Unforeseen path, p.25
Unforeseen Path, page 25
“Usually, I’m at least getting dinner when someone says that to me,” Jill joked as she began removing her robes.
“Then, I reckon you should be feeling like a noble escort,” Lara said in an amused tone. As all three newfars’ heads whipped around to stare at her, the Grimal kin continued with a smile, “because a fine suit of armor such as this is at least equal to a high-class lord’s banquet.”
“Did you just call me a whore?” Jill said, more amused than offended.
“Basically,” Krystal agreed, snorting as Lara’s ears momentarily laid flat at the newfar’s accusation.
“Not at all,” Lara said with a twinkle in her eyes as she took the robe from Kriminali’s hands.
“I think you called yourself that,” Sara snarkily chimed in as Jill playfully shoved her back.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with such a course in life,” Honey dubiously added as she waved for Jill to hand over her boots and gloves.
It took only a few moments to get the pieces pulled apart and the Black Coral growing over the individual pieces. The process was more of a hack that Hollysharp had figured out than an actual merging of the two magical items. Still, it worked like a charm and combined the strengths of both items together into one piece of gear by basically covering the existing items with an outer layer of sturdier material. As they had Kriminali step into the completed pieces, an unhappy frown began forming on her face.
“I just wish it didn’t look so ugly,” Jill complained as her girlfriends nodded in agreement.
“It’s about as unflattering of an outfit as you can get,” Krystal agreed, unhappily looking down at herself.
“You’d think there’d at least be a way to add some coloring or something to the design,” Sara added.
“Is the fit alright?” Lara asked as she and Honey stepped back so the newfar could check the fit and her range of motion.
“Yeah, it’s fine. You can complete the process,” Jill said with an annoyed sigh as she looked down at her blocky appearance, “Great, the first awesome virtual world, and they have shit choices for armor.”
“Why, what did you expect, an elegant gown?” Honey scornfully sniffed at the trios complaining, “It’s armor, it’s supposed to be a protective covering that can take a beating.”
“It would’ve been cool if we had the choice of having a more female-shaped cut,” Jill said, shaking her head.
“Or something like transparent windows that could show off a little bit of skin,” Krystal depressingly agreed.
“Because no man would’ve designed something as butt ugly as this for their female fan base,” Jill agreed.
“This sucks,” Sara agreed, frowning down at her front, “I’m so sick of non-gamers trying to tell us what we’re supposed to want.”
“What’s the problem?” Lara asked, not getting the newfars’ meaning as she traded a confused look with Honey, “Did you want something like silver or gold inlay like a noble’s armor?”
“Do I look like I’m a boomer?” Jill snapped while Sara and Krystal let out amused snorts at the looks of horror on the Beast kin females’ faces. “Naw, I’d like to have a set of bikini armor or something that shows off a bit of skin and makes me feel sexy.” She waved a hand at her body. “Not this fugly shit.”
“Yeah, because this is no fun at all,” Krystal said as Sara nodded in agreement.
“What is this bikini armor that you’re talking about?” Honey asked as she cocked her head to the side in confusion.
“Ohmygawd, you don’t know what a bikini is?” Jill openly laughed as both female Beast kins frowned.
Wiping the moisture from her eyes, the newfar caught her breath enough to explain the concept to them. As she finished describing several of the previous armor designs that she and Tatheirel had worn in the past, Honey looked at the newfar females like they’d lost their minds. Not that the Grimal kin blamed her. While the idea of purposely wearing a set of bikini armor seemed outrageous, another part of her found it titillating, especially if it still offered the full protection of a regular suit of armor.
“You know,” Lara said, glancing at Honey as an idea suddenly came to her, “there might be a way to do what you want.”
“What are you thinking, Lara?” Honey asked as the hackles on her neck stood on end.
“Couldn’t we basically do what they want by using that Transfiguration wand Oránn and Hollysharp were using on the HollyTerror?” Lara asked.
For a long second, Honey’s jaws opened and closed as if she were searching for the right words to say. When she saw the amused gleam that came into the Badger kin’s blue eyes, Lara immediately knew what she was thinking.
“Do you have any idea how much-” Honey began to say.
“That will totally piss Hollysharp off?” Lara finished as they both busted out laughing.
“We’ve gotta do this!” Honey said when her eyes flashed with another idea. “Wait, isn’t there a compound the Sea Elves use to color their artwork?”
“Oh, my,” Lara exclaimed as her thick black lips pulled back from her fangs, “Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint our newfar friends.”
“Do you have something that might work?” Jill asked, following their conversation.
“I believe we do,” Lara said as her smile grew even wider.
“Hey, Jill, look over there,” Krystal suddenly said, interrupting their conversation, “Sarka looks like she’s unhappy about the new armor too.”
“I don’t know why,” Jill dismissively said, “It’s not much worse than that set of Red Goblin Slaver armor she was wearing.”
“Hefe doesn’t look particularly happy either,” Sara added as they saw their friend excitedly yelling at the Gnomeling.
“Come on, everyone,” Lara said in an amused tone, at the idea of being able to do something that would surely piss the Gnomeling female off, which filled her chest with glee, “Let’s go explain the fix to the problem to Prustine.”
“Oh, this should be a blast,” Honey said, swimming after her with the trio of newfar at their back.
Chapter Ten
(Monday, May 12th / Day 22 of The World.)
(Startum Ironwolf and friends traveling through the Kingdom of Kader.)
“Where in the hell is this place?” Phoenix loudly complained from where she rode behind Töten, “I thought Lodenburg was only a half-hour away!”
“We’re nearly on top of the dot,” I replied, calling up my in-game map, “We should be seeing it over the next hill any time now.”
“You said that three ridges ago,” Phoenix unhappily countered as she swiped at an invisible screen before her eyes.
“Damn, man,” I grunted, shaking my head, “you really complain like a woman.”
“And, you can fuck off now,” Phoenix mocking said as she flipped me off, before turning serious again, “Seriously, though, I swear the city’s dot is right on top of us.”
“You said that three ridges ago,” Phoenix unhappily countered as she swiped at an invisible screen before her eyes. “I swear, the city’s dot is right on top of us.”
“That’s because the in-game maps aren’t all that exact,” Töten tiredly replied from where he was riding point.
“What do you mean the maps aren’t that exact?” Phoenix irritably asked.
“Did you ever wonder why the maps of The World look like they’re hand drawn?” Töten asked as my interest perked up in spite of the fatigue weighing me down.
“I honestly hadn’t really thought about it,” the Barbarian said as she stopped playing with the map floating before her eyes, “except to dismiss it as poor programming.”
“Well, a number of us closed beta players wondered what was up with the maps,” Töten explained as Phoenix and I rolled my eyes at the constant reminder he was a “closed beta” player. “The developers said it was based on how maps from the Middle Ages were created. Except for Roman maps, most maps weren’t all that exact for distances and used regional landmarks to help travelers understand where they were traveling.”
“That’s crazy,” Phoenix said, shaking her head.
“Not really,” I dryly said from behind her, “By now, you should know how much V-MMORPG loves their realism.”
“Which is why we’ve been sticking to the roads instead of heading cross-country like you wanted to do earlier,” Töten humorously added as the Barbarian flipped him a bird.
“I swear,” Phoenix said, letting out an explosive breath, “if we don’t find a place to rest soon, I’m gonna start falling asleep in my saddle.”
“Let’s see if we can see anything from this next ridge,” Töten said, stretching out his stiff back. “It’s just hard as fuck to get your bearings once it gets dark.”
“If we keep following the main road, we should at least run into one of the smaller villages around Lodenburg,” Neristhana spoke up from the rear, “and we can get a room there for the night.”
“Does that work for everyone?” Töten asked, looking back for confirmation.
“Works for me,” I said with an indifferent shrug as Phoenix tiredly nodded her consent.
I didn’t blame Phoenix at all for being exhausted. She was still getting her riding skill up, and the added strain of using the different muscles needed for staying in the saddle was kicking her ass. I suspected she’d have trouble walking to her bed in meatspace once she logged out for the night.
Not that it was much easier for me either. While I’d developed the muscles needed to stay on Neysa’s back without overstraining them, riding all day long at a steady canter was very different from cavalry runs. Charging the enemy was a major adrenaline rush, especially if you didn’t know if you were going to be able to ultimately escape or not. Long-distance traveling, on the other hand, was mind-numbingly boring and physically exhausting.
That’s not saying that we didn’t talk up a storm in the beginning, because we did. It was just that we’d been riding for seven-plus hours straight. We hadn’t had the chance to hunt down mobs or pull up for any exploration. That timeframe didn’t even include the first four-hour run to Töten’s stronghold either. While we traveled, we’d basically covered the gauntlet of sci-fi and fantasy topics along with a wide range of subjects inside and outside of The World.
In the last two hours, the chit-chat had all but died as our grueling ride became a contest of endurance. The most annoying part was that we were over the dot of Lodenburg and still hadn’t run across the city. As we topped the next rise, Töten held up a fist for all of us to stop as the entire plateau became visible below.
“See, I told you we were close,” Töten said, pointing at a glowing city about five miles away, “We just had to get high enough to see where we were.”
“Fuck, that’s still so far away,” Phoenix complained as she rose up in the saddle to relieve the pain of her sore thighs. Scanning the slope, she pointed out a glow in a small hollow about half the distance away, “What about just heading to that village and calling it a night?”
“Works for me,” I agreed as Töten gave an indifferent shrug.
“Woohoo,” Phoenix cheered, spurring her mount into a gallop as she called over her shoulder, “last one buys the first round of ale!”
The Barbarian’s enthusiasm was contagious as the rest of us sent our mounts racing after her. It was a bunk bet on one level since Töten’s Nightmare was the slowest mount in our party. Well, it was if he didn’t kick the rest of us out of the party and use his Aura of the Crusader to outdistance the rest of us. Not that the big guy seemed all that concerned as Neristhana and I got ahead of him on the dirt road.
‘I’m looking forward to being able to strip down, bathe, and fall asleep in your arms,’ Helgath sent as she leaned back into my chest with a deep sigh.
Ack! My mind went blank as the Half-Orc’s sudden repositioning pressed her firm breasts against my forearm. In the blink of an eye, I turned instantly hard. Panicking like a drowning man gasping for one last breath of air, I slammed an iron fist over my thoughts while doing my best to will my body to calm the fuck down. Not that it listened to me in the least.
There was something about the release of tension from the last few days, being physically exhausted from a hard day’s ride, and holding someone sexy that I cared deeply about in my arms that punched all of my buttons. I stiffened in alarm as I caught myself unconsciously nuzzling my face into Helgath’s soft neck as her hair whipped past my face.
Not good … not good, I mentally began chastising myself for being caught off-guard by the three-punch combo. This had to stop right now. Before my soulmate could catch any of the stray thoughts filling my mind or notice the hardness trying to burst from my leather pants, Phoenix’s shout of alarm in group chat snapped me out of the moment.
“There are sounds of fighting coming from up ahead!”
“The fuck?” I asked, glancing back at Töten and Neristhana as we drew our weapons and kicked our mounts into a gallop.
Leaning over Neysa, we raced after Phoenix’s receding back as she thundered towards the sounds of combat. Curiously enough, that trail was leading us towards the hollow where we’d seen the town. Was this a PKer group raiding another town like what we’d found in Staghollow Village?
A part of me was half tempted to start Raising Ghouls at this point. While that would’ve been the safest move, the levels of monsters here were only in the mid to high thirties so I didn’t expect us to run into any opposition that the five of us couldn’t handle. I also really didn’t want to go through the whole ordeal again about Dark magic being forbidden. Not that it had been a problem so far within the Kingdom of Kader, but I was still a bit wary of possible problems after my earlier experience traveling through Myathlune.
On top of that, Lodenburg was as far away from Palnisdale as you could get. I didn’t want to find out about any regional differences the hard way. Besides, I was trying to keep a low profile, and having a gaggle of Ghouls following me everywhere I went was a dead giveaway for those that were hunting us down.
“There’s a woman slaughtering an old lady up ahead!” Phoenix shouted in warning as she disappeared over the rim.
As we caught up to the edge of the hollow fifteen seconds later, a message flashed before my eyes.
Welcome! You have entered the Hamlet of Hardfall. All may enter but none can ever leave!
That’s odd, I thought, before dismissing the random message as I took in the scene going on down the slope in a flash.
Phoenix’s mount was closing with a nearly topless female Warrior who was about to bash an old lady’s brains out on the ground with a spiked iron mace. Scattered around them were what looked like a coarse burlap wrap and wood sticks you might use for a fireplace. Further behind the pair was another Halfling male Warrior that was laid out on the ground. Did this female attack them both?
“Get the fuck off the old lady, psycho!” Phoenix shouted as her mount knocked the female away just as she swung.
“Gah!” the female Warrior screamed in surprise, stumbling back from the mount as it shouldered past her.
As Phoenix leaped from her mount and ripped the two-handed axe from her back, I managed to cast a quick Identify on the enraged Halfling as she whirled around to face her new attackers. What I saw shocked me. Even though I’d seen numerous mixed races up until now, I was caught completely off-guard by what I saw.
Red horns jutted out of the female Warrior’s forehead and curved back over her head above the mane of long blonde hair that bobbed in a ponytail with her every move. Even more curious was the sprinkling of fine red scales that ran down the sides of her face to her pointed ears, before spreading out across her neck and trapezius muscles and ending in a “V” between the valley of her massive breasts. It almost looked like she was wearing an armored gorget.
Though, for a second, I honestly wasn’t sure if the red scales offered any actual protection or if they were meant as more of a distraction. You might think I was exaggerating that last point a bit, but trust me, I wasn’t. With the thin leather strip wrapped around her chest to hold everything in place, it was nearly impossible not to stare at the mountains of flesh. Even as that thought crossed my mind, the name Igtra Raktizu, Level 36 Red Draconian-Human, Wild Shaman appeared over the female’s head just as my gaze caught sight of the same red scales which covered her hands and forearms like gauntlets.
“Ignorant fool!” Igtra snarled even as she reoriented on the downed old lady who was now fearfully holding her hands up to ward off the next attack, “Stand back or I’ll rip your still beating heart from your chest and offer it to the Red Lord for your insolence!”
“Says the red scaley freak bashing in helpless old lady’s heads,” Phoenix mockingly said as she stepped between the pair. She flashed one of her wry smiles as we galloped up, “How about you step the fuck back and lower your weapon so we can talk?” Seeing Igtra’s face screwed up in outrage, she gave an indifferent shrug. “Or, I can just pound the ever-loving shit out of your scaley ass to get the answers I’m looking for.”
“Obviously, your idiocy knows no bounds and so you disparage the symbol of my proud heritage,” Igtra snarled, before muttering a word under her breath. Instantly, the head of the spiked iron mace held in her hand started glowing like a brilliant orange flame as if it had been shoved into a burning hot furnace for hours. As waves of heat began twisting the air, she aggressively swung the spiked head back prepared to fight, “For that alone, you will pay and then I’ll cleanse this aberrant of nature from the world!”
“Beware of that Blazing Weapon enchantment,” Töten called out as we galloped to a stop behind Phoenix, “It ruins the durability on most weapons after just a few hits.”
‘I know of this race,’ Helgath’s thoughts suddenly sounded in my mind, ‘they live deep in the mountain ranges along the western edge of the Plains of Atoll.’
‘That’s curious. I wonder what they’re doing all the way down here?’ I sent back not overly concerned at the female’s excessive bravado. Phoenix was seventeen levels higher than her opponent and she had the rest of us to back her up too, ‘Are they good or evil?’
