by Char Cam
“Well, Jolene should be ready, so let’s get our background info.”
The tailor watched the duo talk animatedly as they walked away. She was old. Older than anyone knew. Old enough to remember some things others would wish forgotten. Yet there were others who wanted remembrances brought back out of the dark abyss. The discussion between the two women had been enlightening. As had been hoped, her position as tailor allowed a first alert to the troubling glimmerings of the catastrophic storm approaching. A Kada with five quests? Not a usual occurrence. She watched her friend Nayene enter the changing area.
“I just helped a young lady with five quests,” she said gravely.
“As did I. This can’t be coincidental I think. There were two males yesterday. If there are four, is there one more?”
“Certainly worth checking,” Nayene agreed. “In the meantime?”
“Contact the High Council. Tell them...tell them the clouds gather.”
THREE
Ophelia and Letty entered Orientation Hall and eagerly bounced into the Rewards Room to find Jolene putting the last papers in a file on the onyx table. She looked up as they entered and with a look at Letty, sighed and asked, "Which one?"
"The nice one," Letty said, slightly cowed.
“Of course.“ Jolene indicated a small file sitting to the left of the bigger stack. "This one. On the right is your third, when you find her. Study all your personal backgrounds since your B.F.F.s. You won’t believe what happened after you left. Not only was there a second Grand Prize winner, there was a third from this group. So counting last night, there are now an unprecedented five of you in one game. That means you have twenty-five inter-related quests to solve. It also means that Allon himself is taking an interest in this game and after I seat you, I must depart. I am no longer needed as one of your attendants," she said nodding to Ophelia.
"Oh, but you shouldn’t loose your job--"
"All the attendants for the five of you are released. These quest lines need an overseer who is familiar with all of them to give you the advice you need in solving them. Don’t worry. I have other work. This was just a bit of extra bling and we’ve all been paid in full."
"Thanks for all your help. I appreciate the care you gave me," Ophelia said sincerely.
Jolene looked uncomfortable. "You’re welcome. Have fun. Good journey." Jolene glanced around, then left unceremoniously.
Ophelia felt herself relax with her departure. Something about Jolene just now had rubbed Ophelia wrong. There was a tenseness about her, a jittery way she had had of looking at Ophelia that had made her feel like looking for food dropped down her front. She was glad Jolene wasn’t along for the full quest line. Ophelia would have avoided asking her for help.
Allon entered from the character assignment area. "Oh, Allon. Missed you in there," Ophelia stated dryly.
"That’s because I wasn’t there earlier," Allon smiled easily.
"Uh huh," Ophelia replied.
Allon chuckled. Turning to Letty, he reached for her hands and grasped them tenderly. "My dear girl, glad to see you've found your calling at last. I am well pleased."
"Thanks," Liaylaha smiled shyly. "I haven’t told Front Office yet--"
"All taken care of. Enjoy yourself. And now, to business. We’re waiting on the four other Grand Prize Winners. An unexpected five Grand Prize Winners," Allon said pensively. "In any case, part of your prize is an extra week, used either now, or at some future date if you can’t manage this time. Everyone was cautioned that extra time might be won…."
"I made allowance for it," Ophelia said with suppressed excitement. Sean would be thrilled!
Allon smiled. "If you could pass me your Gold Card Ms Ransom, I'll replace it with its equivalent Epic. Likewise Letty, your bronze needs replacing."
Ophelia looked surreptitiously at her new friend and found the "Oh!" of surprise spread across her face as she was also given an epic card.
“Well, you’re running around with the big people,” Allon chuckled. “Can’t have you on the low end of the rung, can we? There! One Epic Card for a Bronze. Not bad at all,” he winked.
Ophelia laughed and gave Letty a quick hug as she handed over her own card. Receiving the new one, she admired its purple shade and the dragon hologram covering its face. Placing it against her chest, she closed her eyes and breathed deep. This summer was turning out to be the best she’d had since...well, Sean had been born.
“You have some very interesting puzzles in your mysteries,” Allon confided. “I dare say you will not be disappointed in your race and class choice. I’ll let you begin learning your backgrounds while we wait for the others.”
Eagerly the two women sat and were soon engrossed in learning their characters. As she read, Ophelia felt as if her whole being was soaking up the history and lore behind her character. In a strange way, she felt herself becoming the character. She wasn’t reading about someone, she was reading her biography. As if…as if it had happened and her memory was being refreshed.
“Well eeeeew, ick,” Ophelia commented, peeved. “It says that--”
Loud voices interrupted and the women turned to find three gamers and two assistants entering, if wardrobe was anything to go by. The attendants left immediately. Of those remaining, two of the players hadn’t been with Ophelia’s’ morning orientation group. The other she recognized as the one she thought of as 'The Fighter', the one with the crookedly healed nose.
One of the others, a tall, blond, cleanly shaven, lean man attractive enough to be a model, looked piercingly at Letty. Letty for her part, seemed to go pale as she looked back. There’s a history there, Ophelia thought. One that didn’t seem to be good.
The other newcomer was an older gentleman, perhaps fiftyish, sporting a longish beard below a squat nose. Eyes almost as black as deep night watched, observed, made assessments. His hair was to his collar in the back, but his bangs were chopped severely short. He had a lot of bulk about him. Ophelia did not doubt it was very hard muscle.
“Gentlemen,” Allon greeted them abruptly. “These two gentlemen," he said motioning toward the two unknown entrants, “also hold Golden Tickets and are Grand Prize Winners. They come from a set of winners awarded prizes last evening. Mr. Houston, and you also, Mrs. Ransom, have very close times in your Master quests. The council wanted to study the matter and make sure fair rewards would be given to such adept players and asked me to wait before awarding his prize. The matter has now been decided. Strangely, his quests along with Mr. Vitner’s quest lines,” Allon indicated the other previous night‘s winner, “coincides with yours. I've asked them to join your group to enable the success of all. We await one more. Before she arrives, three of you need to enter player mode. Ladies, if you will, please press firmly on the stone of your diadems. Mr. Callahan,” he said addressing the third man, “press the stone on your wrist band.”
Ophelia sought her opal with quizzical fingers. She pressed very firmly, heard a click. In the blink of an eye, Ophelia no longer sat in a room with humans. She was with a Rogue Dwarf, two Altin Elf Deathgivers, an Altin Elf Druid Healer, and a High Wizard of an unknown race. If their looks were altered that much, she wandered at the change in her own appearance.
The room had changed as well. Parts of it now glistened with what she intuitively knew as ‘magic essence‘. Ophelia was so fascinated watching as it swirled about, then fade as her eyes adjusted, that she missed the first part of Allon’s explanation.
“...latest in virtual reality technology. So you will find your stay totally immersive and it will be easier to interact with your surroundings as if they were actually real. Don’t remove, or I should say try to remove the devices as you will find yourselves automatically kicked from the game. There will be no re-admittance.”
Suddenly, three people stumbled hurriedly into the entry. To of them were assistants who left hastily. Ophelia recognized the other as the Eastern Indian girl wearing the beautiful sari. Her lengthy dark hair was now tamed into a lon
g braid that rested over her right shoulder, uncovering familiar pointed ears. She was decked out in forest garb complete with a bow and arrow quiver making it obvious she was an Altin Elf Hunter. Behind her, entering leisurely was...a very large glowing purple feline a shade bigger than a Great Dane. Sudden alarm struck Ophelia, then it just as quickly dissipated. Humor tickled her instead. Put a saddle on that cat and you could ride it, she laughed silently.
“Sorry ‘bout the delay,” the young woman said. “But Bobby didn’t want to be rushed along.”
“Yes,” Allon commented sternly. “We all know Night Cats work on their time.”
The cat chuffed a reply, then heavily collapsed where it stood as if the effort to stand was too much to be bothered with. Promptly, it slept.
“Interesting,” one of the men said with fascination.
“Yeees,” Allon said humorously. “It can be. All right, everyone grab snacks quickly and return to be seated. We have a lot of work with character development to get through.” After a few minutes of jostling for food and drink, everyone settled at the onyx table.
"Let us begin,” Allon commanded in a serious vein. “We must determine rewards with your ranks. Afterwards, you will introduce yourselves properly and go over your five quests. Firstly, we will award ascendancy.
This young lady” Allon pointed to the hunter, “is a member of your city council Cintra Elsbeth, and as of this morning,” Allon gazed directly at Letty, “by virtue of working beyond her duty and earning many praises from the staff, this woman has also been elevated to the rank of the city council, Kartina Liaylaha. Congratulations and Well Done!”
Amid congratulations of “Good Job!” Excellent!”, Liaylaha sat in stunned silence. Only Ophelia, who knew of her bronze rank, truly understood how greatly she’d risen. She had gone from the equivalent of Dame to Marchioness. Ophelia squeezed Liaylaha’s hand in a silent tribute.
“The Dwarf and this Altin Elf,” Allon pointed to Vitner and Callahan, “have attained the status of ambassadors to the royal court, Votrynor Bliztarf,” he indicated the dwarf, “and Trynor Cryson ,” he acknowledged the elf. Again cheers and congratulations were offered.
The elf ambassador was a grizzle-faced man of indeterminate age, as most elves appeared to be. His ears added an appeal about him that enhanced his attractiveness. From his direct, hazel-eyed gaze to his easy smile, he drew one in as if to share a secret joke only both of you knew. His voice churned gravel as he spoke in appreciation of the cheers. “Thank you, thank you very much,” he said, imitating Elvis.
The dwarf rolled his eyes. He had even facial features, which would be perfect for a rogue, Ophelia observed; no one would notice him. He wore a heavily filled out beard with little scraggly ends, and his clothes were the sturdy wool and leathers needed for active outdoorsy activities. He had muscle to back that up--no sitting behind a chair could build up the bulk of those arms and that chest.
“These last two of you almost caused us a quandary as you are both Masters and there can only be one Ruler of a country. However, the Imperator stepped in himself and the issue was easily resolved. The nearby Duchy of Kilantrovar is in a sad state since its royal family cannot decide who its successor is and so this country is hereby awarded to you, Your Greatness, His Eminence Kadan Alvaro. A Deathgiver should be able to bring order quickly, I think,” Allon said with a chuckle and bow to the last male Altin Elf.
The elf king was eye candy, pure and simple. He had the upper body muscle of a well-toned athlete, and the rest of him looked very fit in his leather armor gear. He was still clean shaven, had a classic square cut face with, oh my gosh, dimples when he smiled. He wore his pale hair longish to his collar and his elf ears did not detract from his apple-pie charming good looks. Ophelia thought fans should be issued to every female forced to watch him walk by. It was the only decent thing to do to keep the ladies cool.
Amid the congratulations for him, a few good natured jeers were thrown in--”overachiever!” “suicidal maniac!”--as he stood and gave the “royal wave” to an imaginary crowd.
When they all settled reasonably well, Allon made his last rank announcement. “For the rest of you, and by the grace of two minutes, may I present Her Most Royal Eminence, Guardian of the Gate, your ruler, Kada Sonetshea!”
Some impulse grabbed Ophelia and she stood, looking haughtily about the table as Allon sonorously finished--and a line from a favorite movie, Labyrinth, struck her as they looked speechlessly back. “Well? Laugh!” she ordered. “There. Gave my first command as your head of state.” Then she plopped back into her chair.
Beside her Liaylaha giggled. “That was pretty good. You really looked the part.”
“Two minutes, huh?” the Kadan of Kilantrovar queried. “It was that last pee break, wasn’t it. I just--I just couldn’t hold it any longer and I had to go. That’s when you got me, huh?”
“I’d have to saaaaay...no. I’m just that good.” Sonetshea breathed hot air onto her right hand nails, then polished them against her shoulder.
“She is. She really is,” piped up Elsbeth. “We gots the Queen of Queens, WOOOHOOOO!”
“Suck up,” Alvaro laughed jovially.
“Heck yeah!. As a city council member, I want the Kada on my side,” she smirked at Sonetshea.
The group then began an impromptu debate on who took bribes the most--crown or city council--until Allon called a halt.
“You’re now officially known as Group High 12. That includes you two,” he said pointing to the two new members. “since your quest lines mesh with the winners of today’s group." Allon then included the rest of the group in his commentary. "You lot actually have a story line instead of a series of unconnected quests to solve. You may have noticed that we’re rather heavily grouped with elves here,“ he said with a raised eyebrow at the dwarf.
“Yeah, I noticed that,“ Alvaro said. “What’s with the dwarf?”
“Hey yeah! What’s with that?” “How’d a dwarf get in here?” “Can I take him home with me and luvs him forevers?”
The dwarf scrunched his face and gave them a beady eye. “I’ll remember ya ta ma king, I will. An I’ll warn him ’bout yer snarky humer. See if ah don’t. And yull aaaaaall beh sorry.”
"You can’t call him your king," Cryson corrected solemnly. "Remember your lore. Same job but different titles for each country or race, else how will we know who we’re talking about?"
"Think yer safe sittin’ over there?" Bliztarf threw a carrot slice that pinpointed the Cryson’s forehead nicely.
"Hey! You can’t do that to my subject!" A celery bit struck the dwarf’s nose.
Followed by a sally of four more vegetable strikes from Azdromadarim subjects.
"Well that’s hardly fair is it?" asked Alvaro of no one in particular. Swiftly he launched his own attack and the food fight was on.
Allon sat back with apparent stoic patience. It was well known gamers were atypical beings who thought outside normal behavior. While it seemed these men and women were foolishly making a mess, they were also discovering the mettle of their teammates, forging the bonds that would get them through the battles ahead against impossible odds to come out the other side of them victorious.
The present ‘battle’ lasted until the ‘ammo’ ran out. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely indeed, not one projectile hit Allon.
"Are you done?" he asked archly.
The dwarf snorted, threw one more grape--which hit Allon in the chest--before he announced, "Yeah, we’re done."
“Riiiiiiiight,” Allon said amused. He shuffled papers, ordering his thoughts. "This series of quests start as an elves’ dilemma with an intrigue of dwarf thrown in, but it’s really a world issue. The story line is thus. Approximately fifteen years ago, the Imperator Dartus, lost his beloved mate in a seditious and heinous act of evil. The crime was even more vile in that his consort was Azdromadarim’s most powerful healer, one the world could ill afford to lose as she was the Chosen of the Designed Creator, she
who birthed this world. Because the Dark Souls of HoSafe were pushing their way forward from their own poisoned land and reaching for new territory, the Imperatrix was desperately needed to combat their ill touch.
“The consort bore her house a son, Seandair. There is some confusion about a daughter. History is unclear about whose daughter she is, but it was the kidnapping of a female infant that lured the consort from her sanctuary of safety. It is believed the wrong child was taken. An unschooled mage kidnapped the infant daughter and, using a device he was given that he thought would take him one place, but which took him to another, landed himself two centuries into the past. He was transported into the middle of a frenzied host.”
The listeners grimaced. The hosts were the remnants of experiments the HoSafe practiced their magic on. That magic warped and twisted those it touched, making them mindless. And very efficient at killing.
“Our Lady followed close behind, along with the Warlord of Tarn. He carried with him into battle a relic of immense power, the Staff of Goren. Now, from what we have read from histories that survive from that time, a weapon of that description seems to have been present two centuries ago. But the weapon the Warlord of fifteen years ago carried wasn’t created until a century ago.
“Dartus, left to raise his son alone, sent his Voice, one Aerodon Skywatcher, back in time in search of his mate, and though he did search tirelessly, all he could discover was that her body had been divided into seven pieces to prevent her resurrection. The pieces were saved from disintegration by an unknown agent. For one piece, a murderous witch was interrupted before she could burn the one piece she managed to obtain. No one knew, then or now, who had taken the separate pieces or where they’d been hidden. Only a prophecy is left to even hint at where they may be found. Your entwining quests will hopefully answer this mystery and restore the Imperatrix to life, saving Azdromadarim from the imminent invasion of the HoSafe, which even now gathers once again to spew itself across the land. Along the way, other mysteries must be solved. Let’s begin with you, Votrynor. Tell us who you are and what your mysteries contain.”