’s Bite nicely took his head from his shoulders. I’d made my career so far in AAO by exploiting the skill shots, so why stop now?
The guards were NPCs, but that didn’t mean they were stupid, or untrained. They jumped into action, attempting to take me from either side. I had the feeling that I could probably win, even if I played this out more ‘traditionally’, but ‘probably’ was a lot less certain than ‘definitely’, so I didn’t fight fair. Backing towards the corner, I tried to keep both enemies in front of me, as I lashed out with Spider’s Bite.
The one on the right extended just a bit too far as he tried to slash me with his blade, and got a cut across his arm for his troubles. I grinned like a demon when I saw his muscles seize up. The poison’s paralysis kicked in like a charm! I darted behind the paralyzed elf, using him as a shield briefly from his ‘friend’, and slit his throat with Heartseeker before the paralysis could wear off. A critical hit and fatal hit, on top of the elf-slayer effect… I was surprised to see that the drow still had some HP, but it wasn’t much, and he had a major bleed effect going on (slitting the throat will do that), so he’d be dead before the paralysis wore off.
Turning to the last of the three guards, I finally had a fight on my hands. He was in my league, at least in terms of level, but I had the better skills. Of course, I noticed his blade had the same sickly green shade, which meant we both had to worry about poison. I was the only one with Charm magic, though, so some Euphoria blasted away any chance he had of winning.
After the final guard fell, I slapped slave collars on the two named mobs, and released them from the tentacles. Using the keys I had collected, I opened the cells, and welcomed my pets, before turning to the new prisoner. Turned out to be a Traveler.
Hrozne Bosorka
Drow Elf Hermaphrodite
Level 30 Necromancer / Death Knight
Titles: Elfslayer, Lichloved, Scholar, Spiderkissed
Shi had rich ebony skin, white hair, purple eyes, perky, C cup breasts, an hourglass figure, and a rather nice butt. Shi also had an eight inch cock, which was a bit of a turn-off for me. After taking my fill of her looks, I said, “So, don’t suppose you’re up for a little wonton death and destruction as payback for getting locked up, huh?”
Shi chuckled. “Sounds like a plan. That bitch Kali owes me.”
Chapter 44 – Operation: Jailbreak, Part 2
Once we’d all geared up, I turned to Hrozne, and said, “So, what’s the deal between you and Kali, anyways? How’d you wind up getting locked up down here with my girls?”
Hrozne grimaced. “I started as a Drow to have fun being the heel, you know? Most times, they don’t let you go and play the ‘villain’ races, so it was fun to have a chance to do something new. Especially with me going on the ‘dark’ paths, as far as classes go.” Shi paused, and then said, “After the tutorial, I was in the city of Dehmedet, and joined up with a group of other Drow Travelers. Kali was the leader of that group.”
“At first, she wasn’t that bad. In fact, she was a decent guild leader, back in other w
orlds. She led the Black Citadel Clan in WoD. Ravenna was her name back then. I think she reincarnated here. For a while, things were good. She knew a bunch of ways to build our strength and was good at getting the locals to lend a helping hand. But then the forums exploded with that business with Chainbreaker and Chainmaker, and everything changed.”
Crud. I knew Ravenna, and the Black Citadel Clan. They were a strictly PK clan. It was said in WoD that there were four hundred and thirty-seven different ways to kill another player, and that the Black Citadel had come up with three hundred and twelve of them. Which isn’t to say that the Black Citadel were all psychos. Some just used the PvP as therapy, working out their aggressions in a ‘safe’ manner. We treated them like just another challenge to overcome, even though it sometimes made traveling between cities dangerous.