A Trap for the Potentate

by Michael Atamanov

  Then the camp was packed up. The orcs dismantled their tents and put out the fires. My tent was one of the first to go. I was standing and watching them work when I got a sharp tug on my sleeve and turned around.

  Darius and Darina, now in human form, were standing before me. They were wearing dirty torn villager clothing, a far cry from the expensive aristocratic costumes the werewarg teens normally wore in the daytime.

  “Our master and alpha,” came Darius, beginning the conversation with a strange flair for the dramatic,” my sister and I humbly request the right to leave the pack!”

  My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I was intending to immediately give a negative answer, but then Darina hurriedly jumped into the conversation, pushing her brother aside:

  “Mr. Amra, our strength and agility have grown a lot with your pack and we are grateful for that. But at the same time, we’re growing up, which causes certain problems. In animal form, we cannot think like humans...”

  “Yes, that is true,” her brother cut into the conversation again. “At night, I see only a young female in heat, not my sister, and it is very hard for me to overcome my animal instincts. Alpha, nothing irreversible has happened yet, so we ask you for permission to let us return to our lands, where we can find others of our own kind. Or at least let one of us go, and the other can remain with you in the day as a servant and helper, and at night as a fanged warrior...”

  “I'd die of sorrow without my brother! Master, I beg you to let us both go,” the girl interrupted her brother, “the Tipsy Albatross will soon go out to sea, and the sailors don't know anything about our beast forms. I spoke with them. They're willing to take us to the nearest port, but only if our master agrees. In such simple villager's clothing, we won't attract any attention and can disappear into the mass of people.”

  Mission received: Children of Wargs

  Mission class: Rare, racial

  Description: Come to a decision on Darius and Darina's fate

  You may:

  Keep both wargs in the Gray Pack: +2 to Gray Pack member limit, +3 Animal Control, -15 to warg opinion

  Keep one warg in the Gray Pack: +10000 Exp., +1 Animal Control, -5 to warg opinion

  Let both wargs go: -2 to Gray Pack member limit, +25 to warg opinion, variable reward

  I read the conditions over and over, but couldn't come to a decision.

  On the one hand, if I gave in to the teens' request, the Gray Pack wouldn't only lose two very strong members, but every remaining member would get weaker by twenty percent due to the reduced Pack Hunter effect. And that was to say nothing of the fact that both Darius and Darina had practically reached level fifty and would get their second perk fairly soon. After that, the wargs would only grow more useful and versatile. Some vague, variable reward was hardly enough to recoup all the negative effects of such a choice, while I was lukewarm on a +25 to warg opinion, given there would be no more such predators in the Gray Pack.

  Leave one in the pack? That would give me a pitiful +1 Animal Control, which I'd get fairly soon anyway. Ten thousand experience was almost unnoticeable for my character, especially given this curse of -77% experience received. I'd be getting nothing but crumbs. Also, having all wargs think less of me was unpleasant.

  Leave them both? At first glance, it was the best choice, purely based on game considerations. I'd get a sharp spike in Animal Control skill, but most important was two new slots in the Gray Pack and a strengthening of my predators by 20% from the Pack Hunter perk. My relationship with the wargs would be spoiled, of course, but that was absolutely nothing in comparison with the pluses. It seemed to be an obvious choice. However, it looked totally different in light of what Darius and Darina had told me. I had no idea how I could look Darina in the eyes when she inevitably got pregnant from incest. Also, the promised +2 to Gray Pack members would be occupied by practically useless newborn pups at level zero, the product of an immoral liaison between brother and sister. But if there weren't any free slots for the children in the Gray Pack... I immediately remembered Blanca eating her young. Would Darina eat her children or drown them? I didn't know, and I definitely didn't want to find out.

  Ugh... I took a heavy sigh. My little sister, who was calculating and sometimes even cynical, would kill me when she found out about my decision, driven purely by emotion, but I had made my choice:

  “Darius, Darina, I release you from the Gray Pack! Take this coin purse. You'll need the money for your journey. I'll speak with the captain of the Tipsy Albatross and tell him to bring you to the port of your choosing, as long as it’s on their route. I wish you luck in the search for your compatriots!”

  New Patch

  “YOU'VE LOST your mind, Timothy!” my boss was clearly not overjoyed by my newest video clip.

  And my director had plenty of reason to get worked up. In today's video report, I told the viewers that, on a mission from the corporation, I was playing a vampire, and checking to see if one could now live while infected with porphyria in Boundless Realm. I even showed scenes of me using Vampire Bite, when my flap-eared goblin had struck down the gigantic praying mantis and royal cobra. I said the truth in my video clip and nothing but, but I didn't put any special emphasis on when my character had become a vampire. That little hidden fact was meant to make my viewers think Amra had been infected with vampirism quite recently, when he successfully passed the Great Hunt and the corporation offered to make him a tester employee.

  The night's harsh battle in the swamps, the Rat King, Olilissa and the Dark Rider were also quality and interesting material for the viewers, but they were still dim in comparison with player reaction to the news there was another vampire in the game. Based on the more than eighteen thousand views in the first two hours, the fact that someone was openly announcing their vampirism had aroused great interest in the players. But my boss clearly did not like Amra having such ill-gotten glory. However, I couldn't help but notice that Max Tohner was trying to hold back and treat me with as much respect as possible. And now, with a cup of coffee in hand, he was leaning back in his seat and carrying on in a calm tone, trying his best to curse as little as possible.

  “Timothy, you're a valuable employee, and you create unique and interesting content, but that is not your main job as a tester. You're a Goblin Herbalist, and you're supposed to be emphasizing the advantages of that very combination of race and class. And let me note that, up until now, you've been doing a decent job. There are now three and a half thousand Goblin Herbalists in Boundless Realm. Not all of them are having such brilliant success as your Amra but, overall, your gameplay has shown the viability of such a combination of race and class. The forum even has a separate thread called Goblin Herbalist where players discuss the best choice of skills and weaponry, and share advice and useful experience. You're a great authority there and an example to be imitated, as the first to discover this approach, so it would be nice to see you going on the forum to answer questions, and give commentary and advice to your followers from time to time.”

  I promised my boss to support the Goblin Herbalists as much as my free time and energy allowed, and the director bubbled with enthusiasm. He even promised to get me moderator rights for that section of the official forum, so I could make sure it stayed orderly.

  After that, the topic of discussion returned to vampirism. I explained my thinking to my boss, saying it seemed relatively safe to reveal my secret here in the wild remote parts of Boundless Realm, because vampire hunters would not drag their asses so far afield, and would most likely wait for me to return to the more densely populated world. And in fact, I might never return, or I could use clandestine methods in populated places, so no one would recognize me. So, I didn't see a particular problem for my goblin vampire, but the plusses from increased player interest in Amra and his video reports was obvious.

  “That's all true, Timothy, if not for one 'but...'“ Max Tohner said, setting his empty mug down and looking at me with a sour face. “It was a bone-headed move on
my part to send you up the river Styx! Of all the hard-to-access parts of Boundless Realm, I chose the worst. I could have sent you to Dragon Ridge, or the Shifting Sands of Etta, the Ancient Swamps or Rainforest of the Amazons. Those places don’t see a single living player for months at a time and they all have thousands and thousands of square kilometers of territory. But the upper Styx is exactly where we're preparing a big new event with creatures of darkness invading the game world and soon, it will be an arena for high-stakes battles! I myself only found that out last night in a meeting about the new patch with the marketing team. Soon, a new game update will come out, and its most distinctive element will be a mass scale event that will touch all Boundless Realm! We expect tens and even hundreds of thousands of players to come, including some of the strongest clans, to make war against the army of the Dark Sovereign for fun and glory, unique missions and legendary items. And on the way, they're bound to chance across your Amra who, as of today, will be known to all Boundless Realm as a vampire!”

  Mhm... I guess that turned out less than ideal. I was in complete agreement with the director here. However, it was too late to change my plans now. I had told my viewers for the past three days about my desire to do the impossible and reach the upper Styx. They were already buzzing with the idea. I'd wasted a huge amount of money and power to organize this expedition, dragging my friends and sister along with me so, on my end, it felt wrong to turn tail.

  What was more, the director had just shared a company secret, and I wasn't supposed to know about the contents of the new game update in advance, so I could not be suspecting that loads of players would soon be flooding into the lands around the Styx. And now, If I were to cancel my expedition before the patch, or try to leave the potentially crowded areas, the players would have lots of very unpleasant questions for the corporation, which would just put more fuel on the fire of rumors that tester employees were privileged over normal players.

  And that was exactly what I said to my boss. Max Tohner considered it, then frowned and was forced to agree. We could easily expect the players to react negatively.

  “Your expedition up the Styx must go on! And given that you already represent our corporation in the mind of most players, let's think of a way to help you within the rules and without breaking the game mechanics. The battle last night came at a great effort, and the monsters will only get stronger from there. It won't look great, if an official tester has to stop so early and can’t even get as far as dozens of previous expeditions.”

  I considered it, then asked the director for some advice on how to find information in the game about a unique object, if it hadn't been detected at any auctions, described in the forum, or found in the game knowledge base.

  “That's pretty weird,” my boss said, frowning. “Information about new unique and legendary objects is added to the knowledge base automatically when a player discovers an item. The name of the owner, item properties and acquisition conditions won't be visible, but it should be in the database. Are you sure you looked thoroughly?”

  I gave a short nod, not wanting to go into detail on my sister and I's efforts to find the components of Fenrir’s Cursed Regalia.

  “If the item is dropped by an NPC monster or rewarded after a quest, the Traders' Guild should be able to track it down,” Max Tohner suggested another option. “If sufficient money is offered for the service, the traders will dig through all regional markets and auctions of Boundless Realm, look up the logs of big battles, check through freight lists from customs agents in all ports, and search in a few other places as well. In the end, you won't always get accurate information, but at least a broad estimate of where the item may be located. That takes time, though... What are you even looking for?”

  “I need information about the sixth object from Fenrir’s Cursed Regalia. Most likely, it's a helmet, because I already know about the other items, which form a set of armor. The name should probably mention Fenrir or wolves, but that's not certain. At the very least, I didn't find anything relevant from a knowledge-base search.”

  Max Tohner quickly typed a command on his keyboard, pressed enter and spent a long time staring at the monitor. After that, he shook his head shortly, drummed his fingers in thought on the tabletop and led an absent gaze around the office. His gaze stopped on his assistant Tina, who was bent over in an overly short skirt as she dug through a filing cabinet.

  “Ah, what about my assistant? Let's give her the mission! This is a good chance for Tina to get some experience using service tools. She shouldn't just be pouring coffee all the time! I promise, Timothy, that by this evening you will have all relevant information about Fenrir's helmet or, tomorrow, I'll have a new secretary!”

  I repeated what I knew about the item to Tina, and she promised to have the info by this evening. Max Tohner gave a satisfied nod, again typing a service command on his keyboard, and turned his monitor so I could see the screen.

  “Now let's look at your character together.”

  Name

  Amra

  Race

  Goblin Vampire

  Class

  Herbalist

  Experience

  1062111 of 1112000

  Character level

  51

  Hit points

  2586/2586

  Endurance points

  1869/2172

  Statistics

  Strength (S)

  103 (403)

  Agility (A)

  105 (308.4)

  Intelligence (I)

  5 (25.8)

  Constitution (C)

  105 (430.5)

  Perception (P)

  3 (63.5)

  Charisma (Ch)

  100 (125)

  Unused points

  0

  Primary skills (7 of 7 chosen)

  Herbalism (P A)

  27

  Trading (Ch I)

  25

  Alchemy (I A)

  29

  Dodging (A P)

  23

  Stealth (A C)

  30

  Exotic Weapons (A P)

  16

  Riding (A C)

  21

  Secondary skills (6 of 7 chosen)

  Veil

  16

  Acrobatics

  20

  Athletics

  20

  Foreman

  46

  Animal Control

  32

  Warchief

  4

  First of all, my boss wanted to know why I still hadn't taken one secondary skill. I answered that the next slot was reserved for a weapon that used Strength, and that I was still thinking about it. That answer didn't satisfy my director at all:

  “Well, that's stupid! There are lots of weapons that use Strength in the Exotic Weapon category: all kinds of sickles and bolases not only for throwing, but also for melee. There are even kukri and karambits that are governed by Exotic Weapon, not Dagger. Sure, such weapons aren't especially commonplace, but they can easily be found at auctions and, as a rule, the price is acceptable due to low demand. Why should you waste a valuable slot for a weapon skill, when you already have one that gets little use?!”

  I promised my boss to think over his suggestion and search for something appropriate to my Amra at auction. Max Tohner then grumbled a bit about my weak skill leveling for a level fifty-one character, expressed satisfaction at the increase in my Herbalism, and then ended the meeting.

  The director was purposely avoiding bringing up Taisha and, every time I mentioned my goblin companion, he immediately steered the conversation in another direction. What could I do? I didn't insist, especially because I didn't know what was going on with Taisha now and was seriously worried for her. But still, I asked the director to give me another few minutes.

  “Today, along with a few others, I finished the Children of Wargs quest. It gave me a serious debuff, reducing the number of pets I can control, a minor improvement of my relationship with wargs and nothing more
. In the mission conditions, there was a variable reward listed, but it seems I didn't get it.”

  “Let's check...” the director turned the monitor away from me again and started using the service console to enter commands, spent a long time looking at something on the screen, then his lips stretched into a smile. “No, everything is correct, Timothy. There's already a reward coming your way, you just haven’t gotten it. I won't tell you what it is exactly. Let that be a pleasant surprise for you. Very pleasant.”

  * * *

  Valeria was in a great mood when I came in and was combing her stylish long hair, sitting on the bed next to a cracked opened window. I saw a dish on the bedside table with peeled mandarins, sliced apples and kiwis.

  “Kira came by,” my sister commented, having seen my interest in the fruits. “We spent a whole hour walking around the hospital garden together and talking about all sorts of stuff. She said goodbye just a half hour ago and went off to do something.”

  Woah! Very positive news. That meant that, despite the fight with me, Kira was still talking with my sister. And had Kira perhaps asked about the goblin thief girl Taisha? It was hardly plausible of course because, technically, my sister thought her new friend was the owner of a designer fashion store, not a highly experienced tester for the Boundless Realm Corporation and the most powerful Queen of the Harpies. But how great would it be if they had! After all, Val was one of the few who could say how extremely unusual the NPC girl was, and that would be the beginning of Kira and I making up. As if out of nowhere, I asked Valeria what they'd talked about.