by Dean Henegar
The character displayed in front of me looked like a fantasy standard barbarian tribesman. The warrior had wild unkempt hair and a Celtic style blue pattern painted on his face. The longsword, hand axe in his belt, and bow slung over his shoulder seemed to fit the character well. Light worn leather armor and a small round shield completed the look. While running around with a barbarian war band could be fun, it really wasn’t my style. I believe in discipline and military bearing, not blind rage. On to the last choice.
Caliphate of Imix: Emerging from the small desert tribes of the Imix region, the Caliphate of Imix was formed. The first Great Caliph united the small desert tribes and eventually expanded into zones with more hospitable climates. The Caliphate has been a bastion of knowledge for many centuries. Arts, science, and especially skills in trading were the focus of this civilization. They maintain a small army and fill their ranks with various mercenary bands when times of war loom. These current times are troubled for the Caliphate as different religious sects vie for power. The sects look to proselytize the unfaithful and rumors of dark fates await those who refuse to convert. The Great Caliph, Ichman looks to quash these sects but has only had limited success. The mercenary groups can be diverse, but those working for the Caliphate are known to be fiercely loyal to their employers…so long as the coin flows.
The warrior displayed before me was dressed in a rugged looking robe with a small round metal helm bearing a spike on top. A round metal shield and scimitar were his main weapons, but he did have short bow strapped across his back as well. This faction appeared to be a nomadic desert dweller type. While trading and fighting as a mercenary band could be interesting I was drawn to the Imperium out of these 3 choices.
“I chose Imperium,” I confidently stated.
“Good choice!” Finley commented.
Looking in a tall free-standing mirror that had appeared before me I could see myself in what must have been Imperium Commander starting gear. No Lorica Segmentata armor for me. I was dressed in a simple coarse fabric red shirt with a hardened leather breastplate as armor. The breastplate had the symbol of a leaping wolf stamped into the leather. I assumed that was the symbol of the Imperium, I guess Clio didn’t want to copy too much by having the Roman eagle. Luckily this AI created version of the knockoff Romans wore pants which is much more practical than the traditional garb. A rough spun brown pair of itchy canvas type pants and a sturdy yet comfortable pair of boots (thankfully not sandals) completed my look. Leaning against my side was a large curved, wooden, rectangular red shield painted with the same leaping wolf symbol. A crude bronze short sword was belted to my side and a bronze helm with a horsehair plume protected my head
Looking back in the mirror was like looking at an exact copy of the 35-year-old version of myself. My character appeared fit, but without the exaggerated bodybuilder style muscles common in many games. A thought occurred to me and I asked Finley if the colors of my uniform were set or were changeable. I was shown the interface where I could adjust color schemes. I played with the settings, changing the color of my clothing, cloak, and accessories to a green/brown color scheme that blended in well with the temperate climates I was expecting this faction to play in. No need for me or my soldiers to be wearing bright red clothes when trying to lay an ambush.
One last choice awaited me on the character creation screen.
Choose magical affinity: Affinity choices determine the type of spells a character will have access to after training.
Light
Dark
Nature
Elemental
Not a fan of mage classes I asked Finley what would happen if I don’t choose a magical affinity.
“You can always choose to have no affinity. That will increase your magical resistance and make it possible for you to resist some spells cast against you.” Finley advised.
“I’ll go with no magical affinity please. I want to command my forces, not sling spells all day,” I advised. A new notification popped up.
Manaless trait for Commander class selected:
Your character will have an innate resistance to magic of all types. This will not prevent you from using magic arms or equipment. Soldiers under your command will also benefit from your magic resistance to a lesser extent. This ability will improve as you level.
Character creation complete. Enjoy your adventures!
“If you’re all set with the choices you’ve made I’ll send you to your starting zone now. Best of luck, Commander.” With that, the white light once again began to fill my vision.
Chapter 5
The white light resolved, and I found my self sitting in front of a campfire with a small wooden bowl and spoon in my hands. Looking around I could see what looked like a squad of soldiers going about their morning duties, preparing breakfast and breaking camp for travel. I could smell the woodsmoke and cooking food (smelled like pork and something I couldn’t quite put my finger on). We were camped in a small clearing inside a large pine forest. The fresh smell of the pine needles permeated the air. My rough pants were slightly damp and itchy for sitting on the dew-covered forest floor and I counted 9 other soldiers moving about the camp. One approached me carrying the kettle from atop the fire. He placed a small chunk of meat that was mostly fat and a large ladle of some thick gruel into my bowl, scraping the last of the contents from the kettle.
“Sir, as soon as you’ve finished eating we can continue on. We should be through the forest soon despite Private Long’s shortcut.” The soldier addressed me while looking at another soldier who was putting out the fire. The soldier at the fire was apparently Private Long who nervously avoided looking in our direction. A prompt appeared in my view.
Congratulations and welcome to Limitless Lands.
Starting data loading…
Unique character class module created, you should not experience loading delays again.
New Quest Unlocked: Journey to the Amerville Garrison. Make it to the Amerville garrison with your unit suffering fewer than 50% casualties.
You and your squad have been assigned to the garrison at the outpost town of Amerville. You have been lost for the last few days in the forest after one of your soldiers, a private named Long, suggested a shortcut from the main road. Despite the delay from the “shortcut”, the scout Trembel thinks he will find the path back to the main road today. Once there, you are to make your way to Amerville and seek out Lieutenant Colonel Jacobs for further assignment.
Accept Quest Y/Y: Starter quests cannot be declined.
Reward: Receive starting units and replacements.
I quickly accepted yes, then dug into my bowl of food. The gruel was thick, hearty, and bland except for a weak hint of fatty pork it had picked up from the meat. The meat was greasy, salty, and took a long time to chew down enough to swallow. The disgusting army chow tasted wonderful to a man who hadn’t eaten real solid food in a decade. I quickly finished the food, wishing there was enough for a second bowl while trying to figure out how the game AI was able to make the texture and taste of food so accurate. The soldier who had addressed me earlier took my dirty bowl and spoon, giving it to another private who rushed to clean and pack them.
“Sir, when you’re ready we can move out. Scout Trembel is coming in now.” A soldier was making his way into the camp from the forest. He approached me and snapped off a crisp salute. The salute for the Imperium was apparently a clenched right fist held over the heart. I motioned for the scout to continue.
“Sir! The trail ahead is clear and leads out of the forest approximately one mile from here. Just at the tree line I found a group of loggers cutting lumber and they stated this area had seen some goblin activity, but they had been working most of the previous day without any problems. I did note tracks while in the forest, but none were recent. Once we’re clear of the forest its about another mile over plains and rolling hills to the main road. Once we hit the main road the loggers said we had about fifteen miles to go before we hit Amerville.”
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br /> “Good report private. Fall in with the rest of the squad and we’ll move out.”
I stood up and grabbed my gear. I was equipped with the same gear I saw myself wearing on the starting screen. My men also wore the same forest-blending green color scheme I had selected.
Looking closely at my soldiers I could see they were poorly equipped. They wore no armor, save for a leather cap and had only a small round wooden shield for defense. Their weapons consisted of a poorly made bronze dagger and a wooden javelin with poorly crafted bronze tips. Equipment upgrades would have to be high on my priority list.
I found that a strange feature of the game was that my vision was partially obscured on the bottom of my view. By focusing on the bottom left an activity log was displayed. I could see the system notification from earlier and a link to a help screen. I closed it for now and concentrated on the hazy area on the bottom right of the screen. It showed a list of spots for icons, only one of which was filled. When I concentrated on the icon a system display popped up once again.
You have activated your ability bar for the first time. Know that any active abilities you have will be placed here. Simply concentrate on the desired ability to activate it. Many abilities will have a cooldown. Typically, the more powerful the ability, the longer the cooldown. Some abilities are passive and are only toggled on or off at any given time. *Note, this message will not be displayed again, to review this information use the help feature found in your activity log*
Concentrating on the only icon, it brought up an info tab as well.
Command Presence: This passive ability represents the steadying and inspiring force a leader generates on the battlefield. When toggled on, your troops will fight a bit harder, have higher morale, and follow commands almost instinctually. While this ability is active, the player will have a lower attack and defense value as he concentrates on leading his troops and not on individual combat. Toggling this ability has a 30 second cooldown. *Note, this message will not be displayed again. To review this information, use the search feature found in your activity log*
The ability now stood out much clearer as a small icon in the bottom right of my vision. I could fiddle around more with the interface later. Time for me and my squad to get moving.
We headed out in single file down the narrow forest trail. Private Tremble was in the lead and I placed myself at the middle of the column, really wishing I had an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer, the backbone of any army) to play babysitter at the rear of the column.
The weather was hot, but bearable this early in the morning due to the shade from the trees. The humidity was low, and it was turning into a perfect early summer day. We had only traveled about a quarter mile before private Tremble held up his hand for us to stop, I had moved him twenty-five yards ahead of the column to scout for any danger. The private looked confused then began shouting as he turned toward the column.
“Goblins right behind me!” Private Tremble yelled as he beat feet toward us.
Old habits of command took over and I began to order the men.
“Fall in, single line! Make a hole for the scout to return!”
The men began to shake out into one single line perpendicular to the trail. The forest had been thinning out as we had moved closer to its end. Visibility wasn’t too bad, and the trees were spaced far enough apart to enable us to keep a cohesive defensive line. I placed myself behind the center of the line as Tremble ran past the gap the soldiers made for him. I then ordered Tremble to fall in behind our line and plug any gaps that opened.
As I was giving Tremble his orders the goblins came into view. A group of eight, squat, green humanoids were charging toward us in pursuit of Scout Tremble. The group spotted our line and halted abruptly. Staring at the squad of Imperial soldiers in front of them, they began arguing amongst themselves. The goblins were a motley group, only about 5 feet tall and scrawny. They had no armor, only a rough loincloth over their midsection (thank the gods for not giving us a view of their private parts). Two of the goblins were armed with wood short spears featuring only a sharpened end, no metal spearpoint. The others had wood clubs and one that seemed to be in charge held a rusty small dagger. The goblins remained about 30 yards from us and the one I assumed was the leader began chanting. The others soon took up the chant.
“Bree-yark!”
“Bree-yark!”
“Bree-yark!”
The goblins chanted the same thing over and over.
“I heard that bree-yark means “I surrender” in goblin. Are they giving up sir?” one of the privates on the right flank asked. The goblins didn’t look like they were surrendering. It looked to me that they were trying to boost up enough courage to attack us. They brandished their weapons at us while making what must have passed for crude gestures in the goblin world. Definitely not surrendering, I thought.
“Quiet in the ranks! They’re getting ready to charge, not surrender. Squad prepare javelins!” I ordered, and the men readied their javelins. I had pulled my javelin from where I had it strapped on top of my pack. The weapon felt natural in my hand and the instinctual knowledge of how to fight with it had been somehow downloaded into me. The goblins began to charge.
“On my mark throw and then prepare to receive charge!” I waited until the goblins were 15 yards from the squad, wanting to maximize our chance to hit, but not letting them get so close that the men wouldn’t have time to draw their daggers after the throw.
“Release!” I heaved my javelin then watched as ten others arced through the air toward the howling goblins. Three of the javelins stuck into trees and five (sadly mine included) completely missed the small fast-moving creatures. The final three hit their mark and all three of the goblins hit went down, two clearly dead and the third was out of the fight squirming on the ground in pain with the javelin sticking out of its thigh. While watching the results, I drew my short sword and hefted my shield.
I quickly activated the command presence ability right before the goblins reached us, hoping the small buff would improve our chances. The remaining five goblins hit our line just as my soldiers had drawn their daggers. Instead of a mighty clash, the sound was more like a hollow “thunk” as the diminutive goblins collided with the wooden shields and my soldiers tried to push them back. Both sides began to hack and stab at each other with neither the goblins, nor my soldiers, showing any particular skill. The short reach from being armed with daggers partially offset my soldiers having physically longer arms than the smaller goblins.
Only one soldier was wounded in the initial exchange of blows. Private Long failed to block the thrust of one of the spear wielding goblins and found the wooden spear stuck in his shoulder. Private Long fell back screaming with a high-pitched cry, pulling the goblin’s weapon with him as he fell. Private Tremble stepped in to fill the gap in our line and landed a strong slash to the now unarmed goblin’s face, Tremble’s dagger sliced along the cheek bone and ruptured the goblin’s left eye. The wounded goblin turned and ran back down the path away from the fight, able to avoid any further blows from our short reaching knives. As I concentrated on the wounded goblin while it fled, I received an information prompt.
Wretched goblin. These are the lowest of the goblin clans. The wretched are the weakest members of the goblin tribes and are used as fodder in battle. Often encountered in large numbers, they are a danger if able to swarm their opponents.
It was time to use our superior numbers and physical strength to our advantage. “Left flank! Right flank…Envelop!” I ordered.
The men at each ends of our line pivoted around like a door closing and began to surround the remaining goblins. Seeing their escape route was closing, the goblins panicked, dropped their weapons, and flailed about in an attempt to break out of the circle closing around them. The panicking foes hampered each other’s movement, allowing my men the time needed to close the circle.
The men put their daggers to work. Stray beams of sunlight filtered through the trees and glinted off
the polished bronze daggers as they thrust forward, seeking goblin flesh. Despite several missed blows due more to inexperience than any defensive skills the goblins held, enough of the daggers found their mark to quickly finish the 4 goblins we had surrounded. The men looked about for other threats while catching their breath from the exertion of the short battle. The troops were in poor physical shape and would really need to be worked hard if they expected to survive any encounter more dangerous than a few half-starved goblins.
The only injuries among my troops, other than the spear stuck in Private Long, were a few minor scratches from the goblins panicked flailing as they tried to escape. Looking about the battlefield, I could see that the one-eyed goblin had fled and was no longer to be seen. The goblin with the javelin in his leg had been left behind by his comrade. A trail of blood showed where he had dragged himself about 20 yards before dying from the loss of blood. At least the javelin in the goblin’s leg was salvageable.
Private Dreks, our medic ran over to begin treating Private Long’s injury. The spear was still lodged in his shoulder and Private Long screamed his high-pitched shriek once again when Dreks tried unsuccessfully to pull the spear free. The spear was not going to come out easily, being lodged deep in the shoulder socket. Getting help from another soldier to hold down Long, Dreks did the only thing he could…pulled even harder on the spear and with a sickening pop it finally dislodged from the shoulder. Private Long thankfully passed out from the pain and Dreks began to bandage the wound, staunching any further blood loss.
