That Wasn't the Plan

by Jason Cheek

  Kogan Umog: Level 27 NPC Half Orc Shaman - May become my Shaman Trainer but is very confrontational and difficult to deal with.

  Pounce: Level (Same as Player) Male – Blink Lynx cat companion + eventually a mount

  Gala Ranit: Level 29 NPC Half Gnome / Half Dwarf Bard (Will become my Master Scribe and a Lieutenant)

  Glossary

  Add – When additional unplanned mobs unexpectedly join the fight.

  Alt – Additional MMORPG characters, usually lower level, to that of the player’s main character.

  AOE – Area of Effect damage attack that hits multiple mobs.

  Bind – Where an MMORPG character reappears in the game after death.

  Boss - A higher level mob with special attacks. Usually positioned at the end of a dungeon or level.

  Buff – Temporary boot to a character’s base stats.

  Burning Down - Doing maximum, focused damage from the entire team or individual to take out a target quickly.

  Camping – When a player or group of players waits by a defeated foes corpse to kill them again and again.

  CC – aka crowd control – The ability to temporarily remove a mob from combat.

  Class –A specific skill set in MMORPGs with unique attacks and restrictions to armor and weapons.

  Crit – Additional damage added to a weapon due to the specific spot attacked or due to attacking from stealth.

  Damage Dealer – A character class or profession that solely focuses on damage output in an MMORPG.

  Debuff – A negative effect applied to a character in an MMORPG.

  DOT - Damage Over Time – An attack that causes a specific level of damage over a short or long period of time.

  DPS – The amount of Damage Per Second for a specific weapon or spell.

  Drops – Any usable loot that drops or is left on a corpse and is available to collect in an MMORPG.

  Dungeon – Special location with unique loot and mobs to kill with a specific beginning and end.

  Faction – A group, species or country that your character automatically owes its allegiance to.

  Gank - To defeat or kill a less experienced opponent. To slaughter a lower level opponent that wouldn't be able to normally be able to offer up a fair fight. To use shady means to take out another player in an unfair manner.

  Garrosh – The current most difficult boss in World of Warcraft.

  Griefer – When a player continuously attacks or steals from another player over and over again.

  Gank - To defeat or kill a less experienced opponent. To slaughter a lower level opponent that wouldn't be able to normally be able to offer up a fair fight. To use shady means to take out another player in an unfair manner.

  Grinding - A method of leveling that has the player killing the same monsters in one area over and over again to level up, instead of doing dungeons or quests.

  Guild – aka Clan – When a group of players form a persistent group that shares chats and resources.

  Healer – A class or profession of player that can replace lost Hit Points during a battle.

  HOT – Heal Over Time – When a spell continuously heals a player over a specific amount of time.

  HP – Hit Points – The amount of heal a character has before dying in an MMORPG.

  Instacast – When a spell can be instantaneously cast.

  Instance – A dungeon that is only available to the group of players that entered and not shared between groups.

  Kill Steal - When a player or group out-damages or kills another player’s or group’s targeted monster.

  Kite – A method of staying ahead of a group of monsters to slowly kill them one at a time over a long period of time.

  LEET – A hacker’s or experienced player’s terminology for being the best.

  Loot – Items that drops from a monster upon death that can be used or sold in an MMORPG.

  Lowbies – Lower level characters in an MMORPG.

  Main – A player’s high level character that they play extensively.

  MIA (Missing In Action) - A military term used to describe people or teammates who are missing in action.

  Min-Max - A character-build strategy in gaming where one or more specific desired abilities, skills, or other powerful characteristics are maximized at the expense of everything else, resulting in a character that is excessively powerful in one particular way and weak in all the others.

  Mongola – Warrior class buff that makes the avatar grow three times in size while increasing strength and HP.

  Nano – Chaos Online’s version of mana.

  Nerf – When a game’s developers decide a class or profession of characters are overpowered and takes steps to reduce their strengths.

  Newbs – A term used to describe when a player is new to a game or genre.

  Ninja/Ninja looter – When a player takes loot off of a boss without following the rules of distribution decided ahead of time by the group.

  Pick-ups – Additional unknown players added to a group to make up a full team or raid.

  PK – Player Killer – A player that focuses on killing other players.

  Pops – When a mob respawns back into an area.

  Power-Leveling – When a player or group of player focuses their play solely on leveling up their character as quickly as possible usually by using advanced means or techniques.

  Primary – A player’s primary character that they play with or a player’s main weapon.

  Proc - This refers to a Programmed Random Occurrence in gaming when a weapon or an item activated due to a "chance on use" due to a set of circumstances that are being met.

  Profession – A specific set of skills assigned to a character in an MMORPG with unique abilities.

  PuG – Pick Up Group – A group of random players that come together to complete a goal within an MMORPG.

  PVE – Player vs. Environment – A type of game play that focuses a player fighting against the game.

  PVP – Player vs. Player – A type of game play that focuses on a player fighting against other players.

  Raid – A group of players, usually ten or more, that join together into a group to complete a specific task/quest within an MMORPG.

  Real-Time Strategy – A resource / troop building game that features large scale battles.

  Red Mage – A class of mage that can use multiple types of magic, armor and melee weapons.

  Reroll – When a player deletes their character and starts a new character.

  Respawn – When a player or a mob dies and reappears in the game.

  Rigmarole - A lengthy and complicated procedure.

  RPGer – When a player assumes the role of their character within a game.

  Shebang - The entire operation.

  Skill Points – Additional attribute points usually given upon leveling that can be used to increase a character’s base abilities of strength, intelligence, stamina, spirit, etc.

  Spawn – When a monster or character appears in an MMORPG or location within the game.

  Spawn Camping – When a player or group of players continuously kills a player whenever they spawn into the game or a location.

  Stats – A character’s strength, spirit, stamina, intelligence, etc.

  Tank – A player that focuses on absorbing damage and holding mobs.

  Teleport – Moving from one location to another by use of a spell.

  Train – When a player or group of players runs from a mob or group of mobs that then kill everyone that they run past.

  Twink/Twinking - Refers to a character gaining equipment with the assistance of a higher level character’s help, particularly by giving said low level character higher level equipment that would otherwise be unattainable.

  Whompa – A static teleport device that moves players from one city to another in Chaos Online.

  Wipe – When a group is killed to the last player.

  About the Author

  Jason A. Cheek, the author of The World & The Last Pal
adin series, works in Germany due to his current job assignment. He lives with his wife and daughter, along with their two dogs Monty and Melow (rescue dogs from Greece). Originally from West Palm Beach, Jason lived most of his early life in Florida, except for when he was serving in the military or traveling for his job.

  Always feeling like he was born out of time from an early age, Jason’s interested ran the gauntlet of martial arts, swords, archery, Dungeon & Dragons, the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronisms), reading Sci-Fi, and Fantasy. After leaving the service, Jason taught himself computer support and networking by his hobby of computer gaming.

  Working eighty plus hours a week as a waiter, Jason put himself through college, studying to be an Occupational Therapist Assistant. In the end, he ended up becoming an Information Technology Professional due to his many hours of playing first person shooters and strategy games at LAN parties around the United States or logged into Anarchy Online and World of Warcraft leading his guilds.

  Excelling in his career as an Information Technology Specialist, Jason was able to get a job traveling the world. During that time, he became interested in motorcycles, skydiving, white water rafting, scuba diving, and other extreme sports. Moving to Germany after meeting his Polish wife, he taught himself German and Polish, settling down in Europe with his current job and started writing books.

  Connect with Jason Cheek

  Please visit Amazon to discover other books by Jason Cheek.

  The Last Paladin Series

  Book One - Flight

  Book Two - Destiny

  Book Three - (In progress)

  The World Series

  Book One – First Login

  Book Two – Mixing It Up

  Book Three – You’re Going Down

  Book Four – Helping A Friend

  Book Five – The True Enemy Revealed

  Book Six – That Wasn’t The Plan

  Book Seven – in progress.

  Connect with Jason Cheek

  Friend me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-A-Cheek/1415815985327666

  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=23281087

  Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JasonACheek

  Email me at: JasonACheek@gmail.com

  Favorite my Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7799118.Jason_Cheek

  Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=124165564

  Visit my website and blog: http://www.thecheekyfellow.com/

  Post Credit Scene

  (Thursday, May 8th / Day 18 of The World.)

  “Listen up people,” Julie’s annoyed voice rang out, as she addressed the group of raid leaders gathered around her, “the plan is for the raid to head to Darom and take over the city there.”

  “Hopefully you won’t blow that city up like you did Telrain,” an unknown voice muttered from the back of the group a little too loudly as Julie’s eyes dangerously narrowed. Before she could explode in response, another voice hurriedly spoke up to keep the discussion on track.

  “Isn’t that Starfairy asshole supposed to be traveling in the complete opposite direction?” Kasey JoJo, aka the Executioner, questioningly asked, as he eyed everyone in the circle angrily. “If that’s the case, then why aren’t we heading towards Ironheart Stronghold like everyone else?”

  “Because that Starfairy asshole, as you like to put it, will be long gone before we get there,” Julie snapped at her Guild Officer in the same surly tone. “Sooo, that leaves us with two options. We can take out his beachhead and trap him between our forces, or chase after him like a bunch of butthurt little bitches?” Her eyes bore into the larger man’s without flinching. “Which do you think would be the smarter play here, Kasey?”

  “…” Kasey incoherently muttered under his breath in anger, while everyone looked away knowing what was coming next. Few, if any of them, ever questioned the Chaos Storm Guild Leader. She was known to have a short temper and a sharp tongue. Unsurprisingly, she seemed to understand what the Shadow Warrior had said.

  “Do you really think you’re any more pissed off then the rest of us, Kasey?” Julie irritably snapped, as the angry man turned back to look her in the eyes. “If you want your precious Vicious Executioner's Axe of Cruelty back, then you’ll do exactly what I’m telling you to do and stop your fucking whining!” Ignoring the stifled laughs around the circle, she tried to keep her temper in check as she addressed the rest of the group.

  “As for the rest of you assholes,” Julie snarled, while looking around the circle into each of her raid leaders’ eyes. Knowing that she had to wrestle back control of the group, she pointed out the ugly facts that none of them wanted to admit. “You’re lucky I used that scroll to take out Telrain. Otherwise, the lot of you would be stuck leveling up in the training grounds like most of the Dread Pack players have been forced to do since they got de-leveled back to zero.”

  Her words seemed stop any additional smart ass comments from being muttered disrespectfully where she could hear them. None of them wanted to admit that Star had worked them over like a bunch of noobs. While she was technically correct in saying that blowing up Telrain with their forces still in it had been the right call, they all knew that Star had basically forced them to nuke themselves to stop from being de-leveled by his forces. Only a handful knew the truth that she’d been tricked into nuking all of them by Star himself, Julie unconsciously thought, as she silently ground her teeth in anger.

  Honestly, it would’ve all been worth it if they could have removed Star from the board for twenty-four hours, Julie sourly thought. Besides taking out his NPC forces and trapping him at the graveyard surrounded by their forces, it would have stopped him from making his way to Domenic’s with his forces still intact. The only hope they had now was if Sandra could take Domenic out before Star could show up and pull his ass out of the fire. If her ex-boyfriend managed to escape back to his own lands and combine his forces together with the rest of his friends, he’d be nearly impossible to dig out of his little fucking hidey-hole.

  “Why are we even worried about this solo player anyway?” Another Chaos Storm Guild Officer named Sodonon Yoshiyuki asked. Sodonon was a long-time player on the Pro-Circuit and a ruthless assassin that was used to taking out the competition any way necessary. “Seriously, how can this solo player do anything to hurt us?” Seeing her friend preparing for an angry retort, Sodonon hurriedly continued. “Look, even if he somehow manages to make it to his friend in time. What can he really hope to accomplish? Is reinforcing Domenic’s defenses going to matter, one way or another, at the end of the day? Now that our people can’t be permanently de-leveled by his NPCs, Sandra’s forces will be able to wear down his NPCs until there’s none left and then they’ll roll him up like a day-old paper. If that doesn’t work, the Orc invasion force will simply pummel the fortress into nothing.”

  “Not to seem disrespectful or anything, but I really don’t see the problem!” Sodonon finished, as she looked around the circle at her fellow raid leaders for support.

  “He won’t hole up inside the fortress with Domenic,” Julie said, knowing the strategies her ex-boyfriend liked to use. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have wasted the time establishing a beachhead in Darom.” Her eyes gazed around the circle at her people.

  “On top of that, it wouldn’t make any strategic sense for Star to hole up in Domenic’s fortress,” Julie continued, spelling out the strategic situation for her raid leaders. “That would only split him off from his own forces and leave him surrounded by enemies. No, Star will find a way to break through Sandra’s lines long enough to break Domenic out and then make a run for it. If he’s smart about it, he’ll keep ahead of the Orc invasion force long enough to reach Darom and then head back to his own lands.”

  “Then what’s the big deal?” Sodonon asked, not understanding the back story that was driving Julie to focus on this guy. Though, she was smart enough to recognize the pissed off look on her friend’s face. “Lo
ok, I’m not going to argue the point. You want us to cut the loser off in Darom to trap him on this side of the map while our alliance partners take out his lands, sounds like a great plan. I just don’t understand why you and Sandra are so worried about this group of nobodies.”

  “Because if we don’t take them out now before they can build up their forces, they’ll never stop trying to wipe us out,” Julie spat out in frustration. Seeing Sodonon’s non-comprehending look at her insistence that this unknown group of players were dangerous, she tried another tact. “Look at it this way, Sodonon. This solo player has been outnumbered in every fight he’s fought so far against our people. He didn’t have a thousand or more players to do this with either. No, he did all of this with a handful of dumb NPCs. Not only that, he’s managed to beat our people hands down on top of everything else.” The assassin’s mouth snapped shut at her friend’s words as she began to understand the problem.

  “Now that he knows we’re gunning for him. What do you think will happen when he combines his forces with those of his friends and comes after us?” Julie asked, while her raid leaders got thoughtful looks on their faces. “Let’s not forget, we’re being paid to run this game into the ground as quickly as possible with a bonus if we manage to do it in less than six months. Do you really want to lose that fat check because we’re fucking around with this limp dick?”