“We can send in some spell casters as scouts to ensure that our lancers attack our enemies’ most vulnerable positions,” the warlord argues back, undeterred by the ex-Marine’s disagreement. “We could use either air mages to check the battle field for enemy troop formation, or use earth mages to detect their movement on the ground.”
“True, you could use mages in that manner to obtain information that way. However, how will the mages pass on such information, especially in real-time, to the roving chargers? The point I’m making is that you will need a priest amongst the horse riders to receive information and pass it to the rest of the unit,” the knight points out. “The divine sphere has magic which allows communication by two parties in two different instances; thus, distance is not a factor for this spell. However, it will drain mana while the spell is active. Hence the priest cannot maintain the spell continuously. It would instead be a check-in process for regular updates.”
Wesley turns his focus on the fighters. “Let’s say we agree to a twenty-twenty-ten split. How will the homebound fighters be split further?” he asks.
Heimdall smiles at the question. “Yes, that is the key issue, no? You could split the spell casters evenly with ten priests and ten mages, and create a very well balanced magical unit. There are a lot more possibilities for the fighters due to the availability of the subclasses—knights, lancers, barbarians, defenders, and archers. Plus we need to have players with trade skills to set up the equipment which we will be using to defend the siege.”
“In particular archers are the least popular class in the game, and we may have trouble finding high level archers to bring into the tournament,” Wesley worries aloud. “We could supplement archers with other classes, like thieves, that offer ranged combat abilities as well.”
“We can also compensate by bringing in fighters with some proficiency with the bow,” the warlord replies; Heimdall sees this as a non-issue. “We will scour the MOBA arena for the best snipers around, and see if we can convince them to participate in the tournament. Moving on, I would like to make use of the two guard stations. The stations can serve as supply depot for weapons, armors, and ammunition. If we can lure the attackers to go after these two points, spell casters stationed on the mountain can fling spells down on the enemies.”
“I don’t know about that,” Wesley shakes his head. “Wouldn’t our troops get hit as well?”
“I’m sure we could come up with something to hit standing targets, like a wall of fire surrounding the guard house, for example,” Heimdall suggests.
“I’ll have to check with our mages, but I believe a wall of fire has a limited range. However, our spell casters can probably figure something out,” the cavalier nods in agreement.
“Depending on how well the guard stations are fortified, we could insert priests to cast spells to immobilize enemy troops surrounding the buildings, and then cast the wall of fire to roast them to death,” Heimdall suggests.
“In other words, we’ll use the station houses as death traps to whittle down enemy numbers further,” Wesley smiles in approval of the warlord’s idea.
“Indeed,” the warlord nods, “that is the plan. We could insert a small number of players inside the stations, perhaps five players in each with a three fighter, one mage, and one priest split.”
“However, we’ll be turning these players into sacrificial lambs, since they won’t be able to escape if the stations are targeted by the attackers,” Wesley notes.
“True, the stations will serve as Venus fly traps—for players. We can fortify the structures to make them endure the onslaught a bit longer. I strongly believe the sacrifice is worth it, though. Think of the tradeoff—five defenders for maybe ten or more attackers! I would make that exchange any day of the week,” Heimdall replies.
“Remember, the goal is to whittle down the enemy numbers so that they can’t breach our portal, at least not in large numbers. Once the enemy troops manage to take out our stations, they will be funneled into the path carved into the mountain. We can station defenders right in front of the portal to form an impenetrable wall. And if our lancers manage to return in time, they can run and charge at whatever enemy troops appear on the path. If we can funnel the attackers into the tunnel, we will have an overwhelming advantage regardless of numbers.” Suddenly, the veteran fighter remembers the Oriental Expansion. “Are we getting access to the new player classes from the expansion?” he asks.
The player liaison ponders the question for a moment. “I have not asked the game developer about this yet. That being said, it is almost irrelevant because the new classes will still require lots of playing time in the dungeons to level up the characters. Also, the players will need to finish class specific quests to get access to higher tier abilities within the new classes. Obviously we won’t be getting that sort of time. Besides, it would be to our disadvantage to bring in players who wouldn’t be familiar with using their new player classes. So in the end, it wouldn’t be wise for us to rely on new classes from the expansion for this event,” Wesley concludes.
Heimdall raises his hands to concede the point. “Okay, let’s talk about the rest of the split for our fighters, and then nail down the split for the spell casters.”
Chapter 49 – Recruitment
“Virtuous Gaming Co. (‘VG’) is pleased to announce that the company is now seeking applicants to participate in the upcoming One Hundred Man Tournament between VG and Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. (‘EDE’), scheduled to take place within the new Oriental Expansion being released in the World of Eternia. Interested applicants for one of the fifty player slots are invited to send an email with the player’s full legal name, address, phone number, and a full description of the applicant’s gaming experience in MMORPG along with highlights of outstanding in-game achievements. Applicants meeting initial criteria will be contacted by phone or email for future consideration. Prizes will be awarded for participation on behalf of VG, with bonuses to be awarded for winning the tournament.”
Priscilla Lombardi types the following in the header of the forum topic at VG’s own General forum: “Solicitation for participants in upcoming VG-EDE tournament within World of Eternia.” She copies and pastes the solicitation into the message. After one final check for spelling and grammar, she clicks “post.”
She visits EDE’s forum, and posts a duplicate topic in their forum. The Vice President of Public Relations sends a quick message on her smart phone to her boss: “done.” While I’m waiting for the player applications to come in, I will work on narrowing down the list of possible commentators for the live event to present to the boss, she thinks.
Chapter 50 – Vendetta
Marcus Stanberry stares at the solicitation from Virtuous Gaming, and absently rubs his long beard. Ever since his team, The Golden Boys, had lost out to The Strangers for the right to participate in the quest to lift the Curse from Eternia Castle last year, Marcus had vowed not to shave until Marcus gets his revenge against them. Now, the golden opportunity is at hand. He quickly shoots a link to the topic to his teammates, most of whom had stopped their subscriptions for World of Eternia. The title of his message is, “Care to take on The Strangers?”
Brrrriiiinnnngggg! Marcus checks his smart phone and sees the caller is Jonathan Padowsky, a former member of the Golden Boys. “Hey man! Long time no talk!”
“Likewise bro!” the man replies in his thick Polish accent. “I’m currently visiting my family back home, so I can’t talk too long on the line. Are you serious about taking on The Strangers? In a match that will be streamed and watched all over the world?” he asks.
“Definitely,” the former leader of the alliance replies. “We gotta pay these Strangers back ten-fold, and humiliate them in the worst ways possible. So, are you in or out?”
“In. Email me the details. Ciao!” Jonathan ends the quick international call. The phone lasted only fifteen seconds.
Marcus rolls his eyes. JP is a bit eccentric as a person, but Jonat
han can certainly hold his own as a spell caster. I might as well offer a follow up email and see who else wants in, Marcus thinks and starts typing up the message.
* * *
Overnight, Marcus received a total of ten commitments to participate in the Hundred Man Tournament. Ten out of twenty ex-alliance members ain’t bad, he admits. I was expecting more like five or six. Unfortunately, the group is a bit unbalanced, with eight fighters and two mages counting JP. I may as well get started with the application process.
After double checking the email address to the Virtuous Gaming representative, Marcus starts to write the email:
“Dear Sirs,
I am the leader of a group of former World of Eternia players belonging to a top alliance called ‘The Golden Boys.’ After losing out on the right to enter the World of Eternia’s anniversary campaign to The Strangers last year, our players were severely disappointed and decided to quit the game altogether. However, after reading your solicitation for players to represent your company in the upcoming Hundred Man Tournament being co-sponsored by Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc., ten of us are interested in joining this event as your representatives.
We fully expect The Strangers to participate in this event, and we relish the opportunity to defeat them on an online battlefield, in front of a worldwide audience. In total we have eight fighters and two mages, all at the maximum character level of sixty.
We will participate as the champions of VG under the following conditions. First, all ten of us get to join the event together as one unit, or else we are out. Second, we need the new 2.0 version of the virtual reality equipment, because the reaction time is supposedly faster than the previous generation. For a MOBA gaming product, a faster reaction time translates into a decisive edge. Third, as experienced VRMMORPG players in the same class as The Strangers, all ten of us demand compensation for our services. We want the same prize that The Strangers received last year, namely a consultancy contract for a small share in your company. Finally, since not all members of the former Golden Boys alliance will be returning, the ten of us wish to form a new alliance named ‘The Returned.’
We sincerely hope that you will agree to these reasonable but non-negotiable terms for participation as your champions in the Hundred Man Tournament. The event will require tremendous planning and practice in advance, and therefore the tournament will require a substantial time commitment from each participant in the near future. Thus, it is only proper that we receive fair compensation comparable to what The Strangers received last year.
We eagerly await your reply to our offer.
Best regards,
Marcus Stansberry, leader of The Returned”
After minor corrections for spelling and grammatical issues, the writer sends off the email to Virtuous Gaming.
* * *
Charles Winter, the CEO of Virtuous Gaming, reads the email forwarded from Priscilla Lombardi, his secretary and the coordinator for player participation in the Hundred Man Tournament. After finishing reading the rather audacious email, the man gets up from his chair and slowly paces around his office.
“I have to give this Marcus fellow credit for having the guts to demand compensation, and company stock at that,” he says aloud. “I suppose I could humor him, and attach conditions in the consultancy contract that he could easily violate and then lose the company stocks.” Charles chuckles at the anger Marcus would feel for losing the contract. “Yes, that would be amusing indeed.”
Grinning to himself, Charles returns to his seat behind his work desk. He fires off a reply to Priscilla with just one word, “Approved.”
Chapter 51 – Brief Update
“Thank you for coming,” Charles Winter says as he looks around the meeting room. In attendance are Priscilla, Lisa, Victoria, Martin, and Peter. Conspicuously absent is the Chairman of the Board, Lewis Richard Whitney. The CEO hasn’t had contact with the chairman for the past two weeks. Mr. Whitney refused to return Charles’ phone calls; nor has the director stepped foot inside Virtuous Gaming’s office. No matter, Charles thinks. The Chairman will still get updates from his lackey, old Martin here.
“Since the Hundred Man Tournament will be taking place in a week and a half, I want to get an update on the preparations from our end. Let’s start with you, Lisa,” he suggests.
“My R&D department has been busy integrating our graphical content into the Oriental Expansion, since it will serve as the basis and setting for the tournament,” Lisa explains. “We added outside contractors to assist us and speed up the process, while doing quality assurance to stomp out the bugs. We should be done by the end of the week.”
“We have also been secretly making changes to various scripts and introducing objects that are not available to the champions representing EDE,” Victoria adds.
“What sort of contents are we talking about here?” Charles asks, clearly intrigued by what the duo have come up with.
“Currently, in the World of Eternia certain things like gun powder are absent. Since gun powder WAS used by the Chinese for fireworks, explosives, and whatnot, we could credibly introduce gun powder into the game and make ancillary devices like guns and bombs available to our players,” Victoria explains.
“If the tournament comes down to players swinging swords at each other, we are going to lose due to the simple fact that EDE’s champions will have extensive experience in using the virtual reality equipment in hand-to-hand combat encounters. To neutralize this advantage, our champions need something that is simple to use; we believe that guns and bombs are the most elegant and simplistic means to fight back,” she continues.
“In other words, our players will take pot shots at the other side while avoiding melee counters. I like it,” the CEO nods in approval. “What about magic? What kind of spells have you come up with?” he asks.
“This is where it gets tricky,” Lisa begins. “Eternian magic is divided into two spheres: the divine and the elemental. Supposedly there are no Gods in the We Tang Kingdom, where the tournament will take place. So there is a good chance that Eternians won’t be able to cast divine spells during the tournament.”
“I highly doubt that,” Charles interrupts with a wave of his hand. “I don’t think Richard will allow his players to be restricted in this way, especially with his ownership interest in his company at stake here. Let us proceed with the assumption that EDE will get around the restriction somehow, and their champions will obtain unfettered access to divine spells. What else,” he presses the duo to continue.
“The Asian culture believes in spirits, ghosts, possession, and fortune telling. We plan to introduce Asian-type of magic based on these ideas,” Lisa replies.
“What does that mean exactly?” the CEO presses further.
“What it means is that we can have spirit whisperers summoning up minions to attack on our behalf and add to our numbers. Also, imagine if Eternians lose control of their avatars while in the middle of a sword fight, and fail to block lethal blows. What it means is unpredictable ways to turn the tide of war in our favor if we start losing badly,” Victoria answers.
“I like that approach,” Charles replies with a smile of relief. Depending on the execution of the players, we can actually win this thing. “Priscilla, do we have our fifty men yet?” he asks.
“Yes we do. In addition to the ten players from The Returned guild, we have an additional fifteen players who were banned from World of Eternia, and would like to pay them back. The remaining twenty-five will be paid mercenaries as well as employees from our company including myself,” the secretary answers.
“Are you certain these mercs will stay loyal to us during the event? They won’t turn their loyalty over to the other side?” the CEO looks at Priscilla with skepticism. “I wouldn’t put it past Richard to plant players pretending to play on our side, and then turn coat during the tournament.”
“I will personally keep an eye on them; that is part of the reason why I will participate in this tournament
and taking some VG employees along. Moreover, these mercenaries only interested in monetary compensation,” the coordinator reassures him. “If I can get your permission to offer them generous bonuses for winning the event, we will be assured of their complete loyalties to us,” Priscilla continues.
Charles scowls at the thought of spending even more money to buy off these players. “Fine,” he sighs aloud. What are another few thousand bucks when my ownership in VG is at stake?
The platinum blonde woman smiles at her boyfriend to cheer him up. “Continuing on, we will need to overnight the new virtual reality equipment to our representatives though, since none of them have it,” Priscilla notes.
“Considering that the 2.0 gear is supposed to be released in conjunction with the Oriental Expansion, only company insiders like The Strangers would have access to it,” Charles notes. “But do make sure we get our stuff from EDE, and if you have to badger their project manager then do it. His name is Mark, right?” he asks.
“Mark Whitney,” Lisa answers.
“His surname is Whitney?” the CEO repeats in surprise. I wonder if this guy is related to our Chairman, he ponders worriedly. Pushing the thought aside, Charles looks over at Peter. “Any luck reaching the Digital Bandit and getting him to offer us his services?”
“Yes and no,” the security officer replies. “We have managed to reach an intermediary of this hacker, but it appears he remains non-committal to assisting us.”
Charles chuckles at the hacker’s reluctance. “I suppose the Digital Bandit thinks this is a trap to catch him, considering all the times he had shut down our servers and made us lose a ton of revenue as a result,” he surmises. “Well, explain to our friend that we are willing to overlook his past mischief if he is willing to come to bat for us in this upcoming tournament. Also, make sure to point out that this event will be streamed live to a worldwide audience,” he points out.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 34