Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  “An excellent plan with the gravestones, Sub Leader West,” I said, eyeing the angry faces of some of the other players nearby, before turning back to assure him that the situation was under control. “If those idiots are foolish enough to respawn within the city of Palnisdale, Queen Isolde has the graveyards under guard. Sir Anon assured me that they would be arrested immediately.” I nodded towards the players around us.

  “Make sure you keep a watchful eye on the other newfar in the area. If any of them look like they’re going to accost or attack your people, slaughter them without prejudice,” I said loud enough that the players nearby could hear me loud and clear.

  “About the loot that we collect,” West began to say, as I cut him off.

  “Pass it out to your people,” I said without hesitation, “unless it’s something unique that no one can use, then just give it to General Dell to pass on to me.”

  “As you command, milord,” Sub Leader West acknowledged with a grin.

  The swordsman definitely appreciated not having his hands tied in a possible combat situation. While some might think that was an excessive use of force on my part, I believed in holding people responsible for their actions. As far as I was concerned, if anyone was stupid enough to mess with my people, then they deserved what they got. I can assure you that they wouldn’t be doing it a second time around.

  “If you’ll excuse me, we’ll be moving out to the nearest graveyards,” Sub Leader West said. As he saluted and led his raid off, the rest of us rode through the gates of Palnisdale to the sound of ringing bells.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  (Second Assault Group: Star and friends enter the city of Palnisdale)

  The gates led to a long tunnel that passed through the ten yard base of the wall. It was impressively thick for a wall of its scale which I’d never seen before and made me think that it could’ve actually held off concentrated cannon fire. Not that such weapons were a problem here, but my mind was always judging and weighing defenses it seemed.

  The arching ceiling six yards up had slots for dropping things on top of any invaders that made it through the outer gate. It was an interesting design feature and the first of its kind in any fortress I’d seen within The World. There even seemed to be additional slots for something like a portcullis that could be dropped to block the tunnel.

  To either side of me both Sir Anon and Lance Leader Warf’s faces had turned grim the further we entered into the city. A glance behind me at the Heavy Cavalry guards, with their prisoner in tow, showed me they had the same unhappy looks on all their faces too. It was like there was an unspoken tension in the air. I was just going to ask my guides what the hell was up, when a shout ahead of us attracted my attention.

  “Halt and identify yourself in the name of the Royal Guards of Palnisdale!” A strong feminine voice called out in front of a troop of fifty guards. The force was fully armored with heavy iron shields and spears held at the ready. A seemingly perfect combination for the tight confines of the passageway-like gate.

  I figured out quickly enough that the ringing bells was the city’s call to arms. Behind the line of guards was the central plaza that functioned as a meeting place for players running quests. A number of which were standing around to watch whatever special event was going on. The excited buzz coming from the crowd of players in their various groups behind the line of guards were much of what you’d expect.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “This must be an event.”

  “Did you hear someone slaughtered those PKers outside of the gate?”

  “Seriously, someone took on those Legion and Coven dicks that are always fucking with everyone? I want to shake their hand!”

  “Yeah, the guards just let them get slaughtered. What the fuck is up with that?”

  “Fuck those assholes, they got what they deserved.”

  “Who the hell is that guy riding on the wolf?

  “You can have wolf mounts?”

  Ignoring the comments, I went back to studying the city’s defenses. Focusing on the plaza where everyone was casually standing around, I immediately recognized it as the Palnisdale equivalent to a “kill zone” for the defenders. An attacker could be trapped within the central area by the city guards blocking the streets out of the plaza while the guards on top of the walls rained down death on the enemy. Not that I was overly concerned about it as of yet.

  Radiating out of the plaza were a number of main thoroughfares and smaller side streets. Each of their openings had semi-permanent defensive positions to block any invaders access further into the city. Surprisingly enough, I could see many of these were already manned with more soldiers running up from the barracks and garrisons that were deeper within the city. Obviously, there was some concern that we were an aggressive force. Though, why they didn’t close the gates if they were worried we were an aggressive force was a far bigger concern to me.

  “Stand down, Guard Leader Stonier,” Sir Anon said with a confidence of one expecting his commands to be followed.

  “Everything is under control,” Lance Leader Warf confirmed, as we came to a stop in front of the line of guards. “This is Overlord Ironwolf, the Protector of the Kingdom of Kader, and his personal forces.”

  “Overlord Ironwolf, the Royal Guards of Palnisdale bid you welcome,” Guard Leader Stonier announced as she snapped to attention and saluted along with the rest of the guards.

  The sudden shift in the city guards’ reaction caused a surprised rumble from the players who were watching. It seemed like everyone was taking screen shots and making sure they were capturing video of the event. Thankfully, except for our presence in Palnisdale which had already been blown, there was nothing else that I could think of that would cause us any problems if the information got out.

  “At ease,” I said with a casual nod, as General Dell pushed his way up toward the front of our formation along with many of my friends. Before I could continue, Sir Anon spoke up.

  “Why didn’t those exiles get driven from the area around Palnisdale?”

  “It was due to General DeKhayed’s orders,” Guard Leader Stonier snapped out, “he even forbade us from closing the gate in the event of an attack.”

  “This situation is worse than I thought,” General Dell gruffly said, as he came to a stop alongside of Neysa. Seeing the questioning look in my eyes, his face turned splotchy red while he continued fighting to control the fury in his voice. “General DeKhayed was responsible for the false accusations that resulted in my demotion to Assault-Leader. That occurred shortly before Princess Isolde was captured by Sea Orcs.”

  An excited ripple seemed to go through the City Guards present as General Dell spoke. Though I couldn’t hear everything being said, it was obvious that even while being dishonored he was still greatly respected by the rank and file. A plan had begun forming in my mind, in large part thanks to the details provided by Sir Anon and Lance Leader Warf. Now to put it all in motion.

  “It would be nice if you could run interference with the slaughter of those newfar for us,” Guard Leader Stonier worriedly said, as she raised an arm over her head. “I’ll go ahead and have the guards signal the all-clear“

  “Hold up,” I said, as the swordswoman paused in confusion, while I looked between General Dell, Lance Leader Warf, and Sir Anon. “Let’s use this alarm to gather the forces needed to hunt down our enemies.” Seeing everyone’s confusion, I hurriedly explained.

  “Like we discussed earlier, Lance Leader Warf will raid General DeKhayed’s home and look for any evidence of foul play as well as, hidden Iron Falcon Mercenaries, or newfar.” I said, nodding towards Guard Leader Stonier next. “We’ll have the Royal Guards conduct the same search for any Iron Falcons or exiled players.”

  “What about General DeKhayed?” Sir Anon asked, as both Palnisdale officers paled at my words.

  “I’ll personally go to the council chambers and arrest him myself with General Dell,” I said, as my voice turned hard.
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  “Is there enough evidence to accuse him of being a traitor?” Lance Leader Warf hesitantly asked, as he traded a nervous glance at Guard Leader Stonier.

  Going against a higher officer was always nerve-racking for a soldier. It almost never ended well for the individual soldiers charged in making the case or the arrests in the real world. In a medieval world where you had dictators, kings, and queens, the situation was easier to deal with to a point, albeit it also opened up the possibility to major abuses of power if left unchecked. I didn’t know how that worked inside of The World, but in real life it tended to function in the form of populist revolt against the “elites” of society, that's when General Dell came to the rescue.

  “The orders he gave his son Cedric DeKhayed alone, to lie about Orc intrusions across the Isolde Line is more than enough to arrest him for putting the fortress at risk,” General Dell stated in no uncertain terms, as an angry murmur started amongst the guards. “That’s nothing in light of the recent orders he’s given to not expel the exiled newfar or his orders to leave the city gates open even if the city of Palnisdale came under attack, any doubt to his collusion with the enemy has been removed.”

  The angry muttering going from the Royal Guards and the Kayden Troopers around us only grew as more and more troops made their way into the plaza. The players in the area who were trying to listen in on our conversations were being pushed further back by the people of The World, which caused some angry comments to start being made, but no one dared to cause any trouble with the swelling size of the force filling the plaza.

  “The question now,” General Dell said loud enough for his voice to echo off the inner walls, “is to what level General DeKhayed betrayed the city of Palnisdale.”

  From what I could tell, as we got everything ready, General DeKhayed was not very well liked in general by the rank and file of the Royal Forces within Palnisdale. That he was charged with basically treason seemed to come as no great surprise either. Even more notable was everyone’s reaction to General Dell while he worked to get my rough plan into action. On a surprising sidenote, due to my titles of Protector of the Kingdom of Kader and Overlord, the rank of General I’d given to Dell had been actually recognized by to the Royal Forces within the city.

  With that said, we got to work. Within a few minutes, city guard groups of twenty strong started heading down the streets of Palnisdale in their search for Iron Falcon Mercenaries and exiled newfar. Though they weren’t large enough to take on the mercenary unit one-on-one, there were so many groups moving throughout the city that reinforcements could be on site in less than a minute. While that was going on, Lance Leader Warf was sending half of his Heavy Cavalry to search General DeKhayed’s residence, while the rest were being given a list of other properties to check out. I also took that time to hand over a passed out Ayda to her guards.

  One of Guard Leader Stonier’s people brought up some horses for General Dell, his guards, and the rest of my friends. The plan was for us to ride to the central keep where Queen Isolde was discussing the recent changes made to the Royal Forces. From what it sounded like, thousands of troopers had been recently dismissed from the Royal Forces. While the ex-Human soldiers were still in the city, many of the Dwarves, Dark Elves, and Gnomes had headed back to their own lands upon their release. The more we found out about everything going-on in the city, the more worried I became that something was majorly wrong. It was on a scale that went beyond what I would’ve expected from Julie. I was looking around to tell my friends about the mounts, when AJ, Hefe, and Bonnie Smith came walking up.

  “Yo, Jay,” Hefe called out, “you don’t need us here for all of your “Overlord” shit, right?” Seeing the stunned look on my face, Bonnie Smash smiled apologetically.

  “We really need to get Honey Bear some new duds,” she said, pointedly looking at his furry anklets as I choked back a laugh. That really wasn’t right. “Otherwise, you’ve got everything covered with your Kayden Troopers and such.”

  “Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem,” I agreed, giving AJ a surprised look. “You’re shopping now?”

  “Don’t even start with me,” AJ grumbled in annoyance. “The girls are going shopping after you pissed them off and there’s no guys allowed.”

  “I pissed them off?” I asked, giving him a questioning look as he flipped me off. For some reason, it was never AJ’s fault but I was used to that. “Who’s all the girls?”

  “Jill, Krystal, Kenzie-” AJ began to list off names only to be cut off by Thomas.

  “Kenzie, Terry, and Sara,” Thomas said, as he walked up with Thompson, Darkhorse, and Matt Cobra.

  “Fluffy, Kitty, John’s daughter Julie, Jill and Krystal,” AJ finished with a frown. “John, Tony, Glen, Kenneth, and Jimmy all decided to log and call it a night when they headed off.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re pretty beat after two weeks of anti-siege fun.”

  “No doubt,” I agreed, “that couldn’t have been much fun towards the end.”

  “I would’ve been done after the first week,” AJ agreed, as he looked over at Thomas. “What are you guys heading off to do?”

  “We’re going to get some beers and look for mounts,” Thomas said to AJ, giving the Pookey Bears a side look. Pookey Bears was the name we gave Bonnie and Hefe as a couple due to their baby talk to each other. He arched an eyebrow at AJ. “You wanna come with?”

  “Fuck yeah,” AJ instantly decided, as Hefe looked over at his buddy in surprise.

  “What the hell man?” Hefe complained, as he took Bonnie Smash’s hand. “Are we chopped meat or something?”

  “Not at all,” AJ said, giving the pair a wide-eyed look that meant the complete opposite of what he was saying. “I just don’t want to be the third-wheel.”

  “Hey you mind if we tag along?” Sarka called out, as she came hurrying up with Unalia, Yun, and Tinyr.

  “What, you two didn’t join the girls?” AJ asked Sarka and Unalia in surprise.

  “Eh, we didn’t catch them before they left,” Sarka lied, or at least it sounded like a lie to me. She even looked away and down when she said it, which was usually a major indicator that someone was forming a lie on the spot. Besides, as I understood the situation, neither Sarka nor Unalia particularly liked Jill or Kenzie.

  “I can’t believe you guys are leaving me to deal with this shit on my own too,” I complained, as Sarka shot it right back at me.

  “Oh whaaa,” Sarka said, openly mocking me as my friends laughed. “Mister Overlord that’s so important he can’t walk with the rest of his friends because he has to ride up front on his combat mount while discussing his next moves in Palnisdale.”

  “It’s not like that-“ I began to say, as everyone gave me a deadpan look. “Okay, it was like that to a point,” I admitted, “but-“

  “It’s okay,” Thomas said, holding up his hand to cut me off. “You’re playing at a higher level than the rest of us and you’re playing an official role for this whole thing inside of Palnisdale.”

  “Yeah, the role of, I’m an asshole,” Sarka chimed in, as I rolled my eyes.

  “Where’s the love,” I said, hanging my head as Thomas clapped me on the shoulder.

  “It’s there,” Thomas said, heading off towards the shopping district. “But, only after I get my own mount.”

  “Zackly,” Darkhorse said with a laugh, as he gave me a friendly clap on the back, before following after Thomas.

  “Everyone’s just jealous about your combat mount,” Matt Cobra whispered to me, as he looped an arm over my shoulder. “Tomorrow everyone will be in better spirits once they have their own rides.”

  “Even if you’re an asshole at times,” Sarka said, hopping up to pull me down in a headlock as Matt walked way. I could’ve stopped her but that wasn’t the point. Sometimes, people had to get out their frustrations in their own ways. Right now, she was treating me like a little brother that had annoyed the fuck out of her. Letting me go, she walked after the Devil Dogs arm-in-arm
with Yun while calling out over her shoulder. “We still luv ya though.”

  “But not until tomorrow,” Tinyr added, as Unalia laughed at the mockingly injured look on my face.

  “Come to momma, Freya,” Sarka said in a commanding tone, as her Elite Fanged Tarpan Strider appeared out of thin air. This was the method most people probably used to call their combat pet, unlike me who kept her out all the time. In a baby voice, Sarka cooed to the baby lizard. “Let’s see if we can find you some upgrades to make Uncle Star jealous.”

  I shook my head while watching them go. It’s not like I blamed them for being frustrated, but there was only so much of me to go around and there was a shit-ton going on. Playing at this level wasn’t easy. If I wanted to keep this Overlord thing going, I needed to play the part when it was needed. More importantly, my friends had to understand that, at times, this wasn’t earth or the twenty-first century. The people of The World looked at things differently.

  How do you think the Heavy and Light Cavalry units or Sir Anon would’ve reacted if I’d told them to lead their horses instead of riding so that we could include everyone in the planning session? How much of a hit would my authority have taken in their eyes? While I might’ve not taken any hit in fame, who knew how these things worked in The World. After everything I’d managed to pull off so far, I wasn’t going to gamble on something as simple as that, especially when the money we were making was directly based on everything we were accomplishing. I smirked to myself. We’d see how Sarka reacted to little things like this once she started making bank on what we were doing in-game.

  On the flip side, they could’ve just as easily joined the conversations if they wanted to. The only problem was that none of them wanted to have to walk and talk while the rest of us were riding. This was purely a pride issue. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many times I had to run to missions or a dungeon while other people rode. That shit happened whenever you joined existing games. Hopefully, everyone got a chance to get a mount so their panties wouldn’t be in knots in the morning.