by Kieron Uchee
“What else do you remember,” I asked. Mathias replied, “She brought us here to this Inn, it was abandoned like most of the buildings nearby. We spent some time working on it and then we were running an Inn. It seemed strange, I thought this was my Inn but my Inn is leagues from the city. What has happened to me, to the serving girls?” Hearing the fear in his voice I spoke softly, “I believe I know what has happened but I think the girls should hear this also. Go get them Mathias, and I will tell all I know and surmise.
We all waited a few minutes until Mathias returned with the two serving girls. Once they were all seated at the table I asked Gluzzie to go get us some sharp cider and began to talk. “Reona is the redheaded women who brought you all here. She is a Dhampyr, a daylight walking Vampire. I believe she cast beguilement upon all of you. She did the same to me to convince me that we were in love. I fell into her trap like a moonstruck calf. She is very powerful and it is no wonder that she has managed to keep you here.”
The girls and Mathias looked at each other and then looked at me. “Is she gone now?” Mathias asked with a worried look on his face. I looked at them, the two girls huddling together holding hands and trying not to cry and Mathias projecting a brave mask in front of the girls. “She is gone,” I spoke with compassion in my voice. “I do not think she will bother you again, you should be safe.
Mathias looked at me and said, “Tor, I have been impressed by you since I met you and I want to thank you from all of us for freeing us from this entrapment. I am not sure I know what to do, should I go to the city guards with this? To tell you the truth, I just want to take the girls and go back to Brookshire.” The idea of staying here is not something I think any of us want to do now.”
I nodded and then spoke, “Mathias do you own this Inn or was it just being operated without the city permits?” If you own it I will purchase it from you here and now, even if it is not registered I will gladly give you a few gold to take over it, and the gold will help you get back home, what do you say?” Mathias gave me a searching look and then said, “Reona made sure that the paperwork was done and it is in my name, if you want it you can have it, no charge.”
I shook my head and spoke up, “No my friend I will buy it from you, the gold will come in handy if you get home and need to deal with issues.” After more discussion it was agreed that I would pay fifty gold for the Inn and everything in it. The morning light was starting to break across the city walls and I knew customers would soon be arriving for the morning meal.
I looked at Gluzzie and smile, “My friend, are you ready to work your culinary magic for the people?” Gluzzie gave me a broad smile and nodded. “Ama I need you and your sisters to be the servers, you to Taiqana. Ama is in charge. Raik you are the doorkeeper, and Sebastian you are the busboy kitchen helper. We will operate the Inn ourselves until we have some more staff.”
Seeing all of them smile and nod at me I grinned, it was good to be back home and to be here with friends. I had a lot to do today and I needed to plan the day carefully. First, I would talk to Archon once he arrived. Then I would find out what both the Old Bastards and the Jackass were up to. I also had done some thought and decided that two could play the game of building a house outside of a guild.
Once I had created my house I would begin to recruit, it was going to be a slow process but I had most of a year to work this. I also still wanted to get to the Temple Library and do some research about the abandoned zone and the Kradula. Once I had the knowledge I would lead my party to the Kradula and save the children. But before I did anything else I called Sebastian over. “My friend I have a mission for you,” explaining what I needed to be done I gave him some coins and then made my way to my room. I needed some sleep.
I was awake by mid-morning and after getting cleaned up I made my way down the stairs to break my fast. As I entered the common room I saw Archon sitting next to a window looking out at the stables. I made my way to his table and then sat down. I admit it I enjoyed seeing the surprise on his face as he noticed me.
“My God, what did they do to your eyes?” Archon asked with a pained expression on his face. I slowly nodded, I was so used to the black silk cloth covering my eyes that I did not notice it anymore and in the daylight, the fires that burnt in my eye sockets would not be visible behind the dark material. I smiled at him and responded, “The Jackass took two sharp daggers heated them and then burnt out my eyes. But have no worries in some ways I see much better now. Now how about you give me a smoke and then tell me what are you doing in my Inn?”
“Your Inn, Archon looked surprised, I thought this Inn belonged to Mathias?” “It did until I purchased it, and now it is mine, so getting back to the question why are you here, the last time we were together I recall you turned into an asshole.” Looking at Archon I could see a gamut of emotions running across his face, and then finally he spoke. “I am here to apologize; I was extremely out of hand on the Temple mount.”
I sat back looking at Archon and wondering how much of this is sincere. Sebastian walked over to our table and whispered into my ear, “There is a stealthed individual sitting behind you at the little table, would you like me to grab him?” I thought for a minute and then nodded, turning to Archon I said. “Excuse me and then turned to watch the show.” With a blur of motion, Sebastian was suddenly holding the arm of a man who suddenly stood up and then tried to spin around and break free of Sebastian's grasp.
“Looking at Sebastian he cursed and then yelled out “You had better let go of me Cupcake, or you will be hurting. He then glanced over at Archon and then tried to hit Sebastian. In a blur of movements too fast for normal eyesight Sebastian spun the rogue around like a cloth toy and the grabbed him from behind and began to squeeze the neck while pressing against the poor fellows back. I looked at Archon and asked, “Is he one of yours, because if he is not I am going to allow Sebastian to keep him for a plaything.
Sebastian looked at me with a smile and I laughed and asked, “Do you want a new toy, Cupcake?” By now Ama and her sisters along with Raik were standing around and watching along with a few late for breakfast customers. Sebastian gave me a wink and said, “Oh please master may I have a new toy, I broke my last one.”
Archon looked at me and said, “Enough, let my man go.” I stared at him and then replied, I will let him go, but no more of this Bullshit.” I nodded at Sebastian who whispered in the poor fellow’s ear and then laughed as the man turned pale. Letting him go Sebastian nodded at me and then walked back to the bar and began to polish the glasses. I decided we needed to somehow get a piano for him to play.
Looking over at Archon I spoke, “We really don’t want to be fucking around like this anymore. Are you Old Bastards ready to get serious or are we wasting time. If we are wasting time, you can get out, if you want to have a real talk then give me a damn smoke and let’s put the cards on the table.”
Looking at me Archon slowly nodded, “All right let’s talk.” He said. Pulling out a handful of rollies he placed them on the table; I grabbed two and lit them with Dragon fire from my finger. Passing him one I called Brea to bring us a pot of hot kavaa and we settled down to have a long discussion.
Chapter forty one
Sightseeing
We sat across from each other, each of us wondering what to say, where to begin. I lifted my hand and pointed at Archon. “Let me tell you what I have surmised, if I am wrong you fill in the blanks, and then you can ask me anything that you want. I want to make sure that we understand one another here, no more bullshit.”
Archon looked at me and his face tightened, he probably was not used to being spoken at like this. He was rich and powerful in the real world and had come here to continue that status along with all the other Old Bastards. I know longer cared about who they were or what they were trying to do Ingame. They were trying to survive, both out in the real world and Ingame and I did not begrudge them that. I would do the same in their position, but I think something has gone wrong with their plans. Ve
ry wrong.
I began speaking, “So this is what I think, the Old Bastards have developed this game. You have the money and the resources to make it happen. This whole world was supposed to be yours. In order to not raise suspicions you allowed the game to be open to a number of summer camps, after all, what the hell could kids do that would interfere.
So now there are two factions wandering around Ingame, you Old Bastards and the young Donators. It was at this point that something began to go wrong, the Donators managed to have an Ingame patch changed for their benefit.”
Archon nodded anger evident on his face. He spoke, “That programmer is no longer working for us, he should never have passed the hiring process. At the time, we had no knowledge that his son would manage to be Ingame.” I nodded, I had heard this before. Continuing on I said, “So now we have the patch active allowing players to leave the four guilds and start their own houses. Recruiting players and not being subject to the Ingame rules of guild behavior.”
“This, of course, leads me to the Jackass, a donator who is out of control. You may not know this but he altered my Vrp so I could not leave the game while I was held captive in his house. He tortured, and blinded me then attempted to have me locked in a vicious cycle of being corpse camped by the NPC of the Kradula. I only managed to escape by tremendous good fortune, and I have been moving ever since.”
Archon nodded and then said, “We knew he had captured you and we suspected he had done something to you, however, we could not contact you, it was like you were online but on another server. I nodded at this, it pretty much summed up what has happened. I gathered my thoughts and continued.
“So once I was gone I suspect that you used your Game Master privileges to try to see what was happening with me and with the Donators. I was out of reach and I assume that you have had no luck with the Donators, as long as they are not caught nothing they do can be proved, and even if they are caught it is not in your vested interest Ingame to have their crimes made public, the government would shut down this world.” Once again I observed Archon nod his head.
Continuing on I said, “I also believe that you have lost control of the game world when we were on the Temple mount it was apparent what happened there was totally unexpected, as I recall you somewhat lost it. You were demanding to know what was happening with me and the unknown God. Clearly what happened went far beyond the limitations imposed on players and higher powers like Gods and Demons.”
I stopped and lit another smoke and took a sip of the kavaa, it was not quite coffee and not quite tea but it was damn good. I stared out the window and then looked at Archon and asked, “Am I on the money here?” Seeing him slowly nod I grinned and said, “Just wait it gets better yet. There is more in this tale that has to come to light.”
“You are probably aware of the limitations the government has put on VRP game worlds, and yet this world is not complying with the millions of lines of embedded code, it has somehow circumnavigated around the code and now we have a virtual world where Gods are alive and seeking to influence the fate of all the races.” Again Archon nodded with a worried look on his face.
“So to sum up this discussion up to now, you created the world and then you lost control of it. You now have thousands of donators running around and a few of them are running amok. The Gods are alive and working on their own agenda, and trust me, the Gods are dicks here. Did I miss anything?” I asked.
Slowly shaking his head Archon looked at me and said, “Nope you nailed it, pretty much all that you said is what has happened and is what is happening. Now I have some questions for you, and I hope you will be as forthcoming with me as I have been with you. We know that what you told us earlier checks out, you are an orphan and you were raised in a state-run orphanage. The orphanage received the free summer camp pass and that is how you ended up Ingame.”
“What we don’t know is how do you have a daughter Ingame, how did you get those tattoos on your arms and I see you have a new one on your face. Also, why did the shrine on the temple mount light up like that for you, and how are you so powerful at level ten?” At this point, Archon stopped and then stared at me then asked, “How are you level one, when we were on the Temple mount I know you were level ten, what the hell? Where did you go to after the Jackass put you in the Kradula, why was your icon grayed out?”
I could see that Archon was looking at me intently and I decided to do more than tell him, gesturing outside I said, “If you really want to know then come with me and I will show you.” Archon stared at me then laughed, “All right I will follow you but be warned we have 5 people constantly observing me and the Inn. So show me your secret hiding place.”
“Raik I need you and Clea, we are going on a little trip, let's go out the back where we cannot be observed.” Standing I led the way through the kitchen only stopping to receive a kiss from Ama and have Gluzzie pass me a wrapped up bundle of food. Once Outside I looked at Raik and asked: “Should we go to the Keep or the Palace first?” Raik smiled and said, “Let's check out the Keep, I hate it there and yet I miss it, that just seems a little strange but what the hell, it is how I feel.
“It’s a done deal my friend,” I said and with that, I called the three together and huddled up, then cast the T-Loci spell and an instant later we were standing in front of the Keep of the Trial of Temptations. “Wait here,” I ordered the others as I walked into the yard, I wanted to see if being a Demon Prince would affect a change once I entered through the gates. Suddenly there was a deep Boom and I saw on my interface a message.
Welcome Demon Prince, you have found an abandoned Castle
In the wastelands of Gehenna
Do you wish to claim sovereignty over the keep?
Once you have claimed ownership the Keep will be added to your infernal holdings and a portal
Between your dominion in Hell and your Keep in Gehenna will be opened.
YES OR NO
Wow, another no-brainer for me, I hit the yes interface and suddenly there was a loud thunderclap, and a voice screamed out of nowhere, “The Keep of Gehenna which houses the Trials of Temptations has been added to the dominion of the Demon Prince Tor. Suddenly a slew of windows opened on my interface, shrinking them all I turned around and walked out the gate. Archon was looking at me with a stunned look on his face and suddenly he made the sign of the cross.
“Well done Tor,” Raik was smiling; I knew that you would be the master of this keep. Now you have added to your dominion and your reputation and power will be spoken off throughout your lands.” Clea also was smiling and then she gave me a wink and said, “Do you think my sister might share tonight?” And then she giggled and grabbed Raiks hand, “You won’t mind will you honey?”
Archon meanwhile was struggling to control his uneasiness. I looked at him and then said, “Relax man, this is cool, I am still who I was before I have just earned some Titles. Let’s huddle up everyone; we are heading to my palace next. A moment later we were standing on the balcony overlooking the gardens and enjoying the view. Suddenly the Majordomo appeared and called out, “Master I did not know you were coming back or I would have prepared a feast, how long are you staying sir.”
Smiling at him I told him that this was just a brief visit and that I needed to see the Comptroller. Bowing before me he hurried off, returning in a few minutes with the comptroller who also bowed and then asked how he could be of assistance.
I explained about the keep and asked him to locate the portal and then begin to move some guards into the keep. I also asked for exploratory parties to be sent out into the wastes to see if anything else of value could be found. Once done I handed out sandwiches to everyone from the pack Gluzzie had given me and then after we ate I asked Archon if he had any questions?
He was looking around with amazement and just shook his head, and then he said, “None of this is coded into the program, where in the hell are we. “Funny you should ask,” I replied, “Have a look at your map.” Pulling out his map he saw a blank
area with a small spot in the middle where we were. Expanding the spot he then spoke out loud, “The palace of the Demon Prince Tor, in the Dominion of Hades, Hell.
Archon turned to look at me then he looked around and then he said, “I guess things are not what they seem, are they. Clearly something has happened that is unexplainable. Is there anything else to show me?”
Nodding my head I once again called everyone together and, this time, I sent us to Roundland. As Archon looked at the world wrapping all around him curving up out of sight, with the mountains and seas visible in the distance he quietly spoke. “Oh fuck me, I don’t believe this.” I waited a few minutes to let Archon continue to gaze around when suddenly he said, “What is that stench, it smells like dirty socks and shit.”
I looked around and there sitting on the balcony 15 meters away was the Kritiq, I looked at the little bastard and then repeated what Archon had just said. “Oh fuck me.” The Kritiq once again flipped me the bird and jumped down. I stared at the little creature running away and thought some pretty evil thoughts, thoughts that a Demon Prince would think.
Archon asked, “What the hell was that thing and why does it smell so bad.” I just smiled grimly and answered, “That is my thorn in the flesh.” Calling everyone into a huddle I sent us back to Topland. Once we arrived we walked back into the Inn and sat down.
Looking at Archon I said, “You probably have a lot of questions, I am not sure I can answer them, clearly this game is not just the game of the brochures. I have one year to do several things and I could use your help to do them, and what I am doing will be of benefit to you, will you work with me?”
Archon slowly shook his head, and then asked, “Before I agree to anything I need to know what is it you are trying to do?” Looking at him I slowly answered, I am going to be banishing the Gods from this realm. I am going to be rescuing the lost children of the Kradula, and I am going to be getting rid of the Jackass and his house. That sums up what my plans are.
