by Jason Cheek
“Overlord Ironwolf,” the royal brother and sister politely replied as I quickly glanced around the room.
The space was much smaller than the Red Room that we’d met in the night before for our dance with the Dil-Hilth, I thought with a mental snort. It had been a fortunate happenstance that the bloodbath occurred there or the room would’ve been more noticeably trashed. One that made me wonder if the developers had purposefully designed the event that way as I took in the green hue around this room. Was it purposefully designed so that the strong colors gave an almost green tint to the food? Gagging slightly, I immediately thought of the old children’s story from Dr. Suess.
“Yum, green eggs and ham,” I muttered a little too loud, as Queen Isolde gave me an odd look.
“Excuse me?”
“I said, yum, eggs and ham,” I repeated without the added sarcasm, as Queen Isolde eyed me skeptically. It was almost as if she knew I was somehow making fun of them as I gave her an overtly innocent look. Luckily, no one in The World was familiar with the children’s story Green Eggs and Ham. Even so, I noticed her give the food on the table a cursory once-over, before waving a hand to the extra place setting at the head of the table.
“Please join us for breakfast so we can discuss the coming siege of Palnisdale.” As both royals rose to their feet, I waved for them to remain seated as I stepped up behind the proffered chair.
“Though, I appreciate the offer,” I apologized, “There’s actually no time for pleasantries with my current timetable. The Orc Horde has nearly reached the top of the path from the Plains of Atoll and my troopers are already leaving the city.” Seeing the concerned looks that suddenly came to everyone’s faces, I quickly continued. “This is all going as we’d previously planned. The forces of Palnisdale have been reinforced by the survivors of Telrain with the additional support of the Priests from the Temple of Light.”
“That was before we knew of General DeKhayed’s betrayal of Palnisdale and the reduction of all the Alliance forces reinforcing the city,” Sir Hemmet angrily said, sharing a worried glance with Sir Anon, before Queen Isolde signaled for them to be silent.
“Nonetheless, there are actually more troops stationed here now than there normally would’ve been if the city had come under siege,” I stated in no uncertain terms, as Sir Anon and Sir Hemmet frowned at my words.
“With that being said,” Queen Isolde tiredly said, placing a delicate hand on Sir Hemmet’s forearm to stop his protests. Sharing a commiserating look with the Commander of her Guardian Knights, she proudly lifted her chin and looked me in the eyes, “you know as well as I do that there is no way we will be able to hold the walls against the forces stacked against us.” Seeing me take a breath to argue, she gracefully held up a palm to stop my protest. “Don’t mistake my words as an accusation of failure on your behalf. In truth, you’ve more than held up your oath to the Kingdom of Kader, but even if your troopers stayed behind, we both know they would not be enough to keep Palnisdale from falling.”
“While I appreciate the truth of your words,” I respectfully said, dipping my head to acknowledge her words, “I believe General Dell and I have come up with a way to give the city a chance.”
Quickly, I went into an explanation of the plan to have Gregory and his men take charge of the city’s defenses. While the men’s ability to adapt was an unknown, I trusted Dell’s knowledge about his men’s abilities. I explained that these men would also have the ability to train others in the use of Dark magic and, if everything worked out as planned, the Royal Forces would be able to expand their strength the more they were attacked. With everyone listening intently, I spelled out the basic strategy of a Necromancer, explaining how every dead enemy could be used to strengthen the Palnisdale’s defenses. If they could hold the walls against the initial assaults the defenses would continue to be strengthened with each follow-up attack. Just to be on the safe side, I went ahead and pulled up the Land Management interface and made the men trainers so I didn’t forget this time around.
Raise Zombie would immediately double the available defenders while each troopers’ individual increase in skills would only serve to further strengthen the city’s defenses. I further discussed how the undead pets were extremely powerful, tough to kill, and never became physically exhausted. Not only that, they could even be used in limited assaults against the invaders with only a minute needed to replace their numbers as long as there were additional soul stones in reserve. That didn’t mean the Palnisdale defenders would be invulnerable, but with every recovered soul stone of the fallen, they would be able to constantly double the defenders’ combat strength. Ultimately, that would lead to our troops growing in power while the enemy continuously weakened over time.
The main caveat I needed to accomplish this was for the Guardian Knights and the Queen to support Gregory and his men. They somehow had to be accepted as the Generals in charge of the defense of Palnisdale with total authority. Meaning, they wouldn’t be subservient to anyone else in the chain of command. While that alone was sure to cause a ruckus, their “commoner status” was going to make that acceptance even harder since it went against every premise of their feudalistic system.
Seeing the stir my words caused in the room, I succinctly addressed the issue, explaining that without true authority there was no way for my men to adequately carry out their duty. In my opinion, the only chance the city had to survive was with adaptable leaders that could also teach and upgrade the rest of the defenders with my Dark magic power. Both were needed to successfully defend Palnisdale, and I wasn’t about to make anyone a trainer who wasn’t directly sworn to me. At least, not on the people of The World’s side which I made abundantly clear.
“Honestly, I just don’t see how that can be accomplished,” Sir Hemmet said, the frustration clear in his voice as he critically studied the men standing behind me. “The main problem with General Dell’s unit-”
“Besides them being made up from a bunch of commoners,” I interrupted, as the other man continued nonplussed.
“Is that they didn’t follow the known strategies and tactics used by the rest of the royal forces,” Sir Hemmet explained, as he unflinchingly held General Dell’s stony gaze. “While that doesn’t mean they weren’t highly effective-”
“Because we were,” Gregory muttered a little too loud under his breath, while Sir Hemmet pointedly ignored the comment.
“General DeKhayed ended up using that perceived lack of honor as the basis for dismantling the Skirmisher unit.” Sir Hemmet held up an apologetical hand. “Mostly the other nobles backed those accusations to remove the perceived commoner trash from their ranks. That rallying point temporarily brought the various factions of the royal court together in a united front, demanding King Isolde to put an end to the atrocity within their midst.”
“That’s because those fools took issue with our success on the battlefield,” General Dell spat in disagreement as he looked around the room at his peers, before focusing his ire back on Sir Hemmet. “Having a group of commoners able to successfully engage the enemy and win went against their tenets of noblesse oblige. The more hard-fought battles we successfully carried out against the enemy, the more resistance we faced within the Kingdom. Not once did they give leave for my troopers to be resurrected by the Priests of Light if they fell in battle.”
“The excuse given was that only those of noble birth could be raised from the dead.” General Dell’s face hardened as his eyes burned with a fervor I hadn’t seen before now. “Overlord Ironwolf showed us the truth of those lies. He’s repeatedly resurrected those that have fallen in battle and has now pressured the Holy Priests to come to Palnisdale to do the same. My censor was not due to any lack of honor, but because the Dil-Hilths were able to infiltrate Palnisdale at the highest levels and preyed upon the nobles’ prejudices against commoners. All of you know the mockery of justice that proceeded my fall from grace and you allowed it to destroy the elite men and women under my banner.”
“Father tried to stand against their coalition,” Queen Isolde said, her voice filled with regret as she faced General Dell’s ire, “but with General DeKhayed’s backing of the allegations against you, he worried of losing the support of the nobles leading the royal forces and chose to sacrifice your command to keep the peace.”
“Dishonorable fools the lot of them,” the veteran Swordsman angrily cursed as the Guardian Knights and even the Queen hung their heads in shame.
As I listened to their back and forth, I could only shake my head at the political shenanigans that had destroyed my digital friend’s life and nearly taken the Kingdom of Kader along with it. I was sure some of my Twitch fans would wonder why any of this was important, but I’d learned from day one to treat everything that happened in-game as real. From my limited experience so far, the people of The World weren’t simple programs running scripts with repeating questlines, so understanding their struggles was necessary to pull off the win that each of us needed. Meaning, the win had to take into consideration the needs of the people in The World so their lives weren’t destroyed and those goals needed for me and my friends to make the money necessary to live and have fun.
I mentally smirked at that. Maybe that made us sound shallow but it was a simple truth. Having fun was a major part of all of this and, even though I was pushing myself hard to accomplish everything that I had up until now, there was something deep inside of me that fed off of these difficult challenges. It made me feel like I was truly living, which was probably why my mind was already buzzing trying to figure this latest problem out while I listened closely to the cultural complexities that had led my vassals to this point.
I knew that if I couldn’t find a way to resolve this problem that it would destroy everything in this part of The World and rip my accomplishment of Overlord from my hands, along with everything else I was building. No doubt, that was due to the built-in feature of The World that did its best to destroy Nightmare players. That thought alone made my heart clench even as a part of my mind was dumbfounded at how realistic it all felt. The challenges and people drew me in like nothing I’d ever experienced before, making me wonder if this was naturally occurring due to the “living world” or if it was a subplot/questline specifically designed by the developers.
I shook my head in disbelief at that thought. If it was a questline, then someone had put a hell of a lot of thought and research into creating a world that reflected the type of infighting and cultural prejudices that you’d expect to find in a medieval society from Earth’s past, besides getting these digital personalities to somehow create the events leading up to these questlines. Even though most players would say that this all had to have been pre-planned, I personally didn’t think so. Maybe V-MMORG had a way to influence events, but from my limited experience with Rani and my companions, I doubted the admins could’ve forced these digital personalities to live their lives this way. All that I could say, however they managed it, was that I was fully committed to saving these people’s lives and leaving my stamp on this digital world. As all of that was going through my mind, Sir Anon interrupted with a possible solution.
“Would their social status matter if they were directly representing Overlord Ironwolf’s interests?”
The question seemed to catch everyone in the room by surprise and, by the look on Queen Isolde and Sir Hemmet’s faces, it was obvious that the younger Guardian Knight had made a fair point as everyone began talking at once. Sir Hemmet assured me that with the authority of my Overlord and Protector of the Kingdom of Kader titles that he could squelch any complaints that rose up amongst the Guardian Knights and officers of the Royal Forces. While Queen Isolde swore that she and her brother could keep the surviving noble houses in line, especially after everything that had resulted from General DeKhayed’s betrayal.
We went back and forth over the specifics for several minutes before coming to a consensus. While Sir Hemmet and Queen Isolde supported my selection for making Gregory and his boys the Generals in charge of the defense of Palnisdale, ultimately the key to my people staying in command would be based on their ability to produce results. As long as the defenses held, the remaining nobles wouldn’t be able to contest their authority. Though, Sir Hemmet warned that their skill with a blade might be called upon to silence any demands for duels of satisfaction. The savage grins that the three men shared said what they thought about that and, after seeing them fight the night before, I didn’t think they’d have any problems holding their own.
Thankfully, the discussion was finished up in less than ten minutes. I know because I was watching the seconds tick by in my HUD as we talked. While I broadly explained the tactics that would be used against the enemy, I could tell that none of them truly believed their fortress would be able to stand against the invading horde. Nonetheless, Queen Isolde turned to me with a look of hopeless determination plastered to her frozen face.
“Overlord Ironwolf, as the ruler of the Kingdom of Kader, I accept your representatives in commanding the defense of Palnisdale,” Queen Isolde formally stated as the rest of the Guardian Knights snapped to attention. The metallic ringing of their armored fists clanging against their armored chests echoed around the small chamber like they were announcing their commitment to fighting until the end. Though, I could tell by the rigid looks on their faces that none of them believed that victory was possible.
The weight of the responsibility for their lives along with everyone else's in the city seemed to cling to my soul in a way that I’d never experienced before. While a part of me wondered if I’d lost my mind, the other half said I was exactly where I needed to be. If living the game gave me the boost I needed to succeed, then I wasn’t going to question it. Standing up straight, I briefly shared a look with each Guardian Knight, before addressing Queen Isolde directly.
“I’ve stacked the deck with all of the forces I could from Telrain to give you a fighting chance to hold the Citadel,” I said, using the ancient name for the fortress that formed the heart of the city of Palnisdale as I clenched my fist over my own heart. “I give my oath to all of you, here and now, that I will return with the House of Kayden to break the siege and, together, we will drive the Northern Tribes from the Kingdom of Kader.”
To my surprise, the Guardian Knights all dropped to a knee around the room along with General Dell and his men. Standing up next to his sister, Prince Isolde glanced to his older sister before both royals dropped to a knee in respect. The silence was deafening as I looked around unsure of how to respond as the sagacity of the moment touched my soul. Thankfully, the awkwardness of the moment was dispelled when Sir Beroldus suddenly threw the iron-bound door open to the room.
“Scout Leader Tanner reporting as ordered to Overlord Ironwolf,” Sir Beroldus announced only to have the Guardian Knights and the Cavalry Scout Leader’s mouths drop open in shock at the sight before them. The interruption seemed to break the moment as everyone began climbing back to their feet while the Cavalry Officer nervously took a step into the room and gave a salute.
“Lance Leader Warf ordered me to report that the horde’s vanguard has nearly pushed through the pass,” Scout Leader Tanner snapped out smartly. “Once they make it to the plateau, he expects they’ll force their way to the eastern gate in an hour,” she shifted uncomfortably, “possibly less.”
As the Scout Leader wavered on her feet, I took a moment to look her over. It was obvious from the gore encrusted dented armor, and shredded cloak that she’d been fighting throughout the night. Though the exhaustion was plain to see on her face, she held herself erect waiting for orders. Giving Queen Isolde and Sir Hemmet a farewell nod, I headed for the door, signaling for the Cavalry Scout Leader to fall in beside me.
“Then, it’s time we got moving,” I said as we hurriedly passed through the doorway. Behind me, General Dell and my companions followed as I heard Sir Hemmet begin to give out orders. Sir Anon was to go with me and take charge of the main gate, while Sir Merrill was being sent to tu
rn out the city’s garrison. Not worried about adhering to any expected decorum or listening to the rest of their preparations, I took off at a fast jog between the tables of the great room as I focused on the cavalry Scout Leader.
“Let Lance Leader Warf know that he is to do his best to fall back while holding his lines together as long as possible.” I didn’t flinch at the hard look that passed over the cavalry woman’s face as I continued. “Explain to Lance Leader Warf that this is not a last stand situation, but a delaying action. I need the vanguard distracted as long as possible, which is why I want him to enter the city by the western gate.”
“The Western gate?” Scout Leader Tanner asked in confusion.
“It’ll allow my forces more time to get ahead of their advance and, if he stays near the outer wall, the archers on the walls should be able to add in their support for some easy kills.”
The explanation seemed to settle her down somewhat. Though, I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was shocked to the core at hearing I was withdrawing with my direct forces from Palnisdale. Feeling somewhat guilty, I briefly explained the plan of gathering additional forces to bring back to break the siege, while half paying attention to General Dell as he strategized with his men on how best to use their new undead pets in a siege-like this. While Scout Leader Tanner wasn’t someone I needed to explain myself to, I still felt like a coward running from the fight. My introspection was suddenly interrupted by an angry bellow from an older uniformed Human that abruptly stood up to block our way.
“Dell!” I distractedly focused on the blustering man’s purple face as he completely ignored me to rage at my vassal. “How dare you show your face in Palnisdale after your disgrace. You’ve disregarded the proprietary of polite society for the last time, I swear on my honor as a War Leader of the Royal Forces that I will have your head this time-”
