A Trap for the Potentate

by Michael Atamanov

  “But our opponents quickly accounted for their error and, a half hour later, another, better prepared group came through. We could see the huge flame go dark from here, and they got through. The dead also respawned and got through on their second attempt. We saw a few messages in the local chat, and realized they would certainly be after us. But we, as bad luck would have it, are stranded on this swampy island and can’t run for our lives!!! And now, the rougarou have us under siege, so we can’t go anywhere!”

  What could I say? The situation really had come together unfavorably, so I needed to figure out the reason for the conflict with the rougarou fast. But first, I needed to safeguard myself, hiding my location from the pursuers. I wanted to ask my friends, if they'd all turned off message receipt from unknown players in their settings, so no one could find us by that very simple method, when I suddenly slapped my own forehead in vexation. Why should our pursuers be clever and triangulate our position, or use other search methods when we still had their captive in our camp? He should have come to his senses long ago and now, despite the black blindfold over his eyes, he could simply tell them his coordinates in real time. We needed to kill the captive right away! Although... I got a better idea, and called VIXEN over.

  The huge Royal Forest Wyvern tried to snuggle up to me and ingratiate herself, but I pushed her toothy maw away in distress:

  “You haven't earned it! How could you have abandoned me to be torn apart by the guard dogs?! Well, you want to make peace? Then look for the rougarou village from the air. Yes, I know it's night and thick fog, but still try. If you can find it, consider yourself forgiven!”

  Animal Control skill increased to level 45!

  The huge winged snake flapped her wide wings noisily and disappeared in the wisps of dark cloud. I then turned to Max Sochnier:

  “Is your Olilissa here? Great! Ask her to overturn all these rougarou boats! She might even eat a couple of the dogheads as a warning, so the others will think thrice before either swimming or taking their boats across the river. If she can, have her push the boats to us on shore. We'll need them later. Then send her to the Lower Fort to swamp the players' boats, if they decide to come after us. Those boats not only can, but must be broken and sunk so they cannot be repaired afterward. By the way, also send your swordfish to smash the players' boats.”

  Foreman skill increased to level 49!

  How could that be? That message made me think. I had just given a mission to a living player, not an NPC. How could my Foreman skill have increased?! Or were the Boundless Realm logical algorithms taking into account that I was sending messages through him to his nereid girl? In any case, I wasn't going to bust my brains over it for long, because I had another very small but urgent matter. I called the she-wolf Blanca over and, at the same time, asked Valerianna Quickfoot to come over as an experienced Beast Master.

  “Val, you need to make sure this fluffy little miracle gets fed!” with these words, I extended the tiny Mythical Hound Gjöll to my sister.

  “Aww, so cute!” the forest nymph exclaimed, immediately picking up the blind helpless and turning it belly up. “It's a girl! Leave her to me! You’ll only get in the way! By the way, now I understand why all the Lifegiving Light guys were getting so mad in the local chat. They kept saying they’d failed a unique quest. They started to fight amongst themselves and they still haven't figured out whose fault it is.”

  I walked away. The mavka then called the goblin girl Yunna, now a level-forty Wolf Rider, over to help. Together, they made a little bed for the wolf pup out of rags and straw. I remembered how harshly Blanca had treated her unneeded puppies, and was slightly worried for the unique pet, which had been so hard for me to acquire. What was more, I was not sure the NPC she-wolf still had milk. But all my worrying was for nothing. Blanca understood her role instantly. The she-wolf still had milk, and the puppy started suckling on her new mother's teat without hesitation. It was an idyllic scene, but I needed to deal with other urgent matters. Valerianna Quickfoot was also needed elsewhere.

  “Yunna, you'll answer for Gjöll with your head!” I said strictly, and my NPC “niece” confirmed that she understood perfectly, and wouldn't be going even a step away from her.

  The mavka and I then hurried to the barricade surrounding the camp. This time, the orcs had enough logs and branches from the dead swampy forest to build an adequately tall and sturdy fortification, not like that pitiful parody we'd constructed for the army of the Rat King. From atop its three-meter height, I could see many bright figures through the constant fog with my Night Vision. There were more than a hundred of them. The rougarou on this side of the island were not particularly active, but had begun sieging our fort. My interest was immediately piqued by a marker in the distance. It was many times larger than the others. Some kind of mount?

  “The rougarou brought one cyclops with them,” my sister explained when I asked the question aloud. “It still hasn't been brought anywhere near our fortification, but I can see its marker and label on the map. Level-one-hundred-thirty-eight Cyclops.”

  “Just what I needed... Alright, we'll handle the cyclops later. Now, enhance my voice with magic. I want to talk with Chai-nee Shu.”

  Valerianna Quickfoot said a sentence in an unfamiliar language and made a few passes of her hands, after which she told me that my wish was granted, and the volume of Amra's voice would be like the horn of an ocean liner for the next few minutes.

  “Check, check...” my voice now really was loud enough to drown out thunder. “This is Amra, commander of the orcish warriors. I'd like to speak with Princess Chai-nee Shu!”

  No answer followed, even though I kept it up for a few minutes. Finally, my patience gave out:

  “Rougarous, where is your Chai-nee Shu. That flea-ridden bitch doesn't know the meaning of the word 'honor' or understand the laws of hospitality! I don't know what misunderstanding led to this mindless female becoming Princess of the proud Clan of the White Lily, but I do know one thing: in the whole rest of the world, attacking guests is considered a horrible shame! And now, I just want to talk with Chai-nee Shu and find out why she did such a despicable thing. I want to speak on good terms, one-on-one without weapons, meeting in the no-man's-land between our armies. Rougarou of the Clan of the White Lily, I promise that, after this conversation, your Princess will be returned to you alive and unharmed! But if Chai-nee Shu doesn't have the bravery to come out, look me in the eyes and explain herself, I swear that I will find her and treat her the way out-of-control bitches deserve. I'll give her a collar, put it on a chain and make her guard my house!!!”

  My hateful and intentionally offensive speech was then interrupted by an outraged and insulted voice from the rougarou warband:

  “Enough shaming me! I'm not flea-ridden!”

  Trading skill increased to level 28!

  Warchief skill increased to level 9!

  Would you like to take the secondary skill Minstrel (Ch P)?

  Would you like to take the secondary skill Diplomat (Ch P)?

  Would you like to take the secondary skill Lothario (Ch P)?

  Despite the serious nature of the moment, I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, come on? What the hell did I need Minstrel for?! After hearing a serenade like that, any girl would pour the contents of a chamber pot on the head of such a hacky troubadour! Lothario also was hardly appropriate to the situation, and my whole style of gaming. But as for Diplomat... I unexpectedly found myself thinking it over.

  The game system had suggested such a choice to me before. And I had conducted some complicated negotiations: with the dwarves, the Emissary of the Dark Sovereign, and these very orc pirates on our first meeting. With time, I suspected, negotiations would become a totally normal affair. Sure, the diplomat skill was not so great for me as a primary, because the goblin race didn't have a bonus to Charisma, and had a 50% penalty to Intelligence but, after all, I was planning to put the skill in my secondaries, so it didn't make a difference. So, it was decided! I put th
at skill in my last free slot.

  Meanwhile, two figures emerged from the enemy army and started off unhurriedly in our direction. Strange that there were two negotiators. After all, I had clearly said we should talk one-on-one. But I didn't make a fuss over such small matters. The rougarou princess had agreed to negotiate, and that was what mattered! Alright, seeing as there were two of them, I'd also make slight adjustments to my plans and jump on Baron. The level-111 Swamp Wolf Alpha should emphasize my power and significance. Yes, it would have been better to take the extremely high-level Guard Dog instead, but it still hadn't respawned.

  As soon as I made a move forward, the Boundless Realm algorithms established a mission for the negotiations:

  Mission received: Negotiations with the Rougarou (1/2)

  Mission class: Unusual, racial, time-limited

  Description: Figure out what made the rougarou hostile and convince them to cease aggression within a half hour

  Reward: 16000 Exp., +15 to the opinion of the Clan of the White Lily, +5 to the opinion of all other clans

  Penalty for failure: Hostility with the Rougarou

  Just a half an hour? That time limit was incomprehensible to me. In all other ways, the mission looked totally logical and was perfectly in line with my plan: to find out the reason the dog-headed men were angry with me and force them to retreat by any means necessary.

  We met half way between our armies. The second negotiator from the rougarou side was the Regent Uvari-Dor Shu, a level-124 druid. What could I say, as the princess was too young to make her own decisions, the presence of an advisor was totally explicable and even necessary. I didn't object to that one bit.

  “For a start, I demand an apology for your insulting words!” the princess declared proudly, looking to her advisor for approval at the end of her sentence, and the druid gave a nod.

  “You demand?!” I replied in an intentionally offended voice. “Well, big-eared girl, you aren't in a position to demand anything. The losing side can only request mercy and ask for the terms of their capitulation.”

  “I must have missed something. Did we lose?” the regent cut into the conversation with an acrid smile of his fanged snout.

  “Yes, advisor, you have lost, although you may not know it yet! Your fleet attacking from the river has been eradicated. All their means of aquatic transportation have been destroyed, and it would be no trouble at all for me to do the very same with all the rest of your boats. So, I'd say you don't have such a great choice. You could stay here on this swampy muck island forever and build a new camp for your Clan of the White Lily, seeing how going into the water means instant death for your warriors. Or you could try to attack my camp. But I have to warn you: trying to assault my fortifications will mean all your rougarou warriors will die, and even the cyclops will not help.”

  Diplomat skill increased to level 2!

  Diplomat skill increased to level 3!

  I saw my words make an impact of some kind and the rougarou began to think but, for now, both the negotiators had clearly underestimated the difficulty of their position. Perhaps, if Amra had been higher in level, they'd have paid my words more mind, but the rougarous saw a weak and inoffensive Goblin Herbalist before them, so they didn't take me seriously.

  “Amra, even if you aren’t lying about the boats being sunk, my warriors are still many in number and each of them is stronger than any of your orcs. I will give the order to attack and, soon, you won’t have a single living warrior left!”

  I smiled, showing my sharp predatory teeth:

  “Princess, you're still too small and naive, so you can see only raw force and underestimate the power of magic! Your warriors will fight amongst themselves and tear each other's throats out, while me and my warriors simply watch the whole performance from afar!”

  As a demonstration, I opened the Gray Pack control interface, clicked on the list of available creatures, and selected a Level-84 Rougarou Huntress named Chai-nee Shu.

  Successful check for rougarou reaction

  Experience received: 800 Exp.

  Successful Charisma check

  Experience received: 1600 Exp.

  Successful check for Animal Control skill

  Experience received: 3200 Exp.

  Animal Control skill increased to level 46!

  I succeeded at including the rougarou princess in the Gray Pack!!! I didn't risk carrying out the same experiment with the regent. He was of a noticeably higher level than the Princess, and his druid profession meant high Intelligence, so he would be good at resisting magic. If I attempted to control him and failed, the whole effect would come to naught. Anyhow, as a demonstration of my abilities, the Princess was enough all on her own.

  Jumping off Baron, I unhurriedly walked over to the girl, who was frozen and clearly afraid, not knowing what was going on. I started giving Chai-nee Shu commands liked a trained dog:

  “Sit! Wag your tail! What a good girl! And now hold your arms against your body and stick out your tongue! Good girl, here's a piece of meat for being so good! And now scratch your ear with your left leg. See, you've clearly got lots of experience. And you said you didn't have fleas!”

  The regent, watched the messy spectacle for some time in horror, but then decisively reached for his weapon. I calmed the druid with a gesture and immediately set the princess free. Chai-nee Shu sprung instantly to her feet and disgustedly spat out a chewed piece of dried meat, which I'd just given her as a reward for good behavior.

  “Amra, never do that again!” I could read superstitious horror in the Princess's eyes. The girl even hurried to run away and take shelter behind her advisor.

  “Beg your pardon Princess but, without a clear demonstration, you would have never believed me. You should know, though, that I am far from the strongest mage in my squadron. The forest nymph is much stronger and can take several dozen creatures under her control at once. So, back to the topic of a possible rougarou attack. Your warriors would start to fight with each other before even reaching the fortress, first taking down the cyclops, then one another!”

  A tense silence arose. My opponents had yet to recover from the demonstration and were now digesting what they'd heard.

  “Alright, Amra. Let's say you're right. The fleet in the river was destroyed, and our attack along the bank will drown in blood. What do you offer us?” the druid inquired, squeezing the girl tight to reassure her, as she whimpered in indignant fear.

  “Before I make an offer, I need to know why we’re even having this conflict. My orcs have never been hostile with the rougarou and, what is more, our squadron even contained a member of your race at one point... Just a second, my girl wants to tell me something. Please don’t be afraid of my wyvern. She's well-trained and obedient.”

  Just then, we heard the flapping of wide wings coming down from the dark sky, first barely detectable, but more distinct with every passing second. VIXEN made a big circle over the island, searching for me in the thick fog, and finally noticed her master, plunking down right in the dirt just five meters away. Not paying any mind to the rougarou, grumbling unhappily after being splashed with swamp muck, the Royal Forest Wyvern crawled over to me and extended her long neck, offering to send me the information I’d requested. I walked over to my precious pet and touched my forehead to hers.

  Black river. Lots of islands. A whole labyrinth of silted-up passageways. Everything in such thick fog that she had to fly right over the water, nearly touching the surface of the black river. Fires in the fog! A sharp turn toward them, gaining height. A big island. Straw huts. Many. A central square in the middle of a large village. A tall pillar with a totem in the shape of a white flower over a fanged canine mouth. Just what I needed. My master will be happy.

  “Yes, exactly what I was looking for!” I confirmed, embracing my winged sweetie by the neck, and stroking the wyvern's emerald scales. “You're completely forgiven! What a smart cookie!”

  The huge winged snake wagged her long scaly tail from side
to side in the swamp mud just like a dog then, overcome with emotion, she tried to lick my face with her split tongue and lightly nibbled my hand.

  Successful check for Poison Resistance

  Experience received: 1300 Exp.

  “He-ey, you don’t need to be that sweet! Don't forget, you're poisonous after all!” I pulled my hand from the frightening jaws and pushed her snake-like head away good-naturedly. “And now, VIXEN, I've got a new mission for you. You're gonna like this one. Go to the orc camp, pick up our prisoner and bring him to the place you just showed me. When you get there, take off his blindfold and wait for him to take a look around, then gulp him down!!!”

  Animal Control skill increased to level 47!

  VIXEN flapped her wings excitedly and, taking off noisily and splashing mud, headed toward the orc camp to complete her mission. I then sent my sister a private message:

  “Val, I just had an idea for how to get the players off our trail. VIXEN is gonna come now. Give her the captive. She will take him to the rougarou camp, let him take a look around and get the coordinates of our 'secret refuge,' then eat him on an altar. However... we shouldn’t let all the experience for killing a level-88 Bowman go to just one creature. Let Yunna first give the prisoner a little stab with her dagger to share the experience. My 'niece' needs to level up quickly to get back to where she was.”

  “So then, respected Princess and advisor, I beg your forgiveness for the brief delay and suggest we return to our negotiations.”

  “What prisoner were you talking about planning to execute?” the princess's advisor wondered, on his guard, clearly having listened carefully to me.