by Dean Henegar
Please choose from the following options:
1. You have the option to choose a new, standard character class and have that new character start one level higher than your current character level. You will be given bonus gold and upgraded gear.
2. You can choose to remain the Commander class and choose a different faction. The Drebix Warband Leader and the Imix Mercenary Captain are open. You would be advanced one level and have comparable gear/progression to your current version of the Commander class.
3. You can choose to remain incarcerated and work your way out of your crime. This option will be the most difficult. You will be placed as a zero-level class called the Disgraced Commander and forced to work your way back up in levels. This option will eventually open up the chance to clear your name and return to your previous position with substantial rewards upon completion.
This was a big decision for me. I had been very happy playing the commander class and felt an attachment to my unit and to the other players and npcs I had gamed with. Despite that, I did really need to consider all the options. I had a concern that the prison route would slow down my memory repair. A standard type class just didn’t appeal to me at this point so option one was out. Starting as a commander with a new faction sounded interesting. I had really liked the Drebix I had fought with and against earlier. A mercenary band of the Imix could also be fun; I had worked for a private military contractor in my past. Perhaps that would be a good fit to help repair my mind? I felt I needed more information before I could decide.
“Finley, I get what’s happening but would like a chance to talk to Clio about it if that’s okay. My concern is the decision could adversely affect my medical treatment,” I stated.
“Not a problem, sir. In fact, Clio felt you would have questions for her,” Finley replied before sticking his head past the curtain behind him. “Clio, Raytak would like to talk to you.” After Finley called out, the grandmotherly avatar of Clio walked from behind the curtain. She smiled at me before speaking.
“I understand your trepidation on making a decision, Colonel. I should remind you that Finley and I are different representations of the same AI, and he would never suggest anything harmful to your treatment anymore than I would. None of the three options are harmful and I have to admit that I am genuinely curious as to which you will pick,” Clio assured me.
“Thanks for the reassurance, Clio. I’m attracted to a different version of the commander class,” I started. I felt fine deciding now that there were no potential medical complications associated with my choice.
“Excellent, which would you prefer? The Drebix or the Imix? We can also look at some more exotic options if you so desire,” Finley offered.
“Hold up Finley, I wasn’t finished yet. I’m drawn to the different version of the commander class, but I don’t feel right in choosing that option. I know it’s just a game, but I need to clear my name. There has been too much work done to protect Hayden’s Knoll for me to just walk away. Quitting and jumping ship at this time would disrespect all the soldiers that have fallen thus far. They may just be AI controlled npcs, but honor doesn’t differentiate between digital and real life. The way you behave in the digital environment reflects your real-life character. I have no idea what kind of craziness option three will hold for me, but it is my choice. The 1st Legion of Hayden’s Knoll will have its honor restored, and I will be the one to command it,” I decided.
“Very good, sir, and hats off to you for choosing to repair your good name. We’ll get you started momentarily, but I do have to explain some mechanics to you first. As I mentioned before you will be stripped of all your abilities, gear, levels, and awards. You will start at what is called a zero level. This is a representation of someone no more powerful than a peasant.
“While you are imprisoned, you will find new opportunities to explore, battles to fight, and quests for you to complete. As you complete these quests and gain experience, you will level up like any other character. As you level, you will be pursuing a long running quest that will end with an opportunity to clear your name. This opportunity is in no way a guarantee that you will be successful; you could very well fail that quest. Should you fail the quest to restore your name, you may find yourself back here to choose one of the other options. Knowing this, do you still want to proceed?” Finley asked.
This was a lot to process. It felt unfair yet exciting at the same time. Well, nobody ever said life was fair . . . I guess that goes for the digital world as well as the real one.
“Yep, let’s get the party started, Finley. Any advice before you shoot me over to the wonderful world of incarceration?” I asked. Finley thought a moment before deciding something.
“No, can’t give an unfair advantage . . . but . . .” Finley paused as he came to a decision. “Yes, I think you will find you still have one advantage available to you from your prior experience and decisions in-game. Best of luck to you, sir. Please pull up and review your new and rather pathetic character sheet while I will port you back into the game. Enjoy the experience!” Finely offered in a chipper voice.
Disgraced Commander Level 0
Experience: 0/50
Health: 10/10
Defense: -2 (Will be set to 1 upon attaining your first level).
Attack: -3 (Will be set to 1 upon attaining your first level).
Stats: Like the Commander class, the Disgraced Commander class does not have individual stat points. Instead, the Disgraced Commander will have to unlock other abilities and options to improve the class’ powers.
Equipment:
Soldiers Tunic: This garment offers no stat bonus but is of good quality.
Poorly Crafted Sandals: Your boots have been confiscated. You now have these basic sandals that provide no defense but are serviceable for footwear . . . at least until they fall apart.
Tessel’s Promise: Your bond with the corrupted dryad Tessel is not lost to you. You can still see the scar on your wrist and know the abilities of this bond are waiting to be unlocked. Level 1 is required to activate the abilities of Tessel’s Promise.
Abilities/Feats:
Manaless: You have eschewed magical abilities to improve your innate resistance to harmful spells. +1% resistance at level 0.
Chapter 4
“This character is horrible!” I exclaimed as the Commencement Commissary vanished and I found myself inside the prison wagon I had seen earlier. I sat up quickly and hit my head on the bars above me.
You have taken 2 damage.
“Why, look at that lads, our officer has joined us back in the land of the living. What are your orders, sir?” a man asked as I gathered my wits. The man addressing me wore a stained soldier’s tunic like my own. Looking about, I could see two other men also occupied the wagon, wearing the same style legionnaire tunic. These were the men I had seen in the prison wagon earlier. I tried to move and found my hands were chained to one of the bars at the back of the wagon. The man who had addressed me was chained to the top bar and the other two were chained on either side.
“Any orders, sir? Sergeant Wrend is at your service, sir!” the man exclaimed as the other two soldiers chuckled at his antics. I examined their information while I formulated a response.
Wrend, Imperial Prisoner Level 3.
Imperial Prisoner Level 1 (2).
“Sergeant Wrend, if you would be so kind as to free us all and take us to the nearest pub,” I joked, figuring a lighter touch was called for due to our current status.
“Sorry sir, but I’m a bit tied up,” Wrend said as he gestured with his head toward his shackled hands. “But what I can do for us . . .” Wrend whispered and leaned in toward me in a conspiratorial manner. I leaned in to hear him out of reflex.
“What I can do is this!” Wrend pulled himself up off the wagon floor, kicking out at me with both legs.
You have been hit by Wrend. 4 damage received.
I slammed into the back of the cage from the force of the blow, my head clanging off
the bars again.
You have received 1 bludgeoning damage.
The other occupants of the wagon broke into laughter.
“Oh, my apologies, your royal highness, sir. You see, we don’t get many officers here with us. I suppose you must have done something especially horrible or ticked off some powerful people to find yourself here. You officers are all for imprisoning your soldiers at the drop of a hat, but you always seem to have some way to weasel out of your own punishment. So, I tells you wot sir . . . I can’t get back at the officer what did this to me,” Wrend said gesturing to his chained hands. “But I can cut out me pound of flesh off of you. That’s all I have to say for now, we’ll have another discussion tonight,” Wrend advised with an overly exaggerated accent as he sat down and stared intently at me.
I had known fighting men all my life and could tell at a glance that Wrend was dangerous. Most soldiers are used to violence, but men like Wrend lived for it, loving to dish out pain and cruelty at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, it looked like I was going to be the target of his hatred for officers. I moved as far toward the back of the wagon as I could, just out of easy kicking range from Wrend, as I waited for my health to regenerate. Wrend seemed content for now with the damage he had already done.
At the front of the wagon, I could see a driver and what looked like a guard sitting on the front bench. Another wagon was in front of us, but I couldn’t get a good look at it from my position. Behind us was a third prison wagon, but I couldn’t make out who was riding in it. Our caravan moved at a sedate pace; the haggard looking horses that pulled the wagons didn’t look like they were capable of much speed. I could tell we were no longer in Hayden’s Knoll, but I had no idea what transition point we had spit out of. The AI was blocking my map and would not reveal the location of the zone I was in, likely to make escape harder. The terrain around us seemed to be dry brush and the ground was relatively flat. The dirt road looked to have seen regular use, old wheel ruts worn deep into the hard-packed surface.
The caravan was called to halt shortly before sunset. The guards and drivers dismounted and began to set up their tents and build fires to prepare the evening meal. I could see that there were only three wagons in total. I counted six guards and three drivers, all of which were armed. I didn’t think any type of prison break was in my near future. Soon after the drivers finished their tasks, a guard moved to our wagon and unlocked the cage. The door squeaked open on its rusty hinge as the guard addressed me.
“Now that you’re awake, prisoner Raytak, let me tell you the rules around here. First rule is do whatever we say, or I’ll just leave your corpse on the side of the road. We stop at midday and around this time every night. If you are all good little boys and girls, we’ll let you out and you can sleep on the ground instead of in your stinking cage. I don’t care what you do to each other—you’re all traitors, deserters, murderers, and worse. The only rule I have is that if you decide to kill each other, you get to clean up the body. If you don’t clean your mess, I’ll leave the rotting corpse chained to you for the rest of the trip. You’ll be fed in the morning and at evening. You get what you get. Complain about the food and you’ll go hungry. Don’t talk to or bother the guards in any way. That’s it, now get out!”
We were unhooked from the wagon and led off toward a strip of open ground. Stakes were driven deep into the earth and a chain was run from the stake though the shackles on our legs. The chain left about three feet between each prisoner. Our hands were briefly unshackled to allow us to eat our evening meal. The food consisted of a foul-tasting and watered-down brown porridge. The cook pot for the prisoners was left uncovered and had allowed the meal to be contaminated with bugs; several insects were mixed throughout the dish. I wasn’t sure if there was a debuff for not eating, so I went ahead and ate the food. Using the lightning fast eating speed that every soldier learns after his first few days in basic training, I was able to shovel the food down fast enough to avoid tasting it for the most part. We were given tepid water from an old skin and then had our hands shackled up again for the night.
While we had been eating, I was able to finally get a look at the prisoners from the other wagons. They wore regular tunics and didn’t seem to be former soldiers like the four of us were. I couldn’t tell if that was a good or a bad thing yet. The npc prisoners all fell asleep quickly on the hard ground. No blankets were provided for the prisoners and the air was crisp but not too cold. Fall had arrived, and I knew that cold weather would soon make its appearance. I had to hope we would arrive at wherever it was we were going before the cold set in.
The guards didn’t say where we were going, and I wasn’t going to strike up a conversation with my fellow prisoners after the reception I had received from Wrend. I quickly grew bored since I only needed to lay down for a moment each day to instantly recharge the same as if I’d had a full night’s sleep in the real world. The guards set a lazy watch and I lay there wondering if there were any monsters or hostile opponents about. I could just imagine being chained to the ground helpless as some wild beast made a snack of me. While I lay there, imagining things to fear, the one thing I should have been wary of got the drop on me.
You have been struck for 2 damage by Wrend.
You have been struck for 2 damage by Wrend.
Wrend crashed his shackled wrists into my face over and over. The slack left on our leg chains granted him just enough room to reach me. I tried to defend myself, but my own blows were weak and ineffective. The former sergeants’ hands found my neck and began to squeeze, cutting off my air.
You are being strangled. 1 suffocation damage received. *Note, suffocation damage increases the longer the damage is sustained.
You are being strangled. 2 suffocation damage received.
I grabbed one of my attackers’ hands and tried to pry it off, but Wrend was impossibly strong and I couldn’t overcome his advantage.
You have failed your grapple check.
You are being strangled. 3 suffocation damage received.
You have died. Respawn in 5 minutes. *Note, due to the high likelihood of pvp and pve deaths in this questline, prisoners do not lose experience, gear, or coin upon death.
I respawned back after the timer ran down, finding myself chained right where I was before. I had thought briefly that my death may respawn me back to where my spawn point was set in Hayden’s Knoll, but the game must have fixed that in order to keep imprisoned players from escaping once they died. Looking to my right, Wrend lay there with an evil smirk on his face.
“Nighty-night, sir. I hope you enjoyed your welcome ceremony. Unfortunately, these restraints don’t give me many options on how to kill you. Don’t worry though, I’ll come up with something for future visits,” Wrend taunted.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. The drivers and guards woke up at dawn, and true to his word, the guard fed us the foul porridge again. The uncovered pot of porridge had attracted an impressive number of insects overnight. The guard serving up the slop smiled at the look of distaste on my face.
“Heh, extra protein is provided with no extra charge.” The guard handed me a skin of water and moved down the line to the next prisoner. We were tasked with putting away all the tents and camping supplies before being chained up in our wagons once more. I was chained to the same place, but thankfully out of kicking range. Before our scheduled midday break, the caravan was called to an early halt. I could hear the guards talking with someone at the head of the caravan. Soon, the guard in charge of the caravan led a man dressed in an ornate robe to our wagon.
“You see, sir, four disgraced soldiers of the Imperium, just like I told you. All of them trained killers and worth every coin you spend on ‘em. They’ll give you good sport, mark my word,” the guard advised. The man looked in our cage, reaching through to occasionally poke and prod at us.
“Bahh, you know as well as I do that these are not very useful in the pits. Sure, they fight better than the rest of the chaff you’re s
elling me, but any gladiator worth their salt will handle them with no trouble. Something about them being prisoners changes them, losing their ability to fight as a unit,” the man in the robes said as he continued his examination.
“You, open your mouth and let me see your teeth,” the man said, pointing at me. I complied with his request, not sure what my dental hygiene had to do with what was happening.
“Ahh, this one is from different stock than these others . . . perhaps an officer?” the man queried. He stood there contemplating while I took a moment to scan his info.
Septimus, Lanista Level 10, Npc.
I remembered from my study of ancient history that a lanista was the Latin name for the owner of a gladiatorial school. My thoughts on the subject were interrupted when the man began to speak once more.
“I’ll take the whole lot if the price is right. If not, I’ll just continue to town and find my wares there,” Septimus offered, beginning the negotiations with the guards. They walked away, moving to the wagon behind us. I couldn’t make out the exact negotiation but at one point the men became animated and shouted at each other. Eventually, they seemed to come to an agreement and Septimus handed a bag of coin to the guards. The guards unhooked us from the wagons and led us to the wagons that Septimus had brought with him. There were a dozen wagons in Septimus’ caravan and they looked to be larger and in better repair than the ones we had been traveling in. Most of the other wagons were full, the occupants looked to be a pathetic collection of riff-raff. The legionnaires were given our own wagon and were thankfully chained out of reach of one another. We traveled for the rest of the day before hitting another transition point.
Transition Point unlock declined. *Note, as a prisoner you are unable to unlock the transition points you travel through. Attain your freedom to restore this ability.
