Unforeseen path, p.10
Unforeseen Path, page 10
“I wasn’t too worried about that,” Töten disagreed, “They’d have to be a high-level Air Shaman to pull something like that off.” He let out a dismissive snort. “How many players do you know that can even cast a basic Shaman spell?”
“Two,” I said as the Anti-Paladin wordlessly looked over at me in surprise. I gave him a wink, “We have an Air Shaman back at BrokenFang Hold and I have some skill as a Water Shaman myself.”
“Respect,” Töten said, before going back to work.
As I finished up skinning my last Steel Wool Sheep, I wrapped the prime pieces of meat inside the skin and rolled it up for later. As I began packing everything away in my rucksack, Helgath handed me what she’d collected. Before I could close my rucksack up, to my surprise, Töten did the same.
“What’s this for?” I asked in surprise.
“Just a thank you for keeping your word,” Töten said, dropping the stack of skins next to me.
“Dude, that’s not needed,” I protested, while quickly gathering the hides up to give back to him.
“Keep it,” Töten grunted as he abruptly turned back to his Nightmare and mounted up.
Packing everything away, I stood up and swung my rucksack back into place as I looked around. Neristhana and Phoenix had just finished packing up their gear and were mounting up after giving me a nod. As I turned around looking for my soulmate, Neysa came to a stop beside me with Helgath already on her back ready to go. Mounting up behind the Half-Orc, I nodded to Töten as he took off again at a fast trot while the rest of us fell in behind him.
To my surprise, Töten didn’t lead us down the swath of destruction that the horde and Crevice of Shadows monsters had left in their wake. He instead headed straight north which cut across the nearly empty grasslands. That emptiness was only due to the direction we were traveling in that loosely paralleled the horde’s trail of corpses which had attracted the attention of most of the monster herds in the immediate area.
Letting out a sigh under my breath, I did my best to match the movements of Neysa’s fast jolting trot. While a mount could keep up this pace for hours, it wasn’t very comfortable for the rider in comparison to a Canter or straight-up Gallop, I thought, as Töten pointed towards the mountains ahead of us in the distance.
“I don’t know how long our path will remain clear,” Töten said, “but even if we have to fight, I don’t see that being much of a problem with how large our party is. Between my Aura of the Crusader and all of us being mounted, any herd or pack that does aggro on us will be hard-pressed to match our pace for any length of time.”
“That sounds easy enough,” Phoenix said while silently wincing at the brutal jolting, “that means we just have to make sure we’re not caught in an ambush or pass too closely to a herd.” The Barbarian perked up as she noticed a large herd on the far left of our path. “Holy shit, are all of those Wild Palnisdale Horses?”
“They’re actually called Wild Strykers,” Töten automatically corrected after eyeing the herd for a moment, “but they’re a lower-level version of the same monsters that are typically captured and trained as Palnisdale Horses.”
“Huh, so you can capture adult monsters and then train them to be your mount?” I thought out loud, “I was wondering if that was even a possibility, or if the developers were going to force everyone to buy their mounts from the people of The World.”
“Naw, it can actually be a pretty good money-making gig,” Töten said as a wistful smile came to his voice, “Back in closed beta, it was the only way you could purchase specialty mounts. Most Humanoids only typically train and sell one type of mount.”
“Damn,” Phoenix swore as she eyed the herd off in the distance, “at two hundred gold a pop, that’s quite a bit of money just waiting to be gathered up.”
“Slow down there, cowgirl,” Töten laughingly said, not bothering to glance back over his shoulder as he talked, “Just a friendly warning, it does take some skill to wrangle wild horses.”
“Yea … yea … yea, what-the-fuck-ever,” Phoenix said unperturbed, “this is an MMO, I can learn any skill that I want to.”
“Well, just so you know, not every monster can be a mount,” Töten quickly warned, popping the Barbarian’s balloon somewhat by the sudden put-out look on Phoenix’s face, “And the ones that can become mounts must be captured when they’re still babies or very young,” he looked at me in particular, “so no adult monsters as mounts. Otherwise, they’ll just fight you to the death.” His large shoulders gave an indifferent shrug. “It’s kind of an odd trial and error to see which monster species are more flexible to being trained as mounts than others.”
‘He’s not fully correct,’ Helgath sent to me as we rode, ‘Most demi-humans have the ability to turn certain adult monster species into trained mounts.’ The picture of a Worg Rider suddenly flashed in my mind. ‘Like the natural ability that Goblins have to train adult Worgs as mounts,’ an image of Orcs riding Wolves appeared next in my thoughts, ‘similar to the one that Orcs have with Wolves.’
‘That’s interesting,’ I sent back while half-listening to Phoenix playing twenty questions with Töten, ‘It means that the more races I use to assist in capturing and training monsters, the better chance we’ll have of getting them successfully trained as mounts that my people can use as cavalry.’
‘I’m not sure how that will work,’ Helgath thoughtfully replied as she considered my plan, ‘Orcs don’t use slaves to train monsters into mounts, but the logic sounds solid.’
‘That makes me wonder what someone with a skill like Exotic Animal Husbandry and Beast Taming might accomplish,’ I pondered, sending the Half-Orc the information for my new guildmember Jodi Tempest back in BrokenFang Hold, ‘Does that mean she’ll have a chance to train any of the adult Elite Battering Rams and Elite Warrior Badgers in the mountains surrounding BrokenFang Hold?’
‘Forgive me, War Leader,’ Helgath replied, slightly frustrated at her lack of knowledge, ‘that I do not know but it sounds plausible.’
‘It’s fine,’ I assured her, hugging her tighter to my chest with the arm I kept around her waist for support as we rode. That, for some reason, made me take note of her breasts pressing up tightly against my forearm. Quickly loosening my arm, I continued without reacting further, ‘She’ll be able to quickly expand our ranks with adult mounts, or she won’t, and we’ll have to train up the monsters’ young. Either way, it’s a lot cheaper than actually buying new mounts from the cities.’
‘If mounts are so important,’ Helgath sent in a displeased tone, ‘I don’t understand why you were so concerned about paying for the mounts you got from Palnisdale instead of simply taking what you needed.’
‘With the current emergency going on, there’s no doubt in my mind that I could’ve done just that and gotten away with it,’ I explained, carefully considering my words, ‘but if I’d done that, it would’ve made me no different than any of the other nobles that have come before me. If I didn’t hold to my word as Overlord and left the specifics of ruling the Kingdom of Kader to the Queen, then why would she not betray me as soon as this emergency has passed?’
‘She already betrayed you once,’ Helgath unhappily pointed out as she began probing my mind to understand what I was trying to say.
‘There is that,’ I agreed, shaking my head at Princess Isolde’s previous betrayal, ‘But afterward, she ended up losing more of her own authority by not honoring her oath to me. Now, as long as I have the Royal Army and the people of the Kingdom of Kader behind me, there is little she can do to openly defy my rule as Overlord.’ I shrugged. ‘At least, that’s my hope.’
‘That is very confusing,’ Helgath grunted, finding the concept difficult to understand due to her own culture’s differences, ‘All of Orc society is based on the concept that might makes right.’
‘And how well does that work for a stable government and thriving society?’ I asked the Half-Orc.
‘Not well at all,’ Helgath admitted with a snort, ‘Orc society is neither stable nor particularly thriving, it is brutal and filled with suffering but it does function on a basic level.’ Gripping my hand in her clawed fingers, she turned suddenly serious as she pulled my arm tight to her chest, ‘I’ve never met anyone who thinks as you do, War Leader.’
‘I’ll take that as a good thing,’ I joked, squeezing her back while doing my best to ignore the large cushions my arm was suddenly being squeezed against, ‘Think of it this way. Whether or not you’re a War Leader, a King, Queen, or an Overlord, there are rules within a society that you must follow or you’re stealing from those that have sworn their loyalty and lives to you. In essence, you’re breaking your oath to them,’ I sent back as I did my best to clear my mind of the Half-Orc’s touch while thinking back to the history of my own world. ‘I’ve seen too much of that privileged attitude corrupt the good in my own world and refuse to be that way here if I have any other choice.’
Most of Earth’s past was filled with horrible dictatorships, monarchies, and totalitarian regimes that were led by despots that tread the common person under their iron heels, making most people little more than slaves. Even the most benevolent democracies and representational democracies slowly turned into brutal totalitarian regimes over time which stole the power away from the common person and put it into the hands of a corrupt few. The results always ended in atrocities. Sadly, it seemed to be a progression that all governments passed through over time, and made me wonder if this was some ugly aspect of Human nature that we couldn’t escape as a society.
‘If I could’ve stayed longer and taken the time to get the city’s stables and the Queen to agree to the loan of the mounts for all of my people, I probably could’ve gotten them to agree to freely give up what we needed. The only problem with doing that is that it would leave me vulnerable to my enemies. They would use that weakness to pressure me into working with iron-fisted nobles that don’t share my vision of the future,’ I said, trying to explain the complexity of the situation. ‘That ultimately would weaken my reputation with the commoners that currently support me and set back the plans I have for changing the Kingdom of Kader’s current social structure.’
In my world, the rich, be it the church or wealthy merchants, would sell the means of war to those in power whether that be a monarchy, democracy, or totalitarian regime. That was done usually by the use of loans of gold and the sale of weapons to both sides in the same conflict. Ultimately, the church or wealthy merchants would be the only winners of the conflict while the countries and their people that went to war in the first place were left in poverty and desolation regardless of whether they won or lost.
‘You also fear what the Nordic Guardians might do to you if you overstepped your newfar boundaries,’ Helgath sent as she combed through my thoughts.
‘That’s also a fear that I must closely be on guard for, too,’ I agreed, mentally nudging her out of my thoughts. I didn’t need her going any deeper and finding the physical attraction that I now had for her. Temporarily through with further discussions about admins and politics, I changed the topic to something lighter, ‘By the way, how did everything go while I was away? Neysa said something about you guys having a few run-ins with the Chaos Storm Alliance.’
I listened with half an ear as Neysa and Helgath started telling me about everything that had gone down while I was logged out. It was curious that the lower-level PKers didn’t try overwhelming my soulmates and companion. Probably because they’d been so completely shell-shocked. While Neysa and Helgath went back and forth describing their fights, the other half of my focus was on Phoenix’s conversation with Töten as she did her best to find out more about him.
From what the large man began to slowly explain, Töten’s father had died on the job during his senior year in high school. The Petroleum company had pulled some shenanigans and refused to payout the insurance for their family, saying that his father had missed the last month’s insurance payment. Two years after that, he’d had a tractor-trailer rear-end him at a traffic light on his way to college. Töten explained that the local hospital’s x-ray machine had been down and so the doctor on duty had sent him home with a broken back, fractured pelvis, and several broken ribs.
Due to that, the insurance company wouldn’t pay for his injuries since they weren’t documented on the night of the accident. That mishap ruined his dreams of being a chef and left him with a broken body. He’d been forced to live off welfare while trying to survive by doing whatever work he could from home. That’s basically how he became a bug tester for several gaming companies. It barely allowed him to make ends meet most months but it was a living.
Curiously enough, that unique combination of being a gamer and bug tester with a shattered body is what had gotten him into the closed beta in the first place. That had then evolved into his current gig with V-MMORG. While his job was officially bug-testing new demi-human classes before they were offered to the player base, V-MMORG was mainly looking for data on how a player’s body with long-term physical injuries reacted to their new medical pod.
While I sometimes joined in on the conversation, for the most part, I simply listened. As far as I was concerned, the most important part of their whole discussion was that it helped to get Töten out of his funk somewhat. Besides that, it was a good distraction and helped to make the time fly by as we rode across the plain. As we approached the silhouette of a small town in the distance, I was surprised that Töten adjusted our line of travel to head towards it.
“Welcome to the pleasant village of Stone Haven,” Töten sarcastically announced as we got close enough to see the shattered windows in the solid stone houses, broken fence posts, discarded household goods, and other paraphernalia scattered across the entire area. The entire place had been ransacked.
“Damn,” Phoenix grunted, “they slaughtered the entire village.”
“They ate,” I subtly corrected, letting out a cough to emphasize my words, “the entire village.”
“Shit on me,” Phoenix muttered, shaking her head at the horror of it all, “I mean,” her eyes studied the dried blood stains scattered around the ground, “I know that’s why you took the time to clear out the Shadowfell Village but knowing that something could happen and seeing it-”
“Are two different things,” I agreed, nodding in understanding.
“What I don’t get,” Töten said in the same tone of disgust, “is why would the developers let this happen? The horde’s invasion should be an entirely separate quest line.”
“I get the travesty of it all,” Phoenix said, as her face took on a troubled look, “but why does that even matter?”
“What do you mean?” I asked as Töten turned back to give the Barbarian a disapproving frown.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Phoenix growled, somewhat flustered as she saw the same look mirrored on my face, “I mean, why did they even bother putting an insignificant town like this out in the middle of nowhere in the first place?”
“It’s supposed to offer a base of operations for players trying to open up the static dungeon that guards this passageway to the Subterranean Realm,” Töten said as he jerked his chin towards the north, “The guarded entrance isn’t too far away from here.”
“Subterranean Realm?” I curiously repeated as the Anti-Paladin continued as he focused on the way ahead.
“Entrances to the Subterranean Realm sort of act like a one-time dungeon that needs to be beaten before you can access a new area of The World. Most of them are in the level forty to sixty range but it’s always best to run an Identify on the guards outside before you attack. You never know if that passageway leads to a higher-level area or not,” Töten warned, “Sort of like your Sea Elf quest to open up the shipping lanes between the two sides of the Nordic Region.” As I nodded in understanding, he continued nonplussed. “While they didn’t have the Subterranean Realm accessible during the closed beta, from what I read on our internal forum, it sounds something like what you’d expect to find in the Underdark.”
“Got it,” I replied, trying to picture how big the underground realm might be.
“The Underdark?” Phoenix asked, not immediately catching the reference as she gave us an annoyed look.
“Eh, it’s an old Dungeons and Dragons term,” Töten said, giving the Barbarian a shrug as I nodded in agreement, “that covers the underground passages and caverns that make up the various civilizations and monsters who live underneath the earth.”
“The hell!” Phoenix exclaimed, giving us an unbelieving look, “Do you know how large that could be?”
“As large as The World itself,” I joked, giving her a wink.
“Sort of like the whole Underwater Realm,” Töten dryly replied as we rode through the other side of the village.
Both of those comments gave Phoenix a pause. We’d barely scratched the surface of the Underwater Realm. It was kind of shocking if you thought about how much gameplay these different areas opened up. It was even crazier when you realized that we’d have to create more advanced magic-tech before we could even begin to seriously explore the oceans further. As the Barbarian processed that, I pulled up my map to see how close Stone Haven was to where we’d passed through the days before with the horde on our tails.
“You know,” I slowly said, looking off towards the west, “it was probably more bad luck than anything else that the village was raided.”
“Why do you say that?” Töten asked, his large closed helm rotating to follow my eyes as he tried to understand what I was getting at.
“Well, the Valley of Stones isn’t all that far away,” I said, closing my map with a thought, “When we blocked the exit out of the valley and made camp for the night, the horde sent their forces circling around to get behind us.” I pointed towards the ridge off in the distance. “The Orcs could’ve easily seen Stone Haven and split off a portion of their horde to deal with the village.”
