World of Eternia: The Complete Collection

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Wesley's eyebrows rise at the lack of manners from the young man; he decides not to say a word. Lucious is not his son, and if the young man can unwind for a moment then that's fine.

  Boom! Conrad jumps down the steps, and the loud, crashing sound of his landing startles Lucious into raising his head to look at the big barbarian. Grinning evilly, Conrad saunters his way across the living room like a peacock, and takes a seat on the end opposite to Wesley. I have to show confidence in front of these guys, even though I don’t feel very confident right now, he thinks. The chair groans in protest under the man's heavy weight but manages to support Conrad. Like Wesley, the big man leans his chair back and puts his feet up on the table. Unlike the leader, whose hands are folded on his chest, Conrad puts his hands behind his head.

  The three men wait in silence for Diana to join them at the table, none of them willing to make small talk. The silence is deafening, in sharp contrast to the jovial mood that usually occurs after a typical night of dungeoneering. The trio hears a door close above them, and the priestess finally joins them. She takes a seat directly across from her boyfriend.

  Seeing that all members of The Strangers are finally present, Wesley puts his feet down to start the meeting. "Thoughts?" he asks simply.

  "I think it would be better if you tell us what that official said," Lucious replies. "Only one of us could understand him," he reminds the leader.

  "Not much of an exchange, actually," Wesley replies. "Basically, the guy, whose name is 'Gatekeeper Kang' by the way, refused to permit us to pass through their checkpoint and enter We Tang, the First of the Three Great Kingdoms. He called us 'barbarians' due to our different clothes and said this reflects our barbaric ways," he explains.

  "What a minute!" Conrad interrupts. "The guy gave you grief because I like to show off my chest?" he asks incredulously while pointing a thumb at his impressive chest.

  "Different cultures have different values," Diana answers. "It may well be that in Kang’s culture, frontal nudity is really, really offensive. It would be just like the game developers to throw this kind of curveball at us," the academic notes with interest.

  "Indeed," Lucious agrees. "This is exactly from the EDE playbook: dangle a carrot in front of us, and then make it impossible to reach," he frowns. "The message in our players' inbox said that we will get bonus experience points for developing relations with this newly discovered kingdom. Obviously, EDE had no interest in paying us that bonus, and be forced to raise the level cap again."

  "To be honest, experience is the least of our worries. I'm more concerned about the miscast of the divine spell," Wesley steers the conversation directly to his primary concern. "Any theories on what happened?" he asks.

  Lucious immediately jumps in to cut off Diana. "I have two theories. One is that Diana simply miscast the simple spell," he offers.

  The priestess immediately shoots him a dirty look. Wait 'til I come over to your place next time, she fumes silently.

  The elementalist grins in response; he knows exactly what she’s thinking. "Yeah, I know it is very unlikely for that to happen. Unlike elemental spells, spells from the divine sphere has like a zero percent chance of failure, unless the priest has fallen out of favor with his divine patron. That’s why Wesley offered to have Diana demonstrate instead of me,” he throws a nod in the leader’s direction.

  Wesley nods back in confirmation of the reasoning behind his decision to pick Diana for the impromptu demonstration.

  “I think the most likely explanation is that magic works differently in that dimension," Lucious speculates.

  Wesley rubs his chin as he considers Lucious' explanation. "Yeah, that would explain why the gatekeeper claimed that there are no gods in their world," he notes. “Maybe there are no gods in We Tang.”

  “Shoot!” the spell caster replies with a frown. “That was the big clue right there from EDE. The encounter and dialogue were obviously scripted by the game developers, and the gatekeeper provided you with a BIG HINT that divine spells won’t cut it in that world. Talk about a big miss!” he hisses. Unfortunately, the "Comprehend Language" spell is the province of the divine sphere of magic, or else I would have listened in on the conversation, Lucious thinks to himself. I think I will need to drop by the Magic Guild and look for a scroll or a ring to get around the divine limitation, he notes.

  The cavalier puts a hand over his heart. “I apologize. I should have realized that was an important clue from EDE to get past the checkpoint. Put the blame for this mission’s failure squarely on me,” Wesley says solemnly in taking responsibility for the oversight.

  “Don’t worry about it, Wesley,” Diana offers reassuringly. “This is the first time where our party has ventured beyond the world of Eternia, and we didn’t know what happens when we left this realm. I get my divine abilities from the Gods of Eternia, and they exist ONLY in Eternia. Their blessings don't extend to different dimensions; so it makes sense, from EDE’s perspective, that I wouldn't be able to make my cross glow or cast divine spells," Diana explains. "I'm glad that we decided to retreat rather than fight these guards. I certainly wouldn't be able to heal our injuries even if we manage to defeat all of them," she adds.

  "This would be a huge problem if King Richard decides to invade the We Tang Kingdom," Conrad notes.

  "Actually we would be at a severe DISADVANTAGE," Wesley corrects the big man, "because we lack intelligence on the combat tactics and magical resources of the We Tang Kingdom. If a decision is made to invade, then I would push for secret reconnaissance missions first. We could send thieves through the portal during the evening hours to sulk around in the dark." He conveniently leaves out the fact that the portal will glow during use, and signal the arrival of parties to the other side anyway.

  “Who wants to inform the King?” Lucious asks, and looks directly at Wesley.

  Diana and Conrad immediately swivel their heads in the leader’s direction as well. Not all of them have to be present when the King is informed officially of the result of the mission. Any one of them will be adequate for this task.

  Wesley turns his head slowly from left to right and sighs in defeat. All of them want to avoid contact with the insufferable King Richard, whether in-game or in real life. I guess this is part of the price I pay for being the leader, he thinks. “Fine, I’ll inform the King,” he replies. “If there are no further issues to discuss, then this meeting is adjourned.”

  Chapter 13 – Report

  Wesley leaves the party's headquarters fully decked out in his steel plate armor, his sword at his side. He decides to leave the shield behind, but fastens a blood red colored cape around his neck. Only officials of the Kingdom, presumably on official business, are allowed to wear this cape and there is only one single supplier of this royal cape. The pieces of his plate armor have been polished and cleaned from top to bottom.

  Since this is a formal meeting with royalty, Wesley decides to wear his helm as well. The piece is more of a gladiator style headgear, with his face wide open and unprotected; the metal covers from temple to temple behind his head, and from his scalp down to his eyebrows. A true helmet would cover his face entirely, with a mere slit for his eyes to see. However, this sort of helmet, while offering greater protection, would impede his vision tremendously, and dull his razor sharp senses. Therefore, Wesley chooses a less protective headwear in order to retain his vision. As a side bonus, the helmet allows other players to recognize him by face; thus Wesley is often delayed to chat briefly with other players as he walks along a rickety dirt road that constitutes the main street in Starter Town. With multiple stops along the road, Wesley slowly makes his way up the hill to the Lion Castle, home of King Richard the Lion.

  Castle Eternia had been the former home of royalty until the Curse of the Regent forced the living out of the Castle, and the monarch had to construct a new castle with due haste. A castle is more than just a home for the king. It is seen as a symbol of strength and power amongst his subjects. It is unparalle
led in size and height within the borders of the Kingdom. Thus, a lack of a castle reflects poorly on the monarchy.

  The Lion Castle is situated on a small hill overlooking Starter Town. A dirt road from the main street leads to the foot of this hill. A winding path, some twenty foot wide, has been carved into the hill. The path forms an ever tightening spiral around the hill until it reaches the hill top. Behind the hill is a sheer drop of a cliff and beyond is the open sea.

  The Ambassador takes a steady march along the path; he politely nods to passerby who immediately notices his blood royal cape and either bows or curtsies deeply. I wonder what the breeze would smell like, Wesley thinks as he gazes at the open sea in admiration of the serene horizon beyond the shoreline.

  Although World of Eternia is a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that incorporates a heavy virtual reality element, the technology is still very limited as it is unable to duplicate the sense of smell or taste. To truly duplicate all five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, the user's brain would have to be directly connected somehow and fed these stimuli. And Wesley isn't sure he would ever sign up for that. It is one thing to simulate reality via mechanical means. It is quite another to blur the lines as to remove the distinction in the perception of the user directly through his mind. In Wesley’s view, the simulated reality may as well be the new reality to the user. At what point is virtual reality real enough?

  After a long, quiet trek the cavalier finally reaches the hill top. He sees the Lion Castle looming beyond a high stone wall. Along the wall are openings at eye level with steel bars running vertically. A defensive measure, the openings are wide enough for bolts and arrows to pass through. In the middle is an open gate just ten feet wide. As Wesley approaches the opening, the fully armored guards on either side of the gate lower their halberds so that their weapons intersect and bar entry through the gate.

  “Halt! State your name and business!” the guardsman on the left side of the gate demands.

  The cavalier keeps a straight face at the demand. The project manager, Mark, had once explained to Wesley that the NPCs are designed to automatically distinguish between players and non-player characters, because each NPC has his own script of regular daily and weekly activities, and the normal script is interrupted only during interaction with players.

  In addition, the NPCs need to identify the player that they are encountering in order to run the appropriate script or dialogue. Each player has a profile of flag checks, with each flag identified by a numeric code that tells the NPC program what quests the player is doing currently. If the NPC has a quest or related item to offer the player, then that script will run automatically. The whole setup is dependent on identifying the individual player in order to pull out his profile.

  Thus, Wesley knows that the demand from the guardsman is rhetorical in nature, but decides to play along anyway. Ah, the curse of foreknowledge, he muses silently. “Well met, sir. I am Wesley, a Special Ambassador to the Kingdom of Eternia who has returned from a special mission ordered by the King himself. I need to deliver my report to His Grace right away,” he replies.

  “Well met, Ambassador,” the guardsman acknowledges the player’s identity as he withdraws his halberd to allow admittance into the castle. “You may enter.”

  The companion guard on the opposing side of the entrance quickly pulls his halberd back as well.

  Wesley salutes the men, and the two guardsmen respond in kind. The cavalier walks at a leisurely pace, expecting to be accosted by a young page. After a few steps, a young man runs up to the ambassador. “Sir Wesley,” the young man begins, “I regret to inform you that the King is indisposed at the moment. His Grace has ordered Count Zeensoon to accept your report in His stead. I will take you to the Count now, if you will follow me please.”

  The player smiles wryly at the King’s refusal to see Wesley. “Please lead the way, young man,” the ambassador replies, keeping his tone pleasant. Richard is unhappy at the failure of my mission, and showing his displeasure by ordering me to meet with Count William Zeensoon, the Preeminent Templar of the Holy Church of Eternia, Wesley thinks while stifling a groan. The man is a zealot, a warrior cleric who believes in spreading the teachings and wisdom of the Gods of Eternia. Once I provide my report, the Count will undoubtedly push the King to invade the land of the godless infidels and force them to convert. I guess this will be the storyline to introduce the oriental expansion, the player muses as he gains significant insight into the scope of EDE's plans. Perhaps my mission was designed to fail after all, Wesley suddenly realizes to his chagrin.

  Not surprisingly, the young page leads the Ambassador directly to the small chapel, located in the center of the castle. The chapel is very sparsely furnished, with a large metal cross protruding from the floor in the center of the ten foot by ten foot room. The cross consists of two iron poles; the vertical one is standing six feet tall while the horizontal one is four feet wide, and intersects the vertical pole exactly three feet down from the top.

  Along each wall are a dozen candles on the ground or forty four candles in all; each candle represents a god or goddess of Eternia. The theologians have debated endlessly as to whether there exist twelve separate divinities, or one divine with twelve different aspects. They don’t know the god(s) by name but the sign of the twelve is present and felt in various ways. For example, it is agreed that each month of the twelve month calendar year is blessed by one specific deity, and creatures born on a specific month receives a special blessing or characteristic.

  The young page gets down on one knee before the single entrance to the small chapel. There is no door to the chapel; this signifies the open door policy of the Gods of Eternia to all comers of Faith. All members of the Faith are welcome to worship. There is an opening three feet wide at the southern wall to the chapel.

  The divine room is empty but for a man in a fine white robe with a blood red cross on his back; the man’s back is facing the page. The worshipper has a round, shiny bald head but a deep, dark colored complexion. The man’s robe is somewhat ill-fitting on the strong, broad frame of the man. The page immediately recognizes the man as Count Zeensoon, who is kneeling in front of the cross and appears to be praying. "Your Grace, the Ambassador has arrived," the young man announces. The King had instructed the page to interrupt the Templar if necessary to get the holy man’s attention.

  The Count takes another moment to finish his silent prayer, and slowly gets back on his feet. He turns around and his steely, dark brown eyes bore into those of the man standing behind the page. "Please hand over your weapon before entering the Divine Chapel," he orders.

  Hearing this command, the page turns around, still down on one knee. He lifts up both hands, with his palms up, to await the cavalier's sword to be placed in the commoner's care.

  Wesley slowly removes the belt attached to his scabbard, and places the scabbard and sword into the page's outstretched hands. The cavalier is well aware of the no weapons policy in the chapel, and had left his shield back in his room for this reason. After all, it is easier to remove one item than two from his person.

  The young man rises to his feet, and bows deeply to the Ambassador and steps aside to let the man enter the chapel. The page will remain outside the chapel until he personally returns the magical long sword left in his care. The NPC is aware of the exploits of Wesley the Ambassador and how the cavalier had personally led his team to remove the curse from Castle Eternia last year. No doubt the weapon in his possession was instrumental in battling the Betrayer, as the Regent of Castle Eternia is known among the populace, and lifting the Curse. The young man will make sure that the Ambassador is handed back this precious weapon.

  Wesley walks into the room with his head held high. It is important to maintain eye contact with important NPCs, the player notes to himself, as a sign of self-confidence and respect. Following his own advice, Wesley gazes back into the Count’s eyes, refusing to waiver in the slightest.

/>   Finally the two alpha males stand in front of one another, the eye contact maintained the entire time.

  “Well met, Count Zeensoon,” Wesley says in greeting as he holds out his right hand for a hand shake.

  The Templar briefly looks at the hand, and then back at the infidel, giving Wesley a withering look that forces the Ambassador to withdraw his hand. “Advance word is that you failed in your mission to establish relations with the people on the other side of the newly discovered portal,” the Count says. "Is this true, Ambassador?"

  So that’s how it’s going to be eh, Richard? The player maintains his cool, despite the unpleasant man’s obvious attempt to get Wesley riled up. The CEO of EDE could order the game masters to tweak the game slightly to adjust for mobster levels, probability of loot drops, and more. Thus, inserting this dialogue, word for word, is a piece of cake.

  Why am I not surprised that this mouth piece for Richard will blame me for the mission failure? After all, it was set up to fail in the first place, the player notes with mild amusement. Turning his attention back to the NPC before him Wesley replies, “It is merely a setback, Your Grace. We only made one attempt to pass the gatekeeper’s test. I’m sure we will pass with flying colors the next time and force him to let us through.”

  The Templar sneers at this infidel’s presumption. “What makes you think there will be a next time? The King does not tolerate failure. He originally wanted to have you arrested and flogged for your failure as his representative. After all, your failure is his failure in the eyes of his subjects," his eyes flare in anger at the infidel's utter incompetence! The holy warrior sighs heavily and continues. "However, I pleaded with His Grace for mercy and to give you a second chance, noting your valor and heroism in guiding The Strangers to lift the Curse from Castle Eternia last year. This is why I’m receiving your report in His stead, Ambassador. He doesn't wish to see you in person, and be tempted to act rashly out of His justifiable anger. Now, I wish to spend some time with you to discuss our options before I make a recommendation directly to the King."