Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  Instantly, the NPC woman’s face noticeably hardened as her lip curled up into a sneer. In confusion, Jodi risked a quick glance at the handful of guards that were still standing behind the Captain and instantly noticed the now unhappy looks that she was getting. It was almost like she’d done something wrong and they were trying to figure out how to prove it, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what she’d asked that had gotten everyone so upset.

  “Lord Ironwolf is a hero to the people of Delonshire,” Miya stiffly said, as she critically eyed Jodi for her reaction. “Not only did he take a major role in stopping the Goblin invasion that was bent on destroying Delonshire and slaughtering, torturing, and eating the townspeople of this great city, he also stopped the newfar that tried to rape and pillage this town. Not only that, he also showed us how best to keep order amongst your kind.” Jodi noticed that the guards behind Miya had put their hands on the hilts of their blades sending a message that was clear enough for even her to catch as the NPC woman continued. “If you want to not have problems with your dealings in town, I would suggest that you remember how the people here feel about the Leader of your house.”

  Jodi angrily opened her mouth to deny the Captain’s point, but no words came out as she realized that, for all intents and purposes, the player Startum Ironwolf was her boss from the NPCs’ perspective. Seriously, how could one man stand against a whole town of players if they were truly bent on taking the city over for themselves? It was plainly ridiculous. Even though, she tried to remind herself that it must have been some quest that Startum had completed to gain the town’s trust and this woman was just an NPC. It left such a bad taste in her mouth that she couldn’t stop her outburst.

  “How can you say that about him?” Jodi incredulously demanded of the other woman. “He’s a misogynist pig that manhandled you like a piece of meat in the Delonshire Mines. Are you really that much of a fangirl that you can’t even see what’s before your eyes?”

  Even as the words left her mouth, Jodi knew she’d fucked up. As far as these NPCs were concerned, how could she have known any of what had happened in the Delonshire Mines? Hell, why would she have even expect this female NPC to react like a real woman? Jodi wasn’t sure what kind of response she’d expected from the guards. Culturally, she sort of expected them to react like the Police in the real world where no one would physically attack you for saying something they didn’t like. There were laws that stopped that kind of brutality. To Jodi’s horror, she immediately learned that wasn’t the case here in The World as the distinctive metallic ring of the NPCs’ swords clearing their sheaths brought her up short.

  “Who are you and why do you wear the mark of the House of Kayden?” Miya demanded with a snarl, as she drove Jodi into the wall and pressed the edge of her sword to Jodi’s neck. At the same time, Fiona was pounced upon as the guards held down the Blink Lynx at sword point. It was an effective move and removed her ability to teleport away. “Are you an imposter? Have you ever even met Lord Ironwolf? Answer me now or die by my blade!”

  “I’m … I’m a new member to the House of Kayden!” Jodi managed to stutter out, not daring to move a muscle as she hurriedly continued. “And I’ve never met Lord Ironwolf personally!”

  While she hated herself for calling the man by his in-game title, Jodi decided it might be best to play along with the current situation if she didn’t want to lose any experience or suffer through an uncomfortable death. A part of her ridiculed her own survival reaction, but when The World felt so real, it was easy to lose yourself in the moment. At least, that was the lie she told herself to ease the agitation she felt towards her natural reaction to the physical threat of her virtual body.

  “How do you know what transpired between Startum and I inside the Delonshire Mines,” Miya demanded, as she unconsciously flushed red in embarrassment. Noticing the reaction, Jodi was smart enough to keep her thoughts about it to herself.

  “There is a message board of sorts between players … I mean, newfar,” Jodi hurriedly corrected herself, “that lets us know what has transpired to each other inside The World.” She felt like an idiot explaining such things to a NPC but she was caught up in the moment. Kind of like saying anything that came to mind to get out of a speeding ticket, except if she didn’t say the right thing, there was no doubt she would be slaughtered on the street by these city guards. “I learned about what happened between the two of you there.”

  Instead of disregarding any information of the outside world like Jodi half expected from an MMO, the NPC woman seemed to take that into consideration. Don’t ask how she knew that, but looking into the humiliation and pain that flashed in the other woman’s eyes, Jodi felt like she somehow had emotionally hurt this woman in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. In that moment, she questioned the rumor that had been going around the forum about the people of The World being more than simple NPCs. It was outright absurd. Even so, looking into this woman’s pain-filled eyes made her unconsciously rethink her beliefs.

  “It was a horrific ordeal,” the Captain of the Guard said in a haunted voice. Stepping back, she let Jodi go and smoothly sheathed her blade as her eyes momentarily stared into the past. “Star saved all of us that day from a fate worse than death.” Looking behind the woman, Jodi saw the same tormented looks in the men’s eyes. With a visible effort, Miya shook herself free of whatever nightmare she was remembering and barked a command to her guards. “Let the beast free.”

  ‘It’s nice that you decided to quit while you were behind,’ Fiona quibbled, as she rolled to her paws before blinking away.

  ‘Not like I had much of a choice,’ Jodi shot back, as she stood up straight to face the Captain and her guards.

  “Enjoy your stay here in Delonshire, Jodi Tempest,” Miya said with a stern look plastered to her face once again. Whatever vulnerable emotions that had been weighting down the woman’s heart were now hidden as she stepped back to stand with her guards. “I do not know where you’ve gotten your information from in regards to Lord Ironwolf, but trust me when I say, it would behoove you to learn the truth about the man you swore an oath to and not listen to other newfar rumors.” With that said, Miya strode away as her guards fell in behind her.

  Jodi watched them head back the way they’d come as her hand absently rubbed her throat. As soon as they’d gotten far enough away, Fiona silently teleported back to her side without a word. Not that there was much of anything to say. Except for a few covetous looks at the Blink Lynx, the NPCs and players were once again going about their business as if nothing had happened. Glad that she hadn’t died from her outburst, she collected the loot from the two corpses, before continuing on to The White Unicorn.

  Both of them were in a much more subdued mood as they came to the large grassy area before the inn. In the distance, Jodi could make out the head of a white unicorn on the sign of the two-story building. The inn itself made her think of old Europe with its white plastered walls and wooden cross members in the shape of runes embedded in the outer walls. The eating area before the building was quite beautiful. A massive tree rose up in the center of a bunch of picnic-like tables that gave the entire area a rustic country fair feel.

  Coming to a stop at the edge of the picnic table area, Jodi was just looking around to figure out if she could see, Elandorr Narona, the man that she was supposed to meet, when she noticed an odd sight. Near the center of the area was a group of twenty-two people laughing and carrying on with one another. What stood out as unusual was that there was a noticeable gap between them and the rest of the players dinning. Most of the other tables were filled with angry looking players that were glaring at the group sitting in the center.

  With a sinking feeling, Jodi had an inkling she’d found her people. To say the gruff looking group was odd would’ve been an understatement. It was like they’d purposely created a guild of grouchy old men by doing their best to physically age their avatars. As if that wasn’t bad enough, one of them had an extremely fa
t and ugly avatar that was barely recognizable as being a Humanoid. Jodi was trying to figure out if it was a demi-human or player, when she used her Identify spell it returned the name, Grody Gotti - a level 28 female Half-Troll Rogue with Zeppy’s Heroes.

  With the mafia name of Gotti, the creature had to be a player, but oh my god, what a player that was. Jodi swore that if she’d run into that person in the wilds, she’d have attacked first and cast Identify later. She couldn’t imagine what woman would chose to play as an eyesore such as that, which immediately made her think the player was a man. Yeah, that was bias on her part, but that didn’t make it any less true. Making a note to find the truth out one way or another, she then eyed the two, more or less, normal looking people at the table.

  One was Tumms Darkbrew – a level 25 male Light Elf Priest with the Devil Dogs. Just by looking at him, it was obvious that the player had wanted a Dwarf. While he’d done his best to make his Light Elf avatar look stock and gave himself a brown beard, he just looked thick and short more than anything else. Her next cast of Identify was the person she was looking for, Elandorr Narona – a level 40 male Light Elf Rogue Assault Leader with the House of Kayden.

  ‘Keep your eyes peeled for anything stupid,’ Jodi mentally sent to Fiona, as she began making her way through the tables towards the group.

  ‘You’re a bunch of Light Elves,’ Fiona said with a mental sniff, ‘how could there not be a lot of stupid going on.’ Seeing the look Jodi was giving her, the Blink Lynx dismissively tossed her head. ‘I of course will watch for danger as always, oh mistress of mine.’ Before Jodi could flippantly respond to her combat pet’s attitude, her attention was pulled by the loud conversation coming from the tables she was heading towards.

  “And then, I see Grody squatting down and grinding his crotch on the dying man’s face, you know, doing his best to teabag the man,” an older Light Elf said to the table, “then I’m like. Dude, you don't have any balls to teabag with.” Another cast of Identify and Jodi had that man’s name as well, Zeppy Blau who was the obvious guild leader of most of the group here. The man continued his story as she continued heading toward them. “And Grody is like, you haven’t seen what I’m rocking underneath this loin cloth or you wouldn’t be saying that.”

  “He shouldn’t have been PKing if that’s the case,” Gory croaked in a frog-like voice, as everyone but Elandorr and Tumms busted out laughing. Even from here, Jodi could see that those two looked more green around the gills than anything else.

  “Well, you must have hurt his feelings, because he still looks like he wants his mommy,” Zeppy chortled, as the group looked over at one of the nearby tables at a person angrily glaring at them. Immediately, the Warrior and his teammates jumped up to their feet and began shouting threats at the larger group. They must have yelled something funny, because her new allies just busted out laughing.

  “Any time you want some more of this,” Grody shouted, standing up to thrust her hips out at the angry Warrior, “I’ll be glad to give you another mustache ride!”

  “You’re such a disgusting sick fuck!” The Warrior shouted, before turning around in a huff to stalk away. A second later, the rest of his group followed after him as the Half-Troll sat back down at the table while everyone went back to talking and laughing. They couldn’t have cared less about the group walking away from them. Picking her jaw off the ground, Jodi had to admit that was some funny ass shit as she walked up to the tables and introduced herself.

  “Elandorr Narona,” Jodi said, as everyone watched her curiously. “The name is Jodi Tempest. Thomas Anderson said I was supposed to meet up with you for an escort to BrokenFang Hold.”

  “Ah, our lost sheep has finally arrived,” Elandorr said, as the Rogue suavely rose from his seat to take Jodi’s hand in greeting. “Welcome to the House of Kayden. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jodi Tempest.” At the same time, Tumms’ face suddenly lit up in recognition as he jumped up to shake her hand.

  “You’re Thomas’ little sister, Jodi,” Tumms happy exclaimed, as the rest of the table rose to make introductions. “Glad you could make it.”

  “You look nothing like that old war dog,” Zeppy said, as he grabbed her hand next. “Nice to meet you.”

  The introductions went quickly as she was introduced to twenty-two people in short order. Except for a lady that called herself Sunny, she didn’t remember any of their names for more than a second. Thankfully, with each introduction, she hurriedly ran an Identify to place the individual’s name over their heads. Woot, game mechanics for the win. The only reason she remembered Sunny’s name, aka Sun Beam, was that she snapped at a few of the guys that made innuendos about her pretty pussy. Not that joking around bothered her much one way or another. She did have a pretty pussy.

  Jodi silently laughed at her own joke as Fiona’s ears laid flat onto her skull once she understood the meaning of the innuendos, which just made Jodi laugh that much harder. The Blink Lynx was too smart for her own good at times. Nonetheless, after being around her brother and his military friends, she didn’t sweat the small stuff.

  Jodi learned long ago that soldiers joke hard and you had to have a thick skin or they’d eat you for dinner. The younger generation didn’t seem to understand that and would get morally offended at the most inane jokes. In truth, Jodi thought that had more to do with lack of any worldly experience more than anything else. Surviving the daily challenges of their deployments tempered soldiers in a way that allowed them to differentiate between major problems and minor annoyances. She might have envied that ability if she hadn’t gone through her own challenges to learn similar lessons. Working hard to support a family and raise children forced you to grow up all too quickly in its own ways. As they made room for her to sit down at the table, Tumms spoke up.

  “With having a Gunny Sergeant as a brother, I’d have thought you’d be more punctual,” the Devil Dog joked, as the rest of the table laughed.

  “I would’ve been on time if there hadn’t been a riot before the gates,” Jodi replied, as she flipped Tumms off.

  “Ah shit, are those Syndicate players trying to fuck with our people again?” Zeppy snarled, as all of the members of Zeppy’s Heroes guild popped to their feet only to have Elandorr wave for them to settle back down.

  “I got a message from Bialaer saying that everything is cool,” Elandorr said, as he took a long pull on his beer tankard. “He said that, although it was the largest group to attack them yet, they took them out as soon as it started and that Captain Faelwen arrested the respawns.” That seemed to settle everyone down as they eased back into their seats.

  “Don’t you have to slaughter them once per trip?” Grody asked Elandorr in amusement, “You’d have thought by now that they would’ve given up on trying to attack your raid.”

  “More or less,” Elandorr agreed, holding his tankard up for a toast. “What is there to complain about? The loot helps for upgrades, the XP for newfar is great, and the extra money is always nice for a beer!” With that, the Rogue Assault Leader downed his drink as the table joined him.

  “I get it that having Delonshire’s backing is great and all for the alliance,” Jodi said, as everyone slammed their tankards on the tables. “But can someone explain to me how Startum managed to pull that coup off? It seems unreal that the NPCs are backing him no matter what shit he pulls.”

  “What do you mean exactly? Tumms asked, his tone turning suddenly serious as the rest of the group looked at her in silence. Glancing meaningfully at Elandorr, he pointedly continued. “Why wouldn’t the people of The World be backing him?”

  “Oh come on, guys,” Jodi said, looking at the people around her as if they were pulling her leg. “Thomas told me not to believe everything I saw on the forums, but you’ve had to have seen the same videos that I did. Startum Ironwolf’s whole conquering of Darom, his razing of Telrain, and all of the “people of The World,” she made air quotes to emphasis her meaning, “that he’s been enslaving.” Her hand
swept towards the front gates of Delonshire. “What about his harem of women and monster girl slaves, or even how he PKs all of these players without the Delonshire guards even batting an eye? Can someone help me understand what the hell is going on with this guy? How has he been able to pull all of this off?”

  As she came to the end of her rant, Jodi noticed a number of angry and uncomfortable looks being traded between the players at the table. The sudden mood change caught her off guard. It was almost as if they were trying very hard not to be angry at her. Elandorr’s face was an unreadable mask, Grody thick lips had deepened to a frown, and Tumms was openly upset, while Zeppy and his guildmates seemed to be at a loss for words. Feeling the ratcheting tension, even Fiona rose to her paws to protectively lean against Jodi’s side, when Sunny broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “Oh, honey,” Sunny said in a tone that made her think the woman was a lot older in real life than she was. “You’ve got this all wrong.” Everyone nodded in agreement as the woman player explained what she meant. “It sounds like you were on The World’s forums and searched for what was currently being said about Startum Ironwolf by the community.”

  “Yeah, it’s the first thing I did when Thomas asked me to join the alliance,” Jodi confirmed as the other woman nodded knowingly. “My son stopped by for a visit on his way to his new duty station, so I didn’t have a lot of time to research everything.”

  “But after you saw the videos and pictures that were being posted you thought the you had a pretty good idea what Star was all about,” Sunny said, finishing her sentence. “So you didn’t bother digger deeper into what was going on.”