by Charles Dean
Liu nodded. “I got it, boss,” she said, emphasizing the last word in a way that mocked Bonnie’s tone for a second, almost causing Lucas to do a double-take.
What was that? Lucas wondered. Then, as everyone else began leaving the room, the peasant girl came up to him.
“Umm . . . sir . . .” she began, batting her eyelashes in a manner that even Lucas, as dense as he knew he was about these things, could read clearly. He had seen it a hundred times in poorly directed movies where the girl had to telegraph her emotions in such an obvious way that even the slowest member in the audience could pick up on it. “I just . . . I just wanted to thank you again. For, you know . . . for everything.”
“I . . . uhh . . . It’s nothing,” Lucas said. “Don’t mention it. We’ve got work to do.” But work wasn’t what he was thinking about. He was thinking about how tasty she looked, how soft her supple lips might feel, and how even that poorly fitting outfit couldn't hide her curves. His urges were enough to almost make him take her up on her insinuated offer right there. Then Yu Hua’s image flooded back into his mind and tore through his heart like a hundred daggers.
“Right,” she said, reaching out and touching his arm. “But if there is anything that I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask . . .”
Work. I have work to do, Lucas told himself once more, taking a deep breath. “Well, I’m about to cast some spells that might hurt you, so if you could leave, that would be great.” He didn’t want to sound like a jerk, but he needed her to go so he could think straight. What type of beast have I become, Yu?
In order to help buy his team a little relief, he spent some of the Reputation he had earned defending the dungeon so far and purchased a handful of Blood Guards. He had initially felt a little apprehensive about spending so many points, so he comprised and held back 80 just in case. The more points he could save now, the better off he would be in the future when he needed to use them for bigger, more expensive rewards. On the other hand, he was very much aware of the fact that none of those points would actually matter if he died. It was the constant struggle that many gamers faced: whether to use consumables and temporary buffs now or save them for later. Players often found themselves as either “spenders” with nothing in their inventory when they needed it or “hoarders” with unused stacks of 99 items filling their banks and inventories.
Lucas left the throne room and made his way to another room on the same floor. It was just an average hotel room, although slightly larger than those on the floors below, and it was exactly where he needed to be for his plan to work. Once he was certain he wouldn’t be bothered for a while, he pulled out his old beginner’s healing scepter and set to practicing his new spells. He wanted to get a feel for them, to figure out exactly how many seconds it would take to cast each one, how much pain it would produce, how much concentration it would require, and exactly what the effects would be. He was able to get a fairly good idea of how each operated and even discovered some new tricks he could do with them, but without a real target, he was still a little shy of fully understanding all their finer points.
“Boss,” Bonnie said, stepping into the room. “We’ve got company coming.”
“Well, for once, I’m kind of glad they weren’t punctual,” Lucas said as he realized how much time had passed.
“Do you . . . umm . . .” Bonnie looked around. “Do you want me here?”
“You don’t want to go have fun with the fight downstairs?” Lucas asked.
With a frown, Bonnie replied, “I mean, if you die, boss--”
“Then you won’t get paid?” Lilith asked as she walked in behind Bonnie. “It’s nice to see mercenaries work so hard.”
Bonnie looked cross for a moment and began to defend herself. “It’s not that. It’s not that I won’t get paid. It’s that--”
“It’d be bad for your reputation? Make it harder for you to get hired in the future?” Lilith interjected with a chuckle.
“No, that’s not it. It’s just--” Bonnie began again, but Lilith wasn’t letting her get a word in edgewise.
“Look, don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine. I’m here,” Lilith said, smiling coyly as she walked over to Lucas. “You don’t even need to worry about summoning more of those Blood Guards. I’ve seen how much it pains you to raise them. You won’t suffer carrying out your plan. It’s good, so just trust in it and in me and save your power.”
Save my power? Pains me? Lucas looked at her blankly. Wait, does she think it physically hurts me to summon them because of how frustrated I get having to spend my Blood Goddess Reputation Points? Lucas almost laughed at the thought, but held it in, not wanting her to misunderstand further. He was still not completely sure whether she was a player or NPC, and the more time passed, the more confused he became about it.
“Look, I just want to make sure the plan succeeds,” Bonnie said, finally forcing a full sentence through without Lilith interrupting.
“Then go wait with the others,” Lilith sternly stated, pulling out a dagger and staring at Bonnie threateningly. “I’ve got it.”
Bonnie looked from the blade to Lucas and then Lilith. After a long and tense moment of silence, she turned and left, shutting the door behind her.
Lilith turned to Lucas the moment the door was closed and said, “I don’t know how you can trust people with such duplicitous motives. You have a healer who is only interested in creating drama, a rogue who only cares about money, a knight who follows any pretty flower blooming in his direction, and . . .”
“What? No comments on Liu or Katie?” Lucas asked, wondering what accusations she would throw at Liu, his favorite person in the entire game world--or the real world for that matter. Liu had been there for him when no one else was. She was important to him, and she had never done anything to justify him questioning their bond. There was no way he was going to let it slide if Lilith badmouthed her. Truthfully, he wasn’t even sure where her distaste of the others was coming from.
“No, their loyalty to you is unquestionable,” Lilith answered. “I don’t have to worry about the other side paying them off to betray you or sending some honeypot to seduce them away from you.”
“You don’t have to worry about it? These issues feel like things that I would worry about, not you.” We just met. Why do you care so much about what happens? Her over-reaching concern for him didn’t make sense. Sure, they had spent several hours together, gone through several trials, and when he first met her, he had found her cute, but that cute, aloof, and observant Lilith had morphed into something altogether different rather quickly over the course of the day, and he wasn’t sure what she was now. He only knew that he didn’t know her, and the way she talked about others was one of the few glimpses of her true thoughts he seemed to get.
“Why would I worry?” Lilith tilted her head back as she eyed Lucas. “Because you’re interesting, and I like that. Everything you do is grand. Everything you’ve built is magnificent, and I just can’t wait to see more. I can’t wait to see the type of villain you’ll become.”
“I thought you said I wasn’t a villain,” Lucas responded. “You gave a whole speech about it.”
“Anyone who seeks to change the paradigm of society is a villain because no change comes without a heavy price. Take it as a compliment. You can be both a hero and a villain. Why be boring and pick just one?”
“You’re not always honest, are you?” Lucas asked, finding the quick turnabout of her words amusing.
“I’m honest to you,” she replied with a coy smile.
“Really?” Lucas said. “Then be honest. Tell me, why are you here? Really?” The question had been bothering him like an itch on the back of his mind that he couldn’t scratch. She was useful, she was intelligent, she was great in fights, and she was powerful. It made no sense at all why she was sticking to him and hyping him up when she herself could easily play the role she had given him.
“Because the Imperium is a country of kings, not queens?” She chu
ckled to herself at some joke that Lucas didn’t quite pick up on and then continued. “No, that’s not the reason. There have been great queens. Truly . . . I just wanted to be the princess that you stole from underneath a king’s nose. I wanted to be the rebellious lady who went along with it and fought against her given role in society, using her man like a tool to gain freedom. You could say that I was sitting by a window, staring at the sky when I heard stories of you, and I wanted to fly. Or maybe . . . Well, maybe I was just tired of being the kind, naive woman that everyone wanted me to be, but . . . I didn’t think you’d ever come for me, so I got impatient and came for you.”
“A captured princess? That’s quite an odd ambition,” Lucas observed. The hardest part of playing this verbal game of theirs was that he believed every word she said despite his better judgment. He couldn't tell if she was lying or not, but he believed her for some reason, even though her explanation sounded utterly ridiculous.
Bang bang bang!
Lilith didn’t get a chance to reply before the anticipated guests started pounding on the door.
“Come on in,” Lucas said, not sure of what to expect.
The door opened, and a five-and-a-half-foot-tall Were-Bear that looked more like a cub than adult entered the room, flanked on both sides by two pairs of six-and-a-half- to eight-foot-tall Were-Bears. They were wearing uniforms of the beastkin colors, brown and blue, and the larger Were-Bears were all holding maces of varying sizes. The short one in the middle, however, was instead armed only with a rapier.
“I take it you are the one we have come to deal with,” the tiny bear said, “the troublemaker, Baron Lucas.”
“That is my title,” Lucas answered. He strode toward the center of the room to greet the bear, using his staff like a walking stick. “I’m told it sounds quite nice, and the ladies seem to like it.” He smiled pridefully at that last phrase, embracing the reputation he had gotten since he first entered this town.
“Hmph,” the bear grunted. “Perhaps those Human ladies of yours might fall for a stench-ridden dog like you, but we bear of the beast folk can smell hellspawn when they’re farted out of a wicked friar’s rear.”
“Ouch.” Lucas laughed loudly in the cub’s face. “You wound me so with your words. How will I maintain my honor if you continue to slander me?”
“Oh, uhh . . .” the short man began, backing up a step, “I--”
“No! You’ve slandered me to no end! I don’t know if I can live with this reputation you are creating for me,” Lucas continued, ramping up the dialogue before the battle. He didn’t need a casus belli of any sort when the party had invaded his territory, but he had grown to enjoy this part of the boss battle, pretending like they weren’t going to fight if one of the sides were just a little more polite.
“Ah, I’m Blackmer, the . . . uhh . . . First Knight of Ostreicher, and--”
“And you have slandered me!” Lucas bellowed. You’ve cursed me with your words, insulted my religion, and damned my very existence to the torturous afterlife that only the cruelest and most vile of men deserve! Blackmer, since you have come to fight, then we shall fight!”
“Wait! No! I just-- I was told to say that so you would get scared!” Blackmer raised up both of his hands. “I haven’t come to fight! I just-- I came to negotiate!”
“Negotiate?! You called me a hellspawn birthed from a foul friar’s fart?! Is that a negotiation tactic? Do you think those are the words someone says to a civilized man before discourse?! You wound me!” Lucas didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he watched the Were-Bear back up, trying to create excuses.
“Hey! I was told that’s how Humans talk to each other! I just wanted to begin a dialogue about how we could work together since Ostreicher wants to--”
“You think this of all Humans?! You think every Human is just some sort of monster that goes around insulting others like crass philistines?!” Lucas pretended to be even more offended as he slammed his staff down and began channeling a spell. The problem wasn’t that he hated the prospect of working with the Ostreichers. He had even anticipated the possibility of this offer. Rather, he knew that the moment he got in bed with them, his moral high ground would be gone, and his ability to draw even larger masses of people to his side would disappear with it. Cooperation was good, but this sort of cooperation would just make him another pawn, like Edmund.
“I will have you taste what Humans have to offer! I will make you regret your offense!” Lucas said as he quickly finished channeling Reap the Unworthy. A second later, five chains shot out from his chest toward the five Were-Bears.
“Fine! If you won’t listen, then so be it!” Blackmer shouted back as he rolled to the right, easily dodging the fast-moving chain. His title of First Knight apparently wasn’t one that had been granted to him superfluously, and it was evident from his speed that he could likely take on a few Level 100 players at once in a fair fight.
His guards, however, weren’t so quick, and their size made it even easier to snare them. They were all smashed with the chain attack and pulled toward Lucas as the scythe began to materialize.
Blackmer must have figured out that Lucas was rooted in place and unable to move while summoning the spell because he dashed forward. He lunged with a strike when he was close, aiming his rapier at the spot-on Lucas’s chest where the chains had spawned.
Lucas might not have been able to move, but he could definitely defend himself. He threw his staff up between them and watched as Blackmer’s lightweight weapon harmlessly clinked off of his own.
“How? But you’re--”
“The spell was already done, and their fates were already sealed,” Lucas said ominously, throwing in a cruel laugh for good measure. “As is yours now!” He continued cackling as the large scythe fully materialized and then swept down, slashing them all with its ethereal blade. None of them were killed instantly, but the effects were obvious. Each of the ursine warriors had large patches of bright red staining their fur, and many were coughing up blood.
“You can’t think that will guarantee you victory,” Blackmer spat as he wiped the blood from his mouth. Even though he hadn’t been entwined in the chains, he had still been caught at the edge of the spell.
“Not at all!” Lucas swapped out his staff for his healing scepter and immediately channeled a Force Shield between the Were-Bear and himself.
Blackmer snorted derisively at the Force Shield and pierced it with his rapier. The first hit sent cracks spreading out in all directions across the surface, and the second hit broke it. The shield fell faster than Lucas had anticipated, but it wasn’t outside of what he had imagined possible.
“You think you’re going to win this,” Lucas taunted. He threw up another Force Shield, once again stalling the Were-Bear and preventing him from advancing.
“I know it,” Blackmer snarled. “We could have been allies, but death is all that awaits you now that you have--!”
Before he could finish his sentence, Operation Fibble Found a Toy finally activated.
BOOOOOOOM!! A large explosion rocked the hotel, and a second series of smaller explosions started somewhere far beneath them at almost the same time. They rapidly started growing louder. Lucas had to concentrate on remaining upright as the floor shook underneath him, and then the entire floor between Lucas’s shield and doorway exploded inward.
Lucas laughed maniacally as he watched the four Were-Bears and Blackmer all disappear. He had rigged the explosives to go off one after the other on the floors below, effectively creating a pit that would drop the Were-Bears all the way down to the bottom level, where a group of women that Lucas had stationed there would rush up and surround the five bodies, waiting for any of them to move. Four death notices appeared almost instantly, but the fifth, Blackmer’s, was absent.
You have killed Boswell. You have been awarded 3,999 EXP. A gold pendant of House Ostreicher, an embroidered doublet, and 50 gold have dropped upon death.
You have killed Winifred. You have b
een awarded 3,999 EXP. A gold pendant of House Ostreicher, a silver pot of exquisite honey, and 50 gold have dropped upon death.
You have killed Theodore. You have been awarded 3,999 EXP. A gold pendant of House Ostreicher, a Bully Pugilist pair of fighting gloves, and 50 gold have dropped upon death.
You have killed Jogi. You have been awarded 3,999 EXP. A gold pendant of House Ostreicher, a ruby-inlaid luncheon box, and 50 gold have dropped upon death.
Lucas panicked when he saw that Blackmer was still alive. He rushed to the window, threw it open, and started climbing out. He had tied a rope there that would let him climb down to the ground floor without having to navigate through the maze he had created, making the trip much quicker. He had already prepared for a scenario in which he would have to make his way down, but he hadn’t expected to have to rush so quickly.
He slipped in through a window when he reached the bottom, instantly spying a group chain-casting Force Shields to keep Blackmer locked in place. Even though the diminutive bear could destroy the shield in just two quick hits from his rapier, another would instantly take its place the moment it was broken. It was an advantage that only numbers could provide. If there had still been five enemies, his followers’ strategy wouldn’t have worked. There wouldn’t have been enough people in his entire crew to seal all five of them away, but one? One person of Blackmer’s size was easy.
“LET ME GO!” Blackmer roared when he spotted Lucas climbing over the piles of debris and rubble.
“I’d love to,” Lucas called back, “but I don’t think I can do that while you’re still alive.”
“You think you can kill me without letting those barriers down?” Blackmer shouted. He was right, too. As long as they were up, they acted as both protection against his escape and protection from Lucas.
