by Alyson Belle
“Goldie…” Erlix murmured, right before the light went out of his eyes. Then he crumpled to the floor in two pieces, dropping all of his gear just like Nambla had, his naked corpse fading away as he returned to his bind point. I stared in horror at the scene, too shocked to react. Wugduz stood over his gear, breathing hard, his visor down, and he looked royally pissed off.
“Erlix!” I cried. A stab of anguish twisted in my gut, much more than I’d normally have for a character death. I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard, but for some reason it did. Not only were we stuck in the game, but I had no idea where Erlix’s bind point was. He could be anywhere, and I’d have no way to reach him until we could both find an allied faction mailbox! It felt more real that losing a comrade usually did. My face darkened. “You bastard! I’m going to kill you!”
“Yeah, you and what army?” Wugduz asked.
I felt so guilty—it was my stun that had been holding the shadowknight, but I’d completely forgotten about him, and Erlix had paid the price for my carelessness. But before I could reply, Topper stepped into Wugduz’s field of vision, his snowy cloak rippling softly in the dim light of the chamber. With Wugduz having his visor down, he probably hadn’t been able to see the level 75 Paladin from outside of the room. Now Topper laid a hand on my shoulder and gently moved me behind him, even as I struggled against his iron grip. I wanted to tear Wugduz’s eyes out.
“Stand back, Lacey,” Topper murmured. “I’d like to take care of this nuisance, if you don’t mind.”
I nodded my consent, only too happy to watch my guild leader cream this cretin after I’d been unable to touch him earlier. “Make it humiliating and painful. Erlix didn’t deserve that.”
For a moment, Wugduz seemed like he might turn and run, but then his tanking instincts got the better of him. He hardened his stance and held his axe up menacingly, a deadly glint in his eye. A good tank never backed down from a fight, and the least you could say about Wugduz was that he was a good tank. Topper had 10 levels on him, but in Fantasy Realms Online pure levels weren’t as big of an advantage as they were in other games. It gave Topper an edge on the ogre, but a fight would really come down to skill and gear, and as much as I hated to admit it, The Secret Order was better at raiding than our guild was due to a higher-level spread of players. Their main tank would be their best-geared player.
Topper unhooked the leather loop binding the massive, two-handed sword at his back, and as he raised the shining blade in front of him, it burst into flames. The fact that our level 75 main tank wielded a Lv. 80 Holy Sword of Righteous Flame , his class epic weapon, was a comforting reminder that he was also our best-geared character. Wugduz might have better armor, but Topper had the better weapon. I sucked in a breath, realizing that I was probably about to watch two of the best tanks on the server go mano-a-mano.
In the space of a moment, Topper moved forward, letting the game code guide him into a whirling dance of death. His flaming blade whizzed through the air so quickly that the flames left blazing trails in the air, like a steel-armored fire dancer in a swirling cloak, but despite Wugduz’s temporarily small size, the little ogre matched him blow for blow. Each of them let out grunts of pain and frustration as their opponent’s blows landed—getting hit was unpleasant in the game if not actually painful, and the blow to their pride was probably just as bad as the physical shock. Plus, Topper’s sword was just downright intimidating. There was something innately terrifying about a flaming blade that made your basic instincts scream at you to move out of its way.
Both of them pulled out all stops for the battle, using all the skills and spells at their disposal in a series of actions to fast to follow for anyone but the combatants. Shadowy particles washed over both Wugduz and Topper as the shadowknight tried to find a foothold with his disease and debuff spells, as well as his nasty lifetaps, and a corresponding series of golden sparks flashed around them both as Topper cleansed and healed himself repeatedly and tried to hit Wugduz with blinding flashes and moment to moment stuns. Both of their resists were too high, and their casting stats too low, to make much stick on the other, though, so as their mana pools waned it came down to a battle of pure physical strength, armor, and hit points.
As the two tanks struggled back and forth in a frenzied series of clashes, I watched their health drop dangerously low on both sides—I wanted to step in and help, but we’d already established there was nothing I could do to hurt Wugduz. It was infuriating to feel so weak and useless, but I’d just be in Topper’s way, so I watched from sidelines and cheered him on. Both combatants neared 20% health, and it seemed like the paladin was going to come out ahead thanks to his higher level and stronger weapon. But suddenly Wugduz grinned wickedly behind his visor slits and unleashed his final attack! With a spinning dodge that brought him around Topper’s weapon, he stepped in close and laid a black, gauntleted palm on Topper’s chestplate. A shock of dark energy flowed out of him and jolted Topper, momentarily surrounding him with an aura of disease and pain. Topper’s head snapped back and his back arched as the shadowknight’s Harm Touch rippled through his body, and I watched in horror as his health dropped from 20% to 3% in a single second.
“No!” I cried. “Topper!”
If Topper had been a normal paladin, he could have just shrugged it off by countering Wugduz’s Harm Touch with his own Lay on Hands … but he’d taken the tanking specialty at both of his specialization opportunities, and didn’t have that. I couldn’t remember what he got instead, but it sure wasn’t healing… How could he let this happen? I wondered.
Wugduz, still at 15% health, pressed the offensive as Topper shifted into emergency panic mode and focused exclusively on healing himself, but with his tanking-focused gear his heals could barely keep up with Wugduz’s insane shadowknight DPS. I watched in horror as Topper dropped to 2%. If he died and lost his gear, he’d be even more vulnerable to the Secret Order ! We couldn’t afford to lose our best-geared player right now, and I couldn’t afford to lose Topper after so much effort to rescue him. I pulled out my bow and started dropping arrow after arrow into Wugduz, hoping to distract him, but it was the same as the first time… his health pool was crazy, and I could barely put a dent in him. It wouldn’t be enough!
As Topper’s mana ran out, I tried to think of something—anything—that I could do. But it was hopeless! He changed his strategy and tried to whittle the last remaining bit of Wugduz’s health down, but I could see it wouldn’t be enough. Wugduz was at 12%, and Topper was at 1% and totally out of mana. Wugduz roared in victory, preparing for a deathblow.
But then, Topper smiled. He raised his fist toward the heavens and whispered something under his breath. In the blink of an eye, a nimbus of golden light collected around his raised fist, and sprang out to cover his body in a protective bubble. It even shined out from his already fiery blade, seeming to double the size and offensive force of the shimmering tongues of flame that flickered around it.
“ Light’s Stand ,” I murmured. “Topper, you bastard… I forgot you had that.”
It was the ultimate Pally skill, and had a full week-long cooldown. He was completely immune to damage for 30 seconds, and received a 500% damage bonus during that time while his mana regenerated at 1000% of his resting rate. Now Wugduz looked concerned. Despite his earlier resolve, he realized he was about to lose—both his gear and his life. He turned to run, his courage finally failing him. Topper had been ready for that though. A golden Hammer of Burden slammed onto Wugduz from Topper’s outstretched palm, slowing the shadowknight’s move speed by 80%, and then Topper cast a heal over time regeneration spell on himself and laid into Wugduz hard with his holy sword.
I’d never seen anything so satisfying as watching that tiny little ogre bite the dust in a smoking pile of righteous burns.
Topper slung his blade back onto his back, the flames extinguished, and spit on the corpse as Wugduz faded away to his bindpoint, leaving a pile of black-plated raid gear behind him.
Ch
apter 15
“There you go! That should be all of it.” I bounced a fat bag of gold on my palm as the Fey merchants carted off the last of Wugduz’s raid gear into virtual oblivion, giddy with the satisfaction that Wugduz would be completely enraged at the permanent loss of his equipment—and to a vendor of all things! Topper had followed me, deep in thought, as I’d gone down to greet the Fey royalty and collect the promised rewards for freeing their quest hub tower from the influence of The Secret Order . They granted me another large bag of gold, which would be useful when I’d need to buy a flying mount soon, and the queen allowed me to select two additional spells from her list to add to my book.
Normally I’d be thrilled at all my new opportunities to tailor my class, but the loss of Erlix put a little bit of a damper on my mood. For all his raunchy jokes, I missed the little guy. He’d stuck with me through a lot, and I almost felt naked without him at my side. Who was going to stab enemies to death for me if not Erlix? He’s not really gone, I reminded myself. You’ll find him soon enough.
I shook my head and tried to focus on the task at hand, looking carefully over the spell options the queen was offering me again:
[Phantasmal Assassin] Summon a phantasmal warrior with a physical form to serve as your servant for up to 4 hours. He can carry items, attack enemies for significant mental damage, and scout without your direct control. Players may only have one pet or servant at a time.
[Greater Invisibility] This spell allows the target to become completely invisible for a random period of time, and they become only partially visible when taking hostile actions.
[Major Glamour] This spell allows the caster to physically alter the features and body characteristics of a player or NPC, transforming them into another gender, race, or radically altering their physical features for the duration of spell, without changing their stats or size category. This provides an enormous bonus to disguise checks. Hostile targets receive a save against this spell.
[Lasting Illusion] Create any visual illusion over an area up to 10x10x10’ that will last for up to three weeks or until dispelled.
It seemed like Major Glamour and Lasting Illusion provided the most interesting options for me, so I chose those and filed them away to think about later. Deception might be our strongest tool we had against Vierdimin, which meant that the more we could make things seem to be other than they really were, the better our odds of actually catching and defeating him.
“Are you ready, Lacey?” Topper asked, as I wrapped up my errands. “We’ll need to move quickly if we’re going to rescue Jazzus and track down Vierdimin before it’s too late.”
I nodded. We also needed to get out of here before the king realized I had his orb. But before that, I just have one quick thing to do…
“Your majesty? Might I ask a small boon?”
“Of course, my dear,” the king replied. “For the champion of my people, anything.”
“Great! Please gather them all up in here. I’d like to thank them personally.”
The king walked off to gather his Fey people, and Topper raised an eyebrow at me. “Thank them personally?”
“Hey, if it offends your precious paladin sensibilities, you can leave the room and wait downstairs with my pet dragonkin. Just don’t ask where his tail has been.”
Topper gave me a funny look and I winked at him, but before he could ask any more questions the king was already filing in his with his whole court of level 50+ NPCs.
I grinned at the group. “You’re all a little small, but this can work…” I unlaced my top, yanking it apart to let my breasts spill out for probably the millionth time this week, and breathed, “ Seduce .”
Topper turned away blushing and remained stiffly staring at the wall the whole time I had a nasty, wild orgy with the tiny people of the Fey. These guys knew how to party , and as the action got hotter and dirtier, I watched with satisfaction as my XP bar filled up again and again. DING! DING! DING! The chimes sounded again and again as I came repeatedly amid showers of sparks, and then did it again with a new set of Fey guardsmen. By the time I’d worked my way through every NPC in the quest-hub, I was level 64. Not only that, but it had taken less than half an hour, and the king had been so busy watching me get plowed from every which way that he hadn’t bothered to go upstairs and check where his orb was. I quickly cleaned myself up, grabbed Topper by the arm, and yanked him down the steps as I tugged my clothes back into place.
“That’s certainly an erm… unorthodox way to gain levels,” Topper mumbled in a strangled voice.
I just rolled my eyes at him. “Ah, come on. Show me another legitimate way to gain six levels in 30 minutes, huh? You’re just lucky the developers left such a crazy loophole in, or we’d have no chance against Vierdimin.”
“I’m not judging, I just… ah. Hm. Not my thing.”
“Not my thing either, remember? Accidentally got stuck in the whore class? Have to rescue my friends. It’s not like I like doing this, Topper.”
He tugged at his collar and turned bright red. “It’s just… you really do seem to like doing this, Lacey. Krom. Lacey. Jesus. And before, I knew it was happening, but I didn’t ah, have to listen to it.”
Now it was my turn to blush and fall silent. Am I enjoying this a little too much? I’ve definitely gone from being weirded out by this body to dropping my panties every chance I get… It was a troubling line of thought, but fortunately, our arrival at the base of the tower allowed me to push it aside for the moment.
“Fiero!”
The dragonkin perked up at my voice, his tail twitching excitedly. “Mistress? Did you extract the orb?”
“Wow,” Topper murmured as Fiero drew to his full height and came towards us. “You charmed this big lug?” Despite only being a level 45 elite, he still cut an impressive figure, standing several inches above the paladin.
I retrieved the Fabulous Orb of the Dragonkin Sorcerers from my inventory and held it out to him with two hands. His eyes shined with excitement as his scaled fingers closed around it.
“The orb of the dragonkin sorcerers,” he murmured. “You did it! You actually did it. For so long I’ve searched… it’s just as the prophecies said. A courtesan mesmer would come and continue the legacy of our sorcerers.”
“Continue your legacy?”
Fiero nodded excitedly. “Watch.”
He closed his eyes and began to murmur under his breath, and then I was surprised to see that the orb was shrinking. Smaller and smaller it went until it was barely larger than a marble, though it still radiated a beautiful heat and light. Then Fiero made some mysterious motion with his hands, drawing in air, and I was shocked to see a golden tiara materialize. The fiery orb fit perfectly in the middle, the crown jewel of the golden tiara. The dragonkin dropped to one knee, bowed his head, and held the delicate headpiece out to me on two flat palms.
“For you, my lady.”
DING! Upon completion of Fiero’s quest, the XP reward nudged me the last bit I needed to get to level 65, and I was surrounded by another shower of golden sparks that was so familiar it was almost like a tired party trick by now. Still, level 65 was a huge milestone for a character, and an opportunity to pick a second specialization. I’d look into that soon, but for the moment I was too distracted by the tiara that Fiero had offered me. I was brimming with curiosity as I picked it up, but then I saw the stats and gasped.
[Fabulous Tiara of the Dragonkin Sorcerers]
Epic Quality, Item Level 75
This rare item was once the property of the dragonkin sorcerers, but was reconstructed by the prophesied one who has both the charm and magical skill to wield it, paralleled only by the beautiful dragon sorcerers of old.
Cha +5 / Mana +1000 / Effective Spell Skill Level +5
Unlocks Hidden Class : Sorceress
“What is it, Lacey?”
“It… it’s an amazing item, but Topper… I just unlocked a secret class.” It was an amazing item, possibly the best item available for my cla
ss, catapulting me to a level of spellcasting ability the server might not have ever seen before… at least when it came to illusions. But I was even more amazed that I’d somehow found a secret class unlock. That didn’t just happen . It was incredible.
“You what? You mean a secret class like the Lich was for Vierdimin?”
“Yeah, exactly like the Lich. Or, not exactly like the Lich class. It’s called a Sorceress. Vierdimin has been the only one to even ever find a hidden class until now.”
“Amazing. What does the class do?”
I shook my head. “You don’t get to find out unless you pick it. I read a whole article on MMOGamer.com about when Vierdimin unlocked the Lich. You just have to take it blindly as your second specialization, and trust that it’s rare enough and powerful enough that it’s worthwhile. I mean, you don’t hide an underpowered class away behind an impossibly unlikely set of quests buried for a specific class/specialization combo deep in the Fey Wild…”
Topper stroked his chin thoughtfully. “You should still consider your options. Remember you’re not playing Lacey for the long haul. We want whatever will be strongest to defeat Vierdimin and get ourselves out of here. Then you can go back to being Krom once things are safe.”
“Yeah…” I replied, wondering why I suddenly had a glum feeling in the pit of my stomach. But Topper was right. I should see what other specializations were available now that I was 65. I gently rested my new tiara on my brow, equipping it in my head slot, and then I opened my specialization dialog to take a look at what was on offer for a level 65 Courtesan/Mesmer. Four tantalizing options unfolded in front of me:
[Illusionist]
The Illusionist takes the Mesmer’s natural skill with illusions to a whole new level, becoming the master of misdirection and deception. Courtesans with an Illusionist specialty can create stronger and longer illusions, rivaling even the greatest wizards, and use their skills to lure unsuspecting foes into their other natural skills or away from their allies, weaving intricate webs of deception on a scale that can affect armies of enemies.