World of Eternia: The Complete Collection

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Chapter 46 – Players Council

  The middle-aged cavalier surveys the mood around the table as he patiently awaits everyone’s arrival. Most of the seats have been filled already, and the guests are engaging in minor but polite chit chat. Each guest is the top player member of his respective organization—Fistaklius the Arch mage of the Magic Guild, Heimdall the Warlord of the Fighter Guild, and Pope Lemoine of the Church of Eternia. The only invitee missing is Counselor Berchen of the Trade Union.

  “Sorry I’m late,” the last man finally takes his seat. Berchen is the only non-max level player in the room, and far younger than his counterparts. The Trade Union’s focus is on economic enterprises, and the real life attorney used his shrew negotiation skills to trade his way into the top position of the Union. A pale young man only in his late twenties, Berchen has top notch organizational skills and near photographic memory.

  Heimdall holds his tongue in check. The fifty-something father of two believes in punctuality; however, now is not the time or place to press the issue. “Nice of you to join us,” the stern, bald man says quietly as he taps his massive knuckles on the table lightly.

  “Some of us are on different continents,” the French church leader notes pointedly in rebuke.

  “We all have lives outside of the game of course,” the magic user asserts himself into the conversation. The retired college professor glances at the man seated at the head of the table. “Can we start the meeting now?”

  The King’s representative nods. “Thank you for coming, my friends,” Wesley says. “Today’s agenda is the upcoming One Hundred Man Tournament between players representing Virtuous Gaming Co. and Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. The event will take place a little over two weeks from today.”

  SLAM! Heimdall slams his fist on the table in disgust at the bombshell. “Hold on a minute! Why will the event field only a hundred players? I was planning to order my entire guild to enter the tournament!”

  “We’re going to have a lot of angry players when they find out,” Berchen adds quietly in obvious disapproval.

  Fistaklius shakes his head in disagreement with the two colleagues. “Whether the event includes ten players, one hundred players, a thousand players or more, it doesn’t really matter. The important part is having both sides come in at even strength to ensure a fair and open competition. After all, if we lose our game servers may get shut down eventually, and nobody wants that.”

  The elderly man tries to offer a positive spin on the situation. “Look on the bright side-we can easily bring in fifty top players into this event. The same may not hold true for the other side.”

  “How will EDE decide which players get to participate?” Lemoine asks.

  “The company officials haven’t figured out that part yet,” Wesley shrugs. “The challenge from Virtuous Gaming came out of left field, and I don’t think Richard really thought through the logistics. There’s so much up in the air right now,” he sighs.

  “Why did you call this meeting?” Berchen asks, trying to get the meeting moving along. Unfortunately, he need to finish drafting a contract for a client and took the work home with him in order to attend this meeting.

  “I asked for this Players Council for two primary reasons,” Wesley answers. “First, as a liaison between players and the company I wanted to keep you apprised of the status of this event. Since this is such a unique situation, without precedent, we, the players, also have the ability to offer our input and influence the rules of engagement for this tournament. Second, I want you to formulate a plan to defend the portal connecting the We Tang Kingdom to Eternia. How would you set up a fifty-man defense?”

  “Wait. I thought we’re defending Starter Town?” Berchen notes in confusion as he rubs his eyes. When did the parameters of the event change so drastically?

  “Apparently not,” Wesley answers with a shrug. “Again, the situation involving the inter-company event is very dynamic and fluid right now. Originally EDE wanted to set it up as a thousand man event. However, our virtual reality equipment uses a lot of bandwidth and the company officials decided to scale down the event as a result,” he explains.

  “It does get laggy sometimes at Starter Town,” Berchen notes in support of the decision to limit the field of entrants.

  “Yes, I could see EDE wanting to avoid connectivity issues with the server, especially since combat is MOBA based,” Heimdall concedes as well. There goes the chance for my Fighter Guild to claim all the glory for winning! “In terms of the most desirable and ideal composition of a defensive force, it really depends on what environment our defenders will be placed in. Heck, we could even bury the portal under a pile of rocks for that matter,” he suggests.

  “I don’t think VG will allow that to happen,” Fistaklius replies. “I’m sure there will be some sort of restriction in the area around the portal to prevent this sort of tampering.”

  “What about the environment surrounding the portal? Can you tell us about it in detail, Wesley?” Lemoine asks.

  “Well, the portal was placed in the middle of a mountain, with a carved path leading up to it. If the game developers decide to recycle this setting for the tournament, then we may actually have an advantage,” Wesley replies.

  “How wide is the path?” Heimdall asks as he tries to draw a mental image of the site.

  “I would say it’s big enough for two horse carriages to pass through. The path extends forward and also straight up, as if a buzz saw carved into the granite rock. There are also two guard posts in front of the path,” the knight suddenly remembers. “In the game, these stations are manned by members of the We Tang Kingdom. However, I think the game developer will give us access to them for the tournament.”

  “So it would be possible for enemy fliers to drop down from the sky and reach the portal then?” Berchen asks.

  “Yes indeed,” Wesley confirms the merchant’s fear.

  “This means we need to guard against a two front assault—from the front and from above,” Heimdall says, as the defensive strategy begins to crystallize in his mind. “We could set up defenders to barricade the path physically. The sky would require air mages guarding the sky above the portal to intercept enemy fliers, and either archers or catapults to shoot them down,” he suggests.

  “In other words, our fifty-man defense will lean heavily on fighters?” Fistaklius asks.

  “I don’t think we can answer that question right now. What do we know of the enemy’s forces and capabilities?” Lemoine asks.

  “Nothing, I’m afraid,” Wesley replies. “This is where the problem lies, in my view. Our defense must be flexible enough to handle any type of threat from the invaders. Would they have access to magic or technology not yet introduced to the World of Eternia? That is another great unknown.”

  “What about defensive structures? Do we have anything pre-built or will we have to put barriers up before the invaders arrive in our area?” Berchen asks.

  Wesley shakes his head. “My contact in EDE hasn’t said anything about that. I think we need to proceed on the assumption that we have to put up barriers ourselves once we arrive on location.”

  “In that case, we have a number of ways to handle that. You could spread oil on the ground, light a match, and create an instant fire barrier. If there’s time we could even dig up pits. Behind the fire barrier we could put up physical barriers. As long as every man brings something with him when we enter the instance, we should be able to surround the mountain with a fence of some sort,” Berchen suggests.

  “That’s along my line of thinking too,” Wesley nods in agreement.

  “Do we have access to divine sphere of magic?” Fistaklius looks at Lemoine.

  “That is a tentative ‘yes,’” the head of the Eternian Church replies. “I have been pushing Count Zeensoon, an NPC, for hints on getting the Divine Lodestone artifact built faster. Assuming that the item becomes available in time for the tournament, we could then place it next to the portal to ens
ure that our defenders will be able to cast divine spells.”

  “I have asked Vergil and other enchanters in the Magic Guild to focus on creating magic items that could be used for the tournament,” Fistaklius adds.

  “I’m glad to hear it. We could especially use weapons and armors with enhanced properties, whether it means doing a little extra damage or reducing damage. Every bit adds up fast in a moba,” Heimdall says.

  “Is resurrection allowed in the tournament?” Lemoine asks.

  “I have no idea, to be honest,” Wesley admits. “It has not come up in my discussions yet. But let’s proceed with the assumption that we won’t be allowed to resurrect fallen Eternians on the battlefield. In that case, we might want to bring spell casters with the ability to bring in minions.”

  “If ‘minions’ mean elementals, that’s fine with the Church. However, we don’t want to bring the dead back to life as that is against the tenets of the Gods of Eternia,” Lemoine warns. “If we employ Necromancers, the Church will risk incurring the wrath of the Gods.”

  “I don’t know any Necromancers,” Wesley assures the Pope.

  “What about mounts?” Berchen asks.

  “That’s a tricky question,” Heimdall replies. “Let’s say we request horses. The other side could bring in different kinds of beasts not available to Eternians.”

  “That is true,” Fistaklius ponders the issue. “They could bring in gigantic birds, for example, or worms to burrow the ground beneath our location.”

  “On the other hand, if we have access to horses we could set up lancers to charge the attack lines and disrupt the land-locked invaders,” Heimdall argues back. “Chargers can conduct quick lightning strikes and retreat before reinforcements can arrive. I’m not suggesting that every player gets a horse for the tournament. But we could use a small number of them, let’s say ten horses.”

  “And if Virtuous players respond with ten yellow big birds, what are we going to do then?” Fistaklius retorts.

  “We will have spell casters to bring them down,” Heimdall replies.

  “Mana is going to be an issue though,” the Arch mage points out. “Once the action gets hot, our spell casters will use up their mana much faster than the mana can regenerate.”

  “We could have priests transfer mana via Succor spell, or use mana potions to replenish,” the Pope replies. “I for one prefer to attack and dictate the battle, rather than wait for the invaders to come to us.”

  “Let’s put this to a vote then,” Heimdall requests. “All in favor of requesting mounts?” He raises his hand and sees Pope Lemoine join him.

  “Anyone opposed?” Fistaklius raises his hand.

  After a moment of hesitation, Berchen raises his hand as well.

  The four leaders turn their eyes toward the cavalier. He will cast the deciding vote.

  “Let’s bring ten horses,” Wesley decides quickly.

  Fistaklius stares at Wesley for a moment. “I hope we made the right decision,” he says grudgingly.

  “I believe the benefits far outweigh the risk of playing into the other side’s hands,” the cavalier replies.

  “Let’s move on,” Berchen urges impatiently.

  Chapter 47 – Counterattack

  Charles Winter drums his fingers on the conference room table until all the invitees arrive. After Priscilla Lombardi takes her usual seat next to him, the CEO of Virtuous Gaming starts the meeting. “Thank you for coming this morning. Please note that this meeting is off the record and the discussions must be kept confidential,” he demands. He slowly turns his head from left to right, getting affirming nods to an oath of secrecy. Finally, he turns the meeting over to Lisa Huffman. “Please give us an update of the situation,” he requests.

  “As many of you are aware, I have been meeting with my counterpart over at EDE to figure out how to integrate our work-in-progress MMORPG into the World of Eternia’s Oriental Expansion,” Lisa begins. “Due to bandwidth considerations and EDE’s insistence on incorporating their virtual reality equipment into the tournament, we basically settled on a hundred man event. In addition, EDE is implying that they will look the other way if we end up poaching some of their WoE players for this event.”

  “Are you sure that would be wise? What if these recruits decide to throw the match in EDE’s favor? How can we be assured of their allegiance to us?” Peter Raymond Hutchinson, the security officer, points out.

  Charles chuckles at the questions. “Has any of you ever been kicked out? Let’s say from a store or restaurant, or an online forum?” the CEO asks as he looks around the room.

  “Sure,” Peter raises his hand and admits it. He once got kicked of a movie theater for smuggling in drinks from outside.

  “I won’t pry into the matter since the details aren’t important for this discussion, but afterwards didn’t you feel angry and humiliated?” Charles continues.

  “Yeah,” the officer nods.

  “Human emotions are powerful things. Being angry can cause us to lash out, do terrible things, and even kill. What Virtuous Gaming needs to do is to find players who have an axe to grind with either Richard himself, his company, or his game. Perhaps some players were unfairly banned by WoE game masters. Or there were issues involving player accounts, such as billing matters, which were not resolved to the satisfaction of former players. I am one hundred percent certain that there are people out there who want to see the game shut down and EDE out of business altogether,” Richard says. “One of our priorities now is to find fifty such players, who wouldn’t necessarily offer allegiance to Virtuous Gaming per se but rather want to see WoE and EDE go down in flames. Thus, we need allies working toward a common goal.”

  The CEO turns to his left. “Priscilla, I want you to take the lead in this. Create a wanted advertisement in WoE forums to find fifty players. As Lisa indicated, EDE will allow us to solicit players in their forums. In your advertisement you may offer cash bounty for each WoE champion taken down during the tournament, plus bonuses for winning the event,” he orders.

  “Yes sir,” the secretary replies.

  “While we’re at it, I want you to drum up interest in this tournament. Create a publicity campaign with a website, banner links, social media, and give me an estimate of the cost in your report. Since this is an e-sport event, I want the whole nine yards—with live commentators,” Richard continues. “Make it entertaining for the viewers at home,” he grins.

  Priscilla nods.

  “Peter, I want you to try to contact our adversary, the Digital Bandit, and see if we can convince the hacker to create some mischief for EDE. If he’s not willing or interested in assisting us, then find other hackers to take the job,” Charles orders.

  Peter blanches at the notion of hiring the pesky hacker to work for VG. I would rather put the guy behind bars. “Okay,” he sighs.

  “Lisa, I want you to figure out a way to add unauthorized content to the Oriental Expansion that would swing the balance toward our players for the event. Since EDE has agreed to add our graphical content already, you should be able to get access to their system and secretly add something unexpected or unique to our players. It could be weapons, spells, etc. that wouldn’t be available to EDE’s players. Ask Victoria for assistance,” Charles continues.

  Lisa winces at the thought of working with Victoria McCluskey, the Chief Technology Officer for Virtuous Gaming. The researcher finds Victoria to be uptight and very close minded. “I’ll see what I can do,” she replies half-heartedly.

  The CEO catches the wince. “Better yet, ask her to see me and I’ll tell her myself,” he says and sees Lisa breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Do we need to inform either Martin or members of the Board about this?” Peter asks. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is conspicuously absent, along with the Chief Financial Officer.

  “Nope,” the CEO replies quickly. “The Board of Directors does not support my challenge against Richard’s company, and Martin Pembrose is their darling wunde
rkind. Once the inter-company event is over, I’m sure the board will remove me from my position and promote the CFO to take over the company,” he predicts. “That being the case, I’m going to enjoy the ride while I can,” he grins.

  Chapter 48 – Battle Plans

  “Thank you for coming in today,” Wesley tells his guest.

  Heimdell adjusts his seat, his massive, trademark halberd leaning against the wooden table. The guest is visiting The Strangers’ headquarters for the first time, and he finds the place rather . . . humble. Oh, there is a nice fireplace on the other side of the room. And the non-descript looking table in front of him is rectangular, with enough chairs for eight people. Surely The Strangers could afford better furnishings for their headquarters? Perhaps a trophy case or two even? The Warlord shakes the extraneous thought from his head.

  Wesley stares at the head of the Fighters Guild with mild amusement. I’m sure he is accustomed to finer furnishings and much bigger halls. “Let’s start discussing the makeup of our fifty man defense,” he says.

  “Yes,” Heimdall nods readily in agreement. “I propose a split of thirty fighters against twenty spell casters,” he suggests, “with ten horse riders from the fighter group.”

  “That’s an interesting proposal,” the ex-Marine remarks as he rubs his chin. “You want the riders to be equipped with lances and charge the attackers?”

  “That’s correct,” Heimdall replies. “The force will be mobile, and given the inexperience of the attackers it would be frightening to see horses galloping toward the attackers through the virtual reality headset. Panic will set in as discipline breaks amongst the new players, allowing our chargers to swiftly cut down the numbers before the enemy troops can reset against our lancers.”

  “The only problem with this approach is that you may play right into the enemies’ hands by dividing our forces at the very beginning. Ten players versus fifty players is a much easier battle for our enemies than fifty versus fifty. Also, the fog of war may come into play; without scouting information on enemy troop movement, composition, and position, we could lose our riders very early on,” Wesley argues. “I think the wiser course may be preparing for a battle of attrition instead, and using our environment to our advantage.”