Sely Grocer
Human Female
Level 10 Merchant
Titles: Slave, Broken One
Sharn Blackhand
Orc Female
Level 30 Barbarian / Fighter
Titles: Goblin Bane, Slave, Unbreakable
Lotula Kegblade
Dwarf Female
Level 30 Craftsman / Fighter
Titles: Slave, Broken One
Leef Sharptooth
Goblin Female
Level 40 War Leader (Fighter) / Shaman
Titles: Goblin Bane, Orc Bane, Troll Bane, Slave, Broken One, Brood Mare
Emalia Hawkoak
Human Female
Level 40 Spelldancer (Bard) / Rogue
Titles: Devious, Oathbreaker, Manslayer, Goblin Bane, Slave, Broken One
Hiqea
Half-Goblin Female
Level 1
Titles: Slave, Broken One
Avina Souldrinker
Feytouched Human Female
Level 60 Wordtwister (Beguiler) / Rimefrost Sorceress (Ice Sorceress)
Titles: Treacherous, Oathbreaker, Manslayer, Ladykiller, Human Bane, Slave, Broken One, Brood Mare
Thessalia Aehice
Elf Female
Level 5 Merchant
Titles: Slave, Broken One
Phelki Goldbottle
Gnome Female
Level 10 Artificer
Titles: Genius, Slave, Broken One
Oraela Shadowkissed
Succubus Female
Level 30 Mindwarper (Enchantress) / Bard
Titles: Beautiful One, Sadist, Black Widow, Slave, Broken One, Brood Mare, Masochist
I looked the slaves over, seeing some that were more useful to me than others. Other than the three I had gained by killing the Chieftain, it seemed that these seven were slaves to the tribe. Which meant when the tribe was dead at my hands, they’d belong to me too. But I didn’t intend to keep them with me for long.
I looked over to Salvina, and scratched the werewarg behind her ears, causing her eyes to close in a perfectly canine reaction. “Bite them, but leave them alive. Those that survive the change will be part of your new pack.” There were more screams as a couple of the slaves realized what I was about to inflict on them. But they couldn’t resist, and couldn’t run, and each was bitten on a leg or an arm, so that the curse would be spread to them.
With that done, I ordered the wargs to guard the slaves, while I turned to deal with the ritual. The basics had been prepared, now, I just needed to execute.
With the help of Kylana and Hrozne, I began drawing the runes I would need for the ritual I intended, forming a great circle in the ritual space. The ritual was written in the runes of the demonic language, and there were several necromantic runes mixed into it, which was perfect for what I was about to do.
Kylana, Hrozne, and I all took our spots as three points of a triangle outside the circle where all the bound goblins were lying, more than a few crying out in pain or fear. As we began chanting in the abyssal tongue, the flow of mana around us grew, causing the wind to pick up, soon becoming a howling gale, as stormclouds hid the stars in the sky above us.
“Hear us now, forces of Chaos!
Hear us now, forces of Evil!
Hear us now, forces of Death!
By Blood we Call to you!
By Fear we Entreat you!
By Pain we Entice you!
By Sacrifice we Command you!
Let the Way be opened now, and Forever!
Let the Paths of the Damned open!
Let those who walk below be freed!
By our will, make it so!
By this blood, make it so!
By these lives, make it so!
NOW LET THE GATE BE OPENED!”
As we started our chant, the goblins began screaming as one, in fresh pain and agony. Blood stained the ground as the bones were ripped from their still living bodies one by one, flying through the air to begin building an archway from the bones, seven feet wide at the base, and twelve feet tall at its height. The keystone of the archway was the skulls of the apprentice shaman and the other highest level warriors.
When the chant finished, the goblins were all dead, so they did not see their lifeblood rise off the ground, and infuse the gateway, causing the bones to turn crimson. The did not witness the flames of hellfire flashing up amidst the gateway, before a portal was opened into another realm. The portal, wreathed in flame that did not burn where it met the skulls, opened up into the outskirts of a great city, forged in iron and adorned with spires of obsidian.
GLOBAL EVENT NOTICE!
Zayn Darkmore, leader of the Aria of the Twilight, has opened a permanent gateway to the 390th Plane of the Abyss, known as Xanlham, home of the Hellion race. This gateway allows unrestricted passage between the two realms, opening Xanlham and the other planes of the Abyss up for exploration (recommended level: 80+)!
Hellions are now unlocked as a playable race!
For performing an act of utter evil, you are granted the following title:
Dark Ritualist
Ritual magic you use is 20% more effective, and requires 10% less time and resources.
+4000 Infamy
For unlocking a new playable race, you gain the following:
+4000 Fame
As I finished looking over my notifications, I grinned as I saw the image of people moving through the portal. They were Hellions, like Kylana, and the first few seemed to be dressed as a city guardsman might be. They took up a defensive position near the portal, but didn’t say anything. Soon after, a man wearing much nicer armor, with a sword and shield made of some black metal, stepped out of the gate. Kylana surprised me by running forward and jumping at the man. “DADDY!”
Ozmeros
Greater Hellion Male
Level 120 Dark Templar (Fighter) / Blademaster (Fighter)
Titles: Demonbane, Orc Bane, Undead Bane, Angelkiller, Blademaster, Unbreakable, Unstoppable, Doting One
Daddy? Guess we managed to make a rift to near Kylana’s hometown. Cool. Stepping forward, I coughed once to get Kylana’s attention, and was pleased to see her blush before letting go of the man. He, on the other hand, was looking me over like a father might someone who had taken his daughter out on a date, and didn’t bring her back until the next afternoon.
“You are the contractor who summoned my daughter, then?” I simply nodded. “And what have you been doing with my daughter, incubus?”
Oh, it was going to be like that, hmm? With a shit-eating grin, I shrugged, and said, “Oh, you know, the usual. Going around, finding ancient treasures, chatting with dragons, killing people, fucking like rabbits.”
I was rewarded by seeing the man draw his sword, and start to issue a curse, before Kylana slapped both him and me upside the head. “Both of you, stop this at once! You are embarrassing me!” We looked at her, then at eachother. I shrugged, and we both laughed. Seems that got that out of the way, at least until she was out of earshot.
“So, what brings you by?”
“Well, it seems someone decided to open a gate from here to our city. A PERMANENT gate. As Captain of Xanl City’s City Watch, I needed to come see who decided that would be a good idea, and see if I needed to beat some sense into them.”
“Well, that was me, and just think how easy trade will become once people realize there’s an easy way to get to other planes here. Just make a garrison here, maybe get some people to start a town, and you’ve got an instant trading outpost with a whole world that would love new and exotic things.”
“And when the Celestials hear about this?”
“Well, I’ll offer to kick open a door to their plane, too. I’m equal opportunity like that. Doubt they’ll be too happy to let me, though, seeing as I sacrificed a goblin village to make this door.”
Ozmeros looked at me for a moment, and then hid his face with his hand. “Warlocks!”
Chapter 78 – Trade Chat IV
MightKord, Dread_Doom, Scholar, Might_Makes_Right, l44tPally, Darkmore, Darkmore’s Knight, Darkmore’s Bitch, Daywalker, Balderdash, Chamber, Sexy_Lady, DoorKicker, Gobby, Anonymous3, Anonymous5, RighteousAmazon, and Crackle are in the chat.
Lexichan: ZAYN! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THIS TIME?????
Crackle: Uh-oh! Someone’s in trouble! Lol!
Gobby: Damnit, I just had a whole bunch of quests canceled on me!
Dread_Doom: What happened, Gobby?
Gobby: I started as a Goblin, so I’ve been running around the Tribeslands, right? But I was on my way back to Gogruk Hold, where I started, to turn in some quests, and they’ve all been canceled!
MightKord: Ouch!
Scholar: Sounds like something happened to the NPC questgivers.
Doorkicker: What did Zayn do this time?
Daywalker: Heh. Well, it is a funny story, actually…
Darkmore’s Bitch: Ugh. What did he do now?
Lexichan: DAMNIT ZAYN! ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!!!
Darkmore: Chill out, Lexichan. This time it wasn’t my fault.
Raunaeril: Right.
Bercilac: Suuure.
Darkmore’s Knight: *side-eyes Darkmore*
LivingDeadDrow: *chuckles* That’s how you’re playing it?
Lexichan: Zaaaayn!
Darkmore: What? The stupid goblins declared war on me. So I discussed my displeasure with their chieftain. That discussion led to another discussion with the rest of the Hold, and the result of that discussion was me meeting my Familiar’s father.
Lexichan: What. Did. You. DO??
Darkmore: *sigh* I laid an ambush for the war band at a river crossing. The first fighters across the bridge got a bad case of ‘catching on fire’, followed by acute ‘arrow to the face’ poisoning. Then I may or may not have dropped the chieftain on his head from 300 feet up. There were a few other things, as well.
Raunaeril: And what happened at the Hold?
Darkmore: Oh, I just had my girls and some new companions raid the village, capture the remaining goblins, and gather them for a bit of ritual magic.
Gobby: Wait, what?
Darkmore: Long story short, I have access to a lot of books. Some of those books have rituals. I used one of those rituals to create a portal between this plane, and the plane where Hellions live. I might have put the other side of the door right outside their city, which caused the captain of their City Watch to come try and yell at me.
Daywalker: Which is when his familiar stepped in, and smacked the both of them for embarrassing her. Turns out the captain is her father.
Lexichan: Damnit, Zayn!
Gobby: What about the people in the hold?
LivingDeadDrow: The goblins? Material components for the ritual. You can’t create permanent gateways without a lot of power, after all, and it is much easier to use sacrifices than to use other means.
Gobby: DAMNIT! I just raised my rep with them to Respected! I was going to buy that cute half-goblin to be my personal slave!
Lexichan: Oh, Zaaayn! Would you care to explain why a bunch of fragging wolves came out of a portal, escorting ten very sick and very NAKED female slaves into our castle?
Darkmore: Oh, yeah. So some of those were the Chief’s personal slaves, and some were slaves of the tribe. They’re all my slaves now, as is the alpha of those wolves.
Darkmore: Actually, they’re wargs, and the alpha is a werewarg. Oh, and the reason the slaves are sick is because I had the alpha bite them.
Gobby: NO! Poor Hiqea!
Bercilac: So let me get this straight. A random tribe of goblins declares war on you. Why would they do that again?
Darkmore: Oh, I enslaved their high shaman, who was descended from one of the four families that captured Mirelth, and summoned a dragon to deliver her to the Goddess.
Bercilac: Of course you did. So this random tribe of goblins declares war on you, for perfectly understandable reasons. You lay an ambush for their war band, and go through them like a hot knife through butter.
Darkmore: And capture most of their wargs, including the werewarg the chief used as a mount.
Bercilac: And then you go to the goblin hold, round up the goblins, and use ritual magic to sacrifice them all and kick open a permanent gate to another plane?
Doorkicker: When you put it like that, you gotta admire his style.
Darkmore: Yep!
Bercilac: Only you, Zayn. Only you.
Lexichan: And WHY did you have the alpha bite the slaves?
Darkmore: C’mon, Lexi! How many guilds can say they have a pack of werewolves guarding their lands?
Sexy_Lady: So, um, did you do it with the werewarg?
Daywalker: *spitsoutdrink*
Lexichan: *facepalms*
Might_Makes_Right: HAH!
Darkmore: Heh. Damn right I did.
Doorkicker: I hesitate to ask, but which form?
Darkmore: Oh, she was in her wolf form. I was in my drake form.
l44tPally: *DIES*
Lexichan: DAMNIT, ZAYN!
Darkmore’s Knight: He also used that spell he got from following Sharess, the one guaranteed to knock someone up.
Darkmore’s Bitch: So, what, she’s going to have dragon-pups?
Darkmore: Who knows? It’ll be fun to see!
Lexichan: Ugh. Why do I even try to make you see common sense?
Gobby: So, um, is there any chance you could sell Hiqea to me? I was seeing her pretty regularly, before the hold was destroyed…
Darkmore: I’m not unreasonable. If she survives the change into a lycanthrope, I’ll consider a trade.
Gobby: What kind of trade?
Darkmore: Slave for slave. Bring me something exotic, that you think worthy of your girl, and I’ll trade you. Impress me, and I may even pay you something extra on the side.
Darkmore’s Knight: For the record, he already has elves, humans, half-celestials, drow, an angel, a nine-tailed fox, dwarves, an orc, and a werewarg.
MightKord: Damn, that’s impressive.
Darkmore: Anyways, Gobby, I promise that, if your girl survives, she will remain untouched by me for four months, in game. You have that long to find me an exotic slave to take her place.
Gobby: *sigh* Any preferences?
Darkmore: If you find a Succubus with the ‘Pure One’ title, I will not only free your girl, but give you 1000 PP from my own purse in exchange.
l44tPally: 1000 PP? You could buy a set of level 50 armor for that!
Darkmore: And it would be money well spent.
Gobby: I… I’ll see what I can do.
Lexichan: So, now that you’ve broken the poor kid’s heart, what THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING OPENING A DOOR TO HELL?
Darkmore: It isn’t actually hell, you know. The Abyss and Hell are two different things, apparently. Anyways, you’re thinking about this all wrong! I opened up a whole new zone for exploration, a new player race, and a crap ton of trading opportunities.
Lexichan: I’m going to throw my dagger at you.
Darkmore’s Knight: Get in line. He already got attacked by one of the mage trainers back in Fathon.
Chamber: I heard about that! That pregnant rabbitkin threw ice at this incubus. That was you?
Darkmore: *shrugs* She might be a little upset that I haven’t called.
Balderdash: You’re horrible.
Darkmore: Thank you very much!
Balderdash: That wasn’t a compliment!
Darkmore: Anyways, I still have a couple quests going on in the Tribeslands, and then I’ll be moving on.
Bercilac: Can we expect any other groups to declare war on you?
Darkmore: Dunno. One of the quests is to kill some trolls. Then I need to see the orcs about a couple thing
s. Probably going to go see the dwarves after that.
Crackle: Hey, since you’re in the tribeslands, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that disturbance near Fort Bilman?
RighteousAmazon: YOU BASTARD!
Darkmore: Are you talking about the new art piece by the road?
RighteousAmazon: I’m going to find you and OOOH kill you, asshole!
Scholar: What happened?
Darkmore’s Knight: This Amazon started preaching feminazi crap at Master. That went about as well as you’d expect.
l44tPally: Details plz!
RighteousAmazon: OOF Shut AAHH! Up!
Daywalker: He used some kind of tentacle spell to immobilize her, and while we took out her backup, he made two Golems, and commanded them to fuck her until they were destroyed. Then he and his familiar used magic to mount four of the five minions on stone pillars and fused them there, watching their leader’s disgrace. It counts as combat, so if she couldn’t break free, she’d have been stuck there until force-logout.
Crackle: Damn!
Sexy_Lady: Sounds exciting!
Scholar: …
MightKord: …
Might_Makes_Right: …
Doorkicker: *sends Sexy a party invite*
Darkmore: HA!
RighteousAmazon: Oh god, just make it stop! Yes, I UGH was forced to wait until the force logoff. But when I logged back in, the golems caught me before I could run, and did it again!
Darkmore: And what have we learned about being an insufferable bitch?
RighteousAmazon: I’M GOING TO TEAR YOUR DICK OFF AND MAKE YOU EAT THE DAMN THING YOU BASTARD!
Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume VII: The Tribeslands Page 4
