Helping a friend, p.42
Helping A Friend, page 42
part #4 of The World Series
“The slaves.” I repeated, thinking back to the Sea Elf’s story. “You mean all of the surviving males that you captured to work the underwater mines, correct?”
“The same,” the Knight Commander confirmed looking at me questioningly. “How can the air-breathers possibly help when they can’t leave the range of the air-breathing stone?”
“That won’t be an issue,” I irritably said waving off the Sea Elf’s negative comment. “How many slaves are we talking about?” The Sea Elves looked between each other for a confused moment as they tried to figure out how many air-breathers were in the mines.
“Somewhere around five hundred,” the Knight Commander finally replied. “But why would the orcs and goblins be willing to fight their own kin?”
“Are all the prisoners either orcs or goblins?” I asked feeling my plan crumbling before my eyes.
“Eh, the rest are mostly useless. Gnomelings and their ilk,” the Sea Elf said dismissively. “Some humans, dwarves and humanoid beast people.” Hearing the casual disregard the Sea Elf had towards his people, Captain Lightouch began angrily stalking forward with murder in his eyes.
“I’ll show you useless you oversized Grindylow!” Captain Lightouch stormed as his face turned beet red. “We took care of your dumbasses’ charge easily enough, didn’t we?” The old Gnomeling continued as I hurriedly stepped in-between the two men before the Sea Elf got his head bashed in.
“Grindylow!” The Knight Commander bellowed back struggling against his bindings.
“Both of you shut the fuck up!” I roared looking at them both incredulously. Somewhat embarrassed, Captain Lightouch stepped back behind me as the Knight Commander glowered where he knelt. “Then it sounds like we have a workable plan.” Seeing the Knight Commander’s confusion, I took a moment to explain the parts he was missing.
“I can give the prisoners the ability to breath underwater. We’ll arm them with whatever weapons we have from the dead orcs and grindylows. With their help, we’ll rescue the women and children.”
“What’s to stop the prisoners from taking revenge on my people once they’ve freed their own people?” The Knight Commander asked worriedly.
“I’ll have their allegiance before I free them,” I said holding the Sea Elf’s gaze with my own. “Just like I’ll have yours before I turn you loose.” I could see the Knight Commander weighing the options before coming to a decision. Sitting up straight and pushing his shoulders back, the Sea Elf bowed as dignified as he could muster while bound on his knees.
“You could have justifiably slaughtered me and my men for attacking your people and yet you chose to help me save the lives of my people instead. So long as you hold true to your word, I will serve you until death.” Laying a hand on his shoulder, I kneeled before him looking into his eyes.
“I promise I will do everything in my power to save your people, your princess and your queen.” With those words, I cut the bindings securing the Sea Elf’s arms and legs. Pulling the man to his feet, we clasped wrists as I signaled for the guards to do the same with the rest of his crew. “Everyone get dressed and join me in the galley, we’ll be heading out as soon as I get some potions made up.” Turning around to my friends, I saw the surprised looks on everyone’s faces.
“Eh, sorry for cutting you guys off,“ I began to say but Thomas waved away my apology before I could even start.
“It’s cool man,” Thomas said, awkwardly running a hand through his hair. “Seriously thought, that was pretty awesome to watch. I’m beginning to understand why you’re doing so well with the NPCs and secret quests in general. You treat them the same as you’d treat any player. Hell, maybe even better.”
“I told you he was the golden goose,” Kenzie chortled at the frown that flashed across my face.
“They are people. People that were raised in The World,” I said raising my arms to take in our surroundings. “Maybe instead of thinking of this as a game, it would make more sense to imagine that you’re temporarily being transported to another world.”
“That does make a certain kind of sense,” Thomas agreed as his eyes blankly watched the Sea Elves getting dressed, before shaking off his ruminations. “Like Kenzie said, so much for a boring side trip.”
Smiling at the shared joke, we made our way towards the ship’s galley as I called out to Zinn and Ayda for them to join us along the way. Meeting up with Tavon and Alanah, we began making potions together while discussing which people of the group we were going to take with us into the Halls of Storms. I wanted to just bring a group of all men, since the Meer-Lizards were capturing any women and turning them into spawn breeders. Kenzie nipped that thought in the bud in the first five minutes.
Whatever, I wasn’t going to fight Kenzie about it, but I did demand that every female that came would have to be a volunteer. I wasn’t about to put my friends in a situation where they might be repeatedly raped if the majority of the team were wiped out. I laughed at my own crazy prejudices. Having my friends put themselves in the way of being hacked to death and possibly eaten alive wasn’t an issue, but running the risk of having my female friends’ virtual bodies repeatedly pierced by ovipositors and filled with eggs was another story altogether.
The discussion ended up being held in raid chat as everyone got their say in the matter. The main problem was making sure we had enough people to keep the Wind Dancer safe in case of another major attack while also making sure we had a large enough force for the mission. By the end of the discussion, I was surprised at the names on the list: Startum, Neysa, Fylreh, Sarka, Yun, Tinyr, Ayda, Neristhana, Thomas, Kenzie, Zhou and Darkhorse.
That gave us a total of ten NPC slash players for the mini-raid of ten we’d formed. For some reason, the game didn’t count Neysa and Fylreh against our total number of raid members. Once again, it was probably due to both being considered beasts or combat-mount companions. Whatever, I wasn’t going to complain, especially since Fylreh being an Elite level 38 was the highest level in our entire raid. Add the Sea Elves on top of that and we were leading a fifteen member raid into the depths … err, I mean seventeen.
It took us most of an hour to make up twelve hundred potions. That was even with everyone’s help, including Fylreh who came down to lend a hand in the process. I taught Kenzie and Zhou the recipe while Tavon, Alanah and Fylreh worked on making as many potions as possible. By the time we were finished, the worst of the mess on the decks had been mostly cleared away. By then, we had five hours left on the quest, ‘Save the Sea Elves from being exterminated by the Meer-Lizards.’
With a final farewell to the crew and rest of the raid, we jumped into the water as I called the first Giant Squid I’d raised over to us. I saw the Sea Elves freeze for a moment in surprise as the massive red shape suddenly loomed over us from the depths. With its water propulsion, the Giant Squid could clear short distances in the blink of an eye. More than one of my friends momentarily freaked out as the cloud of tentacles surrounded us in a squirming mass of rubbery flesh.
I’d been diving enough with blue whales and sharks in the real world to not be taken aback by being so close to such a massive creature while under the water. I don’t know why it made such a difference while you were diving but it just did. While elephants were massive land creatures, being around one didn’t bring the same feelings of wonder as swimming underwater with a whale or large shark. The Giant Squids’ torso was somewhere around about three African Elephants long and thick. On the other hand, it tentacles where longer than a blue whale.
Unconcerned, I had the Giant Squid reach out with one of its normal arms to reel me in as I wrapped my hands and feet around the tip of the tentacle. A moment later, I was standing at my normal spot between the massive creatures eyes as my friends stared uncomfortably at the arms floating before them. “You can either use the arm yourself or I’ll have Squidward pull you in himself.” I warned with an annoying snap in raid chat as everyone hurried to grab the tip dangling before their eyes. As everyone got settled around me, Kenzie drolly bitched at me.
“Seriously Squidward? You named your giant zombie pet after Squidward from the SpongeBob SquarePants universe?”
“Of course not,” I said rolling my eyes at the rogue. “You’re so freaking easy sometimes, Kenzie.”
“That she is,” Thomas chimed in with his own laugh as both Zhou and Kenzie popped him in the back.
“I just figured no one wanted to say they ran away from Squidward,” I said with a shrug as I gave the order for my pet to follow the Sea Elves down into the depths of the ocean.
“Who is this Squidward?” Fylreh asked from her perch as she finished feeding the fish with her vomit. “Is he some sort of great beast from your world?”
“Yes, he follows around the great and mighty SpongeBob,” Thomas joked again as Kenzie smacked the warrior in the back. By now, Fylreh knew enough about newfar interactions to know that she was having her leg pulled. Narrowing her eyes at Thomas, she pointed her scimitar at the grinning warrior.
“Lie to me again and I’ll stab you in the dick,” The no nonsense way Fylreh delivered her threat made Thomas’ eyes unconsciously widen in surprise as the females in the raid burst out laughing. By now, all the women had heard about the filly’s thoughts on Hollysharp and mine altercation albeit the men were obviously still learning. Seeing the Devil Dog Leader’s confused face, I whispered that I’d explain the story to him later as he exaggeratedly shook his head in disagreement.
“No way man,” Thomas exclaimed excitedly. “If there’s a risk of getting stabbed in the dick, you’re telling me the story now!” There was another round of laughter, at least from the women of the group as I told Thomas and the other guys about what happened. A glance Fylreh’s way let me know she wasn’t seriously upset, since she was working hard at trying not to grin.
To be honest, it was the perfect remedy to everyone’s prebattle jitters as we sank into the depths. I didn’t know how far down we were going, but at the speed we were dropping and how long it was taking, it had to be a good hundred feet down. In the distance, I could see spirals of smooth coral of various pinks, blues, greens, reds and purples hues in the distance. Unlike normal living coral where lots of fish lived for protection away from predators, the coral looked eerily deserted. The Knight Commander didn’t guide us there, but headed further out from the dead city towards a cloudy smudge in the distance.
The closer we got, the more the water tasted gritty and unclean as my nose filled with the stench of Sulphur and other unpleasant smells that reminded me of working at the furnace in Delonshire. Slowly the ugly haze of smudge cleared up enough for us to see what could only be described as an open-pit mine. At the center of the pit was an immense obelisk with glowing magic runes. Instead of seeing a bunch of humanoids and demihumans working the mines, there were two large groups facing off against one another instead.
The situation between the two groups looked like it was starting to get ugly. Each group was armed with makeshift weapons. Mostly they were what you’d anticipate from a mining prison. Picks and shovels were the majority of the weapons visible, but here and there I could make out a few actual daggers and a handful of crude, custom-made items. Stuff like shivs and flails, the typical homebrew weapons you’d expect to see in any current-day prison film. Coming to a stop about a twenty feet up, we were within shouting range when I mentally commanded Squidward to stop so that the Sea Elves could join us as I watched and listened to the growing altercation going on below.
“Die Fish Heads hab fled!” A massive Orc warrior bellowed to his followers. “Et ist time zu feed auf dez weaklingz!”
Focusing on the talking orc, the monster’s name appeared over its head, Igtark Zugdar level 45 Elite Sea Orc Warrior. Next to the unimpressive Orc was a true brute named, Lurog Bloodfang level 40 Elite Sea Orc Warrior. Even from this distance I could see there was conflict between the two higher level orcs as they argued back and forth with each other over whether or not to attack. Confronting the two orcs were a mixed group of five of the traditional humanoid races.
“Bring it on Igtark,” A large human below bellowed angrily. “My Headsplitter still hungers for your blood!” As I focused on the talker, the man’s name appeared over his head, Crux Blackaxe level 44 Barbarian. He was dressed in a loincloth and knee-high leather boots with leather raps covering his arms for armor. A necklace of what had to be orc fangs hung around his neck as he beat the sea bottom with his make-shift axe that looked Cro-Magnon in design. A hand signal from the group’s leader calmed the larger man down as the slim Half-Dark Elf ranger in the lead spat at the lead Orc.
“Come now, Igtark,” the level 46 Ranger named Gray Jingo said in a silky voice that held the threat of death. “The last time you tried this crap, you lost over a hundred of your warriors and got zero meat.”
“De food mockz unz!” Igtark roared to his followers. Shoving the lower level orc named Lurog forward with a hard push, Igtark sneered in his guttural voice. “U turn tu lead Blutfang!”
“Koward! Dungdar zind no leader,” Lurog roared as he came to a stumbling halt. “U want meat u lead Dungdar!” As the two orcs began flailing at one another, I noticed the groups of Sea Orcs behind the two leaders began to shift and study each other warily. The group behind Zugdar was more numerous but a lower level compared to the group behind Lurog.
As the altercation became more intense between the two Sea Orc leaders, I saw the group of five slowly begin creeping closer to the fight of the two warriors. The rest of the group consisted of a level 44 gnomeling thief named Cleftuf Fnirbier, a burly level 42 dwarf warrior named Hogar Orepike and a level 40 gnomeling Arcane mage named Doom Hawk. It looked like the leaders of the humanoid races thought that they might be able to take out the two orcs to buy their people some more time.
I had already started Squidward moving down when the Sea Orcs suddenly stopped fighting one another and lunged for their true enemies as the rest of the Sea Orcs surged forward. The group of five were now too far away from their own lines for support. Instead of retreating, they readied themselves for the two orc leaders’ rush as they continued falling back in an organized manner. Before they could be slaughtered by the horde, my Giant Squid’s sharp beak snapped shut over the two enraged orc leaders with a loud crunch a second before its massive body collided into the soft sand.
Immediately, silt and sediment exploded out from the impact like a cloud as the compression wave sent humanoids and Sea Orcs alike flying back through the water. As the mass of prisoners were broken up, I ordered my undead pet into a defensive stance just above the sea floor and called out for everyone to dismount. Slowly we floated down to the sandy bottom under Squidward with Fylreh being last, since she was unused to moving in the water. When her hooves touched the seafloor, I sent the Giant Squid to hover over our heads fifty yards up.
“You fought that beast by yourself?” Fylreh asked, whispering into my ear incredulously as she came to a stop behind me.
“Sure thing babe, because I’m the man,” I joked under my breath using one of my manly man phrases. Hearing only silence from the filly, I looked back to see an unhappy glint in her eyes which made me think of her ‘in the dick comment.’ With a gulp, I hurriedly changed tactics. “I lucked out when I attacked from the ship and didn’t have to deal with either its defenses or attacks.”
“How did you manage that?” She pushed while glancing up at the Giant Squid floating above us. With its tentacles spread out ready to attack, it truly looked magnificent.
“I went in through its eye while it was attacking the ship,” I said with a shrug as the cloud of silt and sediment began to settle around us. I missed the shocked expression on Fylreh’s face as I looked out at the two separate groups of prisoners looking back at us warily.
“Sometimes you’re freaking scary, Star,” Kenzie said as several of my friends nodded in agreement at the rogue’s words. ‘I guess I wasn’t as quiet as I’d thought,’ I silently mused as I raised my voice to be heard by the humanoid prisoners.
“My name is Lord Ironwolf of the House of Kayden. Like you, our ship was drawn into this magic trap. Unlike you, neither the Sea Elves, Meer-Lizard, Grindylows nor their Giant Squids took us prisoners. Instead, we captured the Red Coral Knight’s Commander, defeated the grindylows, acquired our own Giant Squids and discovered the source of the evil that drew us here.” As I came to a stop, a murmur ran through the crowd as what I said sunk in.
“The Meer-Lizards have captured the Sea Elves’ Hall of Storms,” I shouted while gazing over the crowd. “With its power, they will be able to take over this entire region. No ship will be able to pass within the Strait of Icelus. No coastal town will be safe from their predations,” I paused for effect before continuing.
“Your women and children that were taken by these evil creatures are being raped! They are being used as spawning pools to breed more of the Meer-Lizards’ evil young!” I raised my voice to be heard over the low rumble coming from the crowd.” That will be their lives until they are slaughtered and eaten. That will be every woman’s life in the region if these monsters are not stopped here and now.”
“That fish-head next to you was the evil bastard that gave my wife and daughter to those monsters!” An angry gnomeling shouted out pointing to Celaraldor as a number of others raised their angry voices at the Knight Commander.
“Listen up … I said listen the fuck up!” I yelled holding up my hands to be heard. “I agree with you all. This pompous asshat fucked up. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was trying to stop his people from being slaughtered to the last man, woman and child, I’d have cut his throat when I captured him.” A hush came over the crowd as my words sunk in. Seeing the sudden understanding coming to many of the humanoids’ eyes before me, I continued doing my best to sway the crowd.
