World of Eternia: The Complete Collection

by Antony W. F. Chow

  “I'm surprised you don't play First Person Shooter ('FPS') games,” Wesley remarks as he digests Lucious' gaming resume.

  “You mean games like Doom, Quake, Ghost Recon, etc.?” the younger man replies. He slowly shakes his head. “My bro is into it. When we were kids, I got sick and tired of him hogging the family computer in the living room after school to play FPS games with his online friends, especially the ones with these heavy accents and who can’t speak English. When I moved out for college, I started playing mmorpgs instead.”

  “Why did you play mmorpg instead of fps games? Didn't you want to play with your brother?” the ex-Marine asks with a quizzical expression on his face.

  “Play with my brother?” the young man repeats the ludicrous question aloud. “Are you kidding me? Hell no!” he replies incredulously.

  “Ah, you guys had a sort of sibling rivalry thing going on,” Wesley notes as he begins to understand the reasoning. “I was an only child,” he adds.

  Lucious crosses his arms and scowls at the cavalier. “Since we're playing twenty questions, tell me something. Why didn't you play fps games yourself? Why join WoE?”

  “Who said I didn't?” the older man replies with a chuckle. “I tried playing Ghost Recon. But I didn't like it very much.”

  “Why not?” Lucious presses him.

  “Well, for one thing the gamers I usually come across are incompetent boneheads, sadistic lone wolves, or glory hounds. They have no sense of team play, and don't follow orders or game plans. I got sick and tired of all the losses that my teams were piling up after a week of play. So I quit,” he shrugs.

  “You quit after just one week,” the battle mage shakes his head in disbelief.

  “Yup! Oh, and also once you've held real guns in your hands that shoot live ammunition, the notion of clicking on a keyboard button or mouse button just doesn't sit right with me, given my military background,” Wesley adds. “As for why I signed up for WoE, the answer is kinda obvious. They are the first game to seriously incorporate a VR component into a rpg environment. The gloves they use allow for a tactile feedback, although I hate the way they sting you when your character takes damage; it just drive me nuts,” he shakes his head and continues. “The motion sensors within the gloves enable me to execute precise blocks and sword swings, sort of like Nintendo Wii and their Wii Remote to control swordplay in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for example. The response time from the movement of my hands to my avatar's reaction to my movement appears to be really fast; to me at least, the response time is faster than using a controller or a game pad. See, I appreciate the value of time as much as you Wall Streeters,” he chuckles at his joke.

  Lucious' left eyebrow twitch at the remark, but wisely remains silent.

  “It looks like we drew the short straw. Our side of the foyer does not contain an exit out of this room,” the cavalier remarks as he turns his head from side to side along the clear, uncovered wall.

  Lucious raises his staff. His magical light hits only the smooth, stone wall. The cobweb has been completely ripped off the wall on their side of the foyer, but their efforts were for naught. He looks at the cavalier. “Let's go join Conrad and Diana on the other side, and hope that they did not hit a dead end like us.”

  Chapter 6 – Into the Abyss

  “Welcome back, fearless leader,” Conrad says in a cheery tone. He is casually leaning against the wall next to the revealed doorway.

  “Ah! I see you found the exit. Good work!” Wesley praises the barbarian, who grins widely at the unexpected praise from a man that Conrad respects and admires.

  “How about you guys? Did you find an exit?” Diana questions the returnees.

  “Nope. Total failure,” Lucious huffs dejectedly, because he hates losing in anything. Next time I'll choose the side, he thinks as he remembers that Conrad was the one who chose to explore the left side of the room. Perhaps Conrad knew something that I didn’t, the Wall Street trade eyes the baseball jock with suspicion.

  The barbarian notes the sour expression on the mage's face, and quickly realizes that the young man was unhappy because Conrad had picked the side to clear out first. “Relax squirt,” he says as he puts a hand on Lucious' left shoulder. “Next time you could pick sides, okay?” he grins.

  The battle mage turns his head to look at the offensive hand. He uses his staff to knock the hand off his shoulder. “Hands off, squirt,” he admonishes the minor league player.

  Conrad laughs as he holds up his hands in the air. “Just trying to be friendly, that's all. You really need to learn to relax, buddy,” he tells Lucious lightheartedly.

  “Just keep your paws off me, okay 'buddy?'” the mage stares at him with rising anger.

  The big man simply laughs at the hostile response. I guess the pipsqueak has masculinity issues or something, Conrad muses to himself. Thankfully we are not in a Player Versus Player (“PvP”) zone, or else he would have spammed a ton of spells at me by now to finish me off. He laughs at the thought of his barbarian character being killed by the scrawny spell caster.

  Diana starts to open her mouth to intervene, but someone else beats her to it.

  Klang-klang-klang! The cavalier bangs the flat part of his sword's blade against his shield to draw the party's attention back to Wesley. He hates to use his sword and shield set as makeshift drums, but it is critical that these idiots get their acts together immediately! “Please stop goofing around, guys,” the leader admonishes the team. “We need to continue moving. Who knows how far the other parties have gone already into this castle. Let's pick up our pace.” Wesley turns to Lucious. “Cast a Detect Trap spell on the door, and see if there are any surprises left by the game designers,” he orders.

  “Roger that,” the mage salutes and goes over to examine the door. I wasted more than enough time on that dumb jock, he thinks as Lucious shines his staff light on the solid iron door.

  Diana quickly follows him holding the torch, but the mage waves her away. She decides to stand back to give him the space that he asks for.

  Wesley grabs Conrad's arm, and draws the bigger man to the edge of the illuminated area of the foyer. “What was that all about?” the ex-Marine looks up at the big man's face and whispers in a harsh tone.

  Conrad grins. “Just messing with the little kid,” he whispers back.

  The cavalier crosses his arms. “Mess with him after we finish this mission. The kid is ultra sensitive and high strung, and he also seems to have some self-confidence issues too,” he shares his observation candidly. “His mind wanders and he gets distracted easily by seemingly innocuous things,” Wesley continues to rattle off Lucious' mental deficiencies. “Regardless of whether you like him personally or not, he is a part of The Strangers, and a valuable member to boot. Our party's success in making out of this castle will heavily depend on him. Think of Lucious as your baseball team's star pitcher, the quirky but talented type. Think about how you deal with guys like him, and handle Lucious in a similar fashion. Okay?” he asks.

  Conrad nods in agreement. “Yes sir!” he salutes. I guess I did go too far in messing with the poor kid, he admits.

  * * *

  Lucious digs his hand around his enchanted Bag of Holding for the spell component that he needs for a Detect Trap spell. One of these days, I have to ask the seamstress in Starter Town to line the inside of my cloak with pockets so that I could easily pull out spell components, Lucious makes a mental note to himself. It would be a lot faster than switching over to the item menu on my player screen to pick the item I want in-game. He sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the door. Holding the powdery substance in his right hand, he puts his left hand on the door and slowly mutters the arcane words of the Detect Trap spell: “haff-folu-porg-wist.”

  He stares at the door through his magic screen view as the spell takes effect. He sees purple tendrils of magical power extend from his left hand, and slowly caress the door. His magic searches for traps on the door and the doorway, and such traps dis
covered by the spell are highlighted in purple under the magic screen view. However, the strands do not change color to delineate the discovery of any traps. Confident that the door is not trapped, the mage finally releases the spell, returning to normal player view.

  “Well?” Diana asks, after a moment.

  “Looks clean,” the mage answers casually. Lucious slowly rises off the dusty ground and gets back on his feet.

  “Are we good to go?” Wesley asks when Lucious is standing before the door again.

  “I believe so,” the battle mage answers. “My detect trap spell did not catch anything on the door itself, or in the doorway. Whether there are traps beyond the door are anyone's guess,” the spell caster shrugs. “The game designers are fully aware of our magical capabilities, and they could easily come up with nasty surprises to get around my trap detection spell,” he cautions. “There is no way to catch whatever is behind the door until we open the door first and I have visual contact.”

  “In that case, let's proceed in our customary party formation and line up in single file. When that is accomplished I will open the door,” the cavalier answers.

  Lucious nods in acquiescence. The heavily armored knight is the best person to lead this party through the dungeons. Ideally you would want a thief or ranger class character to take the lead, because either class could detect hidden traps. Unfortunately, a party of four players could bring only limited skill sets to each campaign. Part of the challenge or fun in playing these role playing games is figuring out how to cover for the party’s deficits in a creative manner. As far as The Strangers are concerned, Wesley’s steel plate armor and shield provide adequate protection to fend off most mobs and traps.

  The rest of the party follows his order, and lines up in single file in the order of Wesley, Lucious, Diana, and Conrad.

  Satisfied with the team's response to his order, the cavalier cautiously opens the door before him. The door opens outward, away from the party, and reveals an enclosed, narrow set of winding, descending steps. A light stone embedded within the wall provides some illumination of the stairwell.

  Lucious raises his magical staff, and the light from his staff’s orb shines down on the top portion of the staircase. “Why did the game designers install these stairs leading downward?” he groans. The Wall Street trader once got stuck in an elevator at work, and over time the experience developed into claustrophobia.

  “Because there aren't enough space around the foyer to house monsters?” Diana offers a helpful hypothesis.

  “Oh, I'm sure the WoE dungeon designers have some awesome monsters in store for us,” Conrad chimes in cheerfully as he peers over Wesley’s shoulder to look at the stairs. It looks just wide enough for the adventurers to descend one at a time. He turns around quickly to see if any monster is creeping up on the party, and sees nothing in front of him beyond the open doorway.

  “Enough chitchat, lady and gentlemen. We have to keep moving,” Wesley reminds them, as he tries to get the party refocused on the mission. He pulls his long sword out of his scabbard, and points his weapon at the descending stairs. “Onward!” he declares and starts marching down the steps.

  “Let's get this over with,” the mage tells the priestess, and walks quickly to catch up to their leader. What’s the worst that could happen? Monsters appear at the bottom of the steps to block our path? He raises his staff to illuminate the long, winding staircase.

  Diana turns to look at the rear guard. “Let's keep up, Conrad!” she says with a smile for Conrad as she hurries down the stairs.

  The barbarian closes the door, to prevent any lingering giant spiders from following them. Click! He freezes for a split second, dreading the source of the unexpected sound. Suddenly, he hears screams from his teammates. “WOOOAAAHHHHH!” “OHMIGOD!”

  Turning around quickly, Conrad looks down and sees that the steps have dropped, turning the winding staircase into a steep, sloping chute belonging in an amusement park! Conrad realizes that he has no choice but to go after them before the party members get separated even more. He lowers himself to the ground and approaches the chute slowly. “Here we go!” the big man yells aloud as he sits at the edge of the floor and uses his hands to push off the ground to slide, feet first, down the chute.

  “Hee-hee-ha-haw!” the big man roars in approval of his unexpected ride down the dark, winding chute. Keeping his head up despite the whirling turns down the pipe, he finally sees the opening and gets ready to extend his limbs to prevent his body from dropping through the opening. Ready, ready, now! Conrad times his impromptu, manual brake perfectly, and manages to catch himself at the edge of the chute's opening without falling out of the tunnel. “You guys okay?” he asks aloud.

  Wesley groans under a pile of limbs on the hard ground. “When people get off me, yes,” he wheezes out from under the dog pile.

  “C'mon, Diana, you heard the old man. As soon as you roll your butt off me, I can get off our ageless leader. I would try to push you off, but I'm lying face down, and my avatar is still a bit dizzy from smacking my face into his armor, if the blurry vision in my screen view means anything,” Lucious replies.

  Her face flushing with embarrassment, Diana wills her avatar’s body to move, and the character slowly rolls off the pile. “Here we go,” she replies as she sits cross-legged on the floor, to the right of the human dog pile. She blinks her eyes several times inside the visor to adjust her eyes to the dim illumination coming from glowing stones embedded within the walls. At least my avatar is no longer dizzy, she thinks happily.

  “Thank you for your cooperation,” the mage says sarcastically as he rolls to the left, and lies down flat on his back. The player allows his avatar to stare straight up at the ceiling until the player’s blurry vision is cleared up.

  The knight puts his hands under his chest, and slowly pushes himself off the ground. He is almost afraid to look at his avatar's health bar. After a moment's hesitation, he looks and sees that his health is down only 10% from the fall. He breathes a sigh of relief.

  Conrad slowly leans his torso forward, and his head pokes out of the chute's opening. He looks down and sees that the other party members are alive and conscious, despite the steep ten foot drop from the chute's opening. “As soon as you guys move out of the way, I can jump down,” he says.

  In the meantime, the party's scout uses his vantage point to look around the room. He realizes that the party has dropped into a big, rectangular pit. The area is approximately twenty foot across and easily doubles that in length. The walls are smooth and curve straight up; the walls eventually meet as a spire. He focuses his superb 20/10 vision on the other side of the room, and notes the cross-barred gate at the far side of the room. Suddenly, he sees the gate ascend into an archway, and a massive number of undead skeletons slowly walk through the gate. “Guys, we have company!” he yells as he points to the other side of the room.

  The three grounded party members heed the warning and turn their heads in unison. They can’t help but stare at the slowly approaching platoon of skeletal warriors. The front row numbers eight warriors across; each warrior is carrying a massive tower shield strapped to their left forearms. The next row comprises of an equal number of spearmen, and the row behind that the same number of archers. In total, there are twenty four skeleton warriors slowly advancing toward the position of The Strangers, and the adventurers have nowhere to run!

  The barbarian positions his body so that his legs are dangling at the edge of the chute's opening. He pushes off with his arms, and land squarely on his feet. He rejoins his party, and stands next to the cavalier.

  “Easy-peasy,” the battle mage quips. He is utterly unimpressed by the lowly skeletal minions slowly bridging the gap across the floor. He brushes the melee fighters' shoulders as he squeezes past them to stand in front of the party. Raising his magical staff high in the air, Lucious starts chanting the arcane words for the Fireball spell: “fuss-toyu-toji-veko-kurt-hoge.” Switching over to the magic screen view,
the player directs the fireball to land in the middle of the mob. Lucious switches back to normal player screen view again to watch his spell take effect. A small ball of flame appears next to the staff's orb, and slowly grows in size as the mage feeds his mana into the hot, burning ball. Suddenly, Lucious slams down his staff, triggering the spell.

  Whoosh! The hot fireball quickly flies across the room towards the skeletal minions. Right before the fireball reaches the front line of monsters the shield bearers drop down to one knee in unison and collectively raise their massive tower shields.

  Lucious' eyes widen in disbelief as he watches the fireball bounce off these shields, and fly back towards him! “What the hell!” he blurts out as the fireball quickly crosses the room, and is just a few feet in front of him.

  “Down!” the cavalier knocks the stunned battle mage down to the ground, and covers the young man with his armored body.

  Diana and Conrad instinctively dive to their right, and roll on the ground.

  BOOOMMMM! The fireball lands on the party's former position, and the ground shudders from the fiery impact.

  Wesley looks back, and sees the ground is charred, with thick smoke lingering in the air. He rolls off his charge, and rises to his feet. “You okay, man?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” Lucious breathes out weakly as the knight had knocked the breath out of the spell caster. Retrieving his staff, the battle mage stands back up again.

  “So what happened?” Conrad asks as he positions himself in front of the party, and keeps a worried eye on the slowly advancing undead warriors.

  “What happened is another lovely surprise from our game designers. Those shields are enchanted, and imbued with Reflect as a constant effect,” Lucious huffs in anger. “That really bites.” He stomps the ground to emphasize his displeasure. How the heck is a spell caster supposed to beat these skeletons if he cannot throw magic spells at them?