Ingame: Virtual reality enabled

by Kieron Uchee

  Archon stared at me and then nodded, “I think we can work with you on those plans,” he said. Taking his leave he explained that he had to go talk to the other Old Bastards and that he would be in touch in a couple of days. After he left I called Sebastian over and asked for the bag I had sent him out to buy.

  Calling everyone else over I opened the bag, spilling one hundred pounds of tobacco in small pouched all over the table. Grabbing four of them I yelled out to my friends “Enjoy” and then went to my room, I was tired and wanted a nap before supper, I had plans to go visit some old friends after sunset.

  Chapter forty two: An Diadan

  The meeting with Archon had gone well; I had opened his eyes to the reality that this game world was not functioning as intended. I did not want to be a shit disturber, but if we were to form an alliance then we would have to be honest with each other. My thoughts tossed and turned, and I just could not sleep, I was not going to be able to have a nap.

  I stood up and went to the wash area and cleaned my face and hands. Looking in the mirror I stared at the image reflected back at me. Average Height, darkly tanned skin, slanted eyebrows and a black cloth wrapped around my eyes. In the sockets, a red-orange glow was visible behind the cloth. My cheekbones were high and my lips were full while a square chin sat at the bottom of my face.

  My arms were covered in black tattoos of flowers that writhed about with a life of their own. Entangled amongst the flowers were two swords, one on each arm. On my right cheek was a demonic glyph, denoting my status as a Demonic Prince. It was more of a title of honor as I was not a demon, but then I was not really human either. My ears were slightly longer than normal and tapered along the top to a point. My shoulders and arms were heavily muscled, more so than when I had first entered this world.

  I looked like I was not the kind of person you would not want to meet in a dark alley late at night. This thought made me smile, and with that, I left to go back down the stairs. It was mid afternoon and I wanted to get some things dealt with. Nodding at Raik, I called out for Ama and Sebastian to accompany me and then walked towards the door of the Inn.

  Looking around as I exited I was pleased to see that if was half full of humans who were ogling Ama’s sisters as they wiggled back and forth shaking it while serving the guests. I also noticed a contingent of dwarfs who were sitting near the kitchen entrance and who seemed mesmerized by Gluzzie as he worked.

  I am sure there is a story there and once I have a little time I would like to find out what it is but for now, I needed to get going. “Are you ready?” I asked nodding at Sebastian and holding Ama’s hand. Seeing him nod we departed and made our way down the street. “Where are we going, “Ama asked? Both Ama and Sebastian were gazing around with wide eyes at the city, gazing up at the tiers leading to the top of the Temple mount and the palace of the King.

  “We are going to deal with the city, I am registering the bill of sale of the Inn and also I wish to make some more purchases if possible. I want to buy as much of the abandoned zone as I can, and as many of the buildings around the Inn as I can.” Nodding at this, Sebastian spoke up. “Purchasing near the Inn makes good sense and is a strong tactical move. But why buy the abandoned zone, Tor?”

  “Once it is cleared out, it is going to be prime property, and it already has a large wall around it, I am thinking of a gated community within a community. It will all depend on the price the city wants for the property, hopefully, it will be cheap.” As I finished speaking I noticed two Donators, with House of Pain patches on their gear. I stopped and watched these two players; they were harassing a Female NPC.

  One of them began to push at her and then finally slapped her on the face as the other looked around at the small crowd. They then both grabbed her and dragged her towards an alley. “That is not going to be happening,” I said with an angry look on my face. I hit Shadows and disappeared, quickly making my way to the alley from which I could hear cries for help and the sound of someone being slapped.

  Looking towards the girl I saw that she was being held by one the players with her arms twisted behind her back, the other player meanwhile had ripped her shirt and skirt off and was busy pulling his pants down. The motherfucker was trying to rape an NPC girl.

  I made my way behind the player holding the girl and then activated my basic DPS attack. I was not going for fancy here; I just punched the rapist player as hard as I could in the back of his head. With the Critical bonus from using Shadows and what seemed to be a multiplier effect from hitting the rapist from the back, the damage was outstanding.

  By outstanding I mean his head actually came off his shoulders and he went for a respawn. Meanwhile, his cohort stood there with a stupid look on his face until Sebastian grabbed him and tossed him against the alley wall.

  “Ama please help this girl to safety, take her out of the alley, Sebastian and I have some business to take care of here.” Seeing Ama gently grab the girl and lead her out I walked over to where the player was trying to stand up. His shoulder was dislocated I would guess, and he seemed to be in some pain. As he looked at us his face paled but he spoke with some bravado. “Do you fuckers know which House I belong to; it’s the fucking House of Pain. You are going to pay for what you have done. We are going to corpse camp you till you bleed from your eyeballs.”

  Having heard enough I slapped him hard then stood back as he began to cry and spit out a couple of teeth. Reaching out I grabbed him by the neck and lifted my arm, holding him like the rat he was I began to shake him as I spoke. “I do not care what house you are in, this is my city, and I do not allow assholes like you to walk around assaulting the people who live here.”

  “You give this message to the Jackass, leave the game now. If I find anyone of you twats here on the second tier I will send you to hell till your game time is up. Now get out of here.” Being a kind hearted person I helped the asshole by throwing him against the wall near the exit of the alley.

  As we walked towards the street Sebastian looked at me and said grimly, “What the heck, why were these two trying to rape that poor girl?” I looked at him and shook my head, “I think that some people believe if they cannot be punished they have free will do whatever they want, and they have no absolutes in their life. If the Jackass and his Donators are now going about and doing whatever they want in the city that does not bode well for NPC or other players.”

  As we left the alley I saw Ama comforting the girl at a nearby stall, there were several other NPC all clustered around, and they all were looking mad. As we made our way to Ama I could hear the people talking, it seems that the House of Pain has been busy, attacking and robbing both NPC and other players.

  At this point, I asked the crowd what the Kings Guards or the City Guards were doing about this situation. Looking at the people all shaking their heads I finally heard one of them say that The Kings Guards were preparing for some war and that the City Guards had all been ordered to only patrol the city from tiers three to five. Tiers one and two had been abandoned by the King.

  I looked at the crowd and then spoke in a loud voice. “Go to the Hearth home Inn at 6 bells, I will have something to announce about the safety of the city. The crowd looked at me and then a few asked questions, I responded as best I could without giving away any information. I was offering hope to people who had never needed it but who needed it now.

  I asked if anyone could escort the young lady home and when several people volunteered I let them lead her away. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, the city officials were more than happy to transfer ownership of the Inn to me, the only change that needed to be made was to the name. I called my Inn the Dragons Den, and with an exchange of monies, it was done.

  Once I explained that I was also interested in the whole area around my inn including the Kradula and the abandoned zone I was quoted a price that was clearly too high. After some negotiations, I was not broke but my stash of rainy day funds was almost empty. However I did now own a sizable chunk of the se
cond tier of the city. I then also asked where I had to go to register a House that would not be part of a guild. It turned out to be just down the hall and so making my way there I entered another room.

  After signing some more papers and paying another sum of gold I was now the official leader of the House of An Diadan. Ama asked, “What does An Diadan mean?” It has a nice sound to it, I like it. Sebastian nodded he also wanted to know what the name meant. An Diadan means house of Shelter or a house of Haven, it is what this city needs, and I hope that it lives up to its name.

  I looked at the sky, the light was beginning to fade as we walked back towards the Inn, all three of us on alert for possible attacks. It was nearing six bells by the time we arrived back and I was surprised to see the courtyard was full of NPC and the Inn itself was packed with people eating and drinking. Clearly Gluzzie was working his magic and I don’t think any male could withstand the Succubae charms of Brae and Clea.

  I sent Ama in to get me a sharp apple cider and then jumped up on a wagon that was parked next to the Inn. “People of the city,” I began, “I am Tor, leader of the house of An Diadan and the owner of this Inn and all the buildings in this area. I have recently been away and since arriving back at the city I have seen lawlessness and anarchy.”

  “The House of Pain is running rampant and the King has not seen fit to establish law and order. We are left at the mercy of thugs and people who have no respect for us. These Donators are out of control and many of you have experienced what to expect from them. Just today I stopped the rape of a girl by two of these Donators from the House of Pain.”

  I could see that many of the men in the crowd looked angry and several of the women had a fearful look on their face, I was looking a little pissed off myself. “This cannot continue, I am inviting you to join my house, to submit to my authority and direction. The rewards will be having safety in your life. It will not be something that will happen overnight but together we will achieve together what the King refuses to do, have a safe city.” As I finished speaking I saw many of the male NPC nod their heads in agreement and even a few players seemed to be agreeing with my words.

  “My man Raik here will take the names of all whom wish to join my house. If you join then meet here tomorrow morning by nine bells, and we will proceed from that point on. One word of warning, if you join and then betray us there will be no safe place hidden from my wrath.”

  I stood by and watched as NPC after NPC came forward and signed the membership bill for the House of An Diadan. All told we had 113 NPC and 23 Players join the house. I would talk to the players in the morning to determine their level of competence and their abilities.

  I turned to find Ama standing next to me with a proud look on her face. “Tor, in the Demonic culture, we are often told what to do, who to be with and not given a choice in our future.” Here she smiled at me and then continued, “That is why I was ready to marry you so fast, it is really the norm for us. But what I have seen you do here, giving these people the choice to do something about their situations, their lives, it is wonderful. Thank you.”

  Smiling at her I said, “You can show me your thank you in about an hour when we are in bed. Let's go get something to eat first.” Holding her hand we walked into the Dragons Den.

  Chapter forty three: Deals

  Morning comes early and the only good thing about that was the fact that it meant one of Gluzzie’s breakfasts. I left the room and washed up and then went downstairs, it was early but the common room was full of both players and NPC. Most were here to have a hot drink and a fast bite before they began a shift of patrolling tiers one and two of the city.

  A week ago I had opened up my house An Diadan and had begun to accept both NPC and players. The NPC vastly outnumbered the players. I had set up patrols and a training schedule. I also had to supply basic weapons for the NPC. It was costing me a pretty penny however the benefits were already apparent.

  No members of the House of Pain would come down to the second tier any longer. Not after I had portalled the last few who tried down to the ocean, about forty yards out from the beach. Those players found out that armor is heavy, and most of them could not swim. The respawn area was pretty busy for a little while. The bonus of that was that Gluzzie would go down to the ocean and dive in then in half an hour there would be some nice armor sets and weapons unless the gear was soul bound.

  What had caught my interest was the fact that all the other dwarfs were constantly following Gluzzie. The watched him as he worked in the kitchen, and they followed him wherever he went if he left the Inn. It was time I found out what this was all about. Walking towards the dwarfs table I pulled up a chair and sat down. I looked at the dwarfs and they looked at me.

  I began by asking, “Why are you following my cook? Everywhere he goes you go, and when he is at work here you sit staring at him. Why are you doing this?” I directed my questions to the dwarf I had met once before when he had come up and complimented me on Twinks appetite.

  The Dwarf looked at me and nodded, and then he spoke up. “I am Dram Banhammer and I belong to the ancient clan of the Banhammers. These folks with me are all clan mates and family. Pointing at Gluzzie he continued to speak, “We are here waiting for the clan chief to give us directions.”

  I was surprised to hear this and said “Wait, are you telling me the Gluzzie is your clan chief, I think that you might be mistaken. I can promise you that Gluzzie has not been in the Dwarfs lands for a long long time.” I spoke with conviction but the Dwarfs all shook their heads. I was not getting through to them and they were getting a stubborn look on their faces.

  Dram spoke up, “Lad you do not understand, we dwarf identify our leaders by the braids and clips that are in their beards. It is clear that Gluzzie is the clan leader. It is a miracle no less, as we have not had a clan leader in a thousand years. I do not know where Gluzzie came from but by dwarfen law, he is our leader. We honor bound to stay and await his commands.”

  I nodded as it was beginning to make sense to me. Excusing myself I went and spoke with Gluzzie. Once I had explained everything he sighed and then asked, “What should I do?” I thought for a moment and then told him to let them accept him as clan leader. “You must have them swear an oath to me and then I can put them to use,” I spoke with excitement, I had just thought of something that could have far-reaching implications for the Ingame world and I wanted to get things in motion.

  We gathered together and Gluzzie spoke first, then the dwarfs chimed in. I had thought that giving me their allegiance might be a problem but it was not an issue. My actions with allowing NPC to join my house and also running the Inn had greatly increased the favor of the entire lower tier NPC towards me. My reputation was high with them and that along with Gluzzie insisting that they all bend the knee to me was enough to sway them.

  Once it was all done I called Gluzzie and the Banhammers leader Dram together. I spoke up explaining, “I need you dwarfs to go that smithy next to the Inn up and running. I need weapons and armor being crafted and also something new.”

  “Something new, and what would that be?” Dram spoke slowly with humor; he was in a great mood having just helped to restore the Clan Chief after over a thousand years of not having one. I did not know how things worked for dwarfs but it seemed that things were just accepted as done. This was much like Ama had explained how Demonic culture worked. If there was one fault I could find Ingame it would be that things that would not make sense in the real world were just accepted as the norm here.

  Back to Drams question, I nodded and then reached into my bag and pulled out the chest containing the book of Science. Opening the chest I grabbed the book and pulled it out. Both Dram and Gluzzie were staring at the book in wonder; it had a feel to it that I had not seen in the game world with anything else.

  Looking at Dram I asked him if his loyalty to me would stand the test of time and any other pressure that might be put on him. He looked at me and licked his lips, and said, “My word is m
y life and once given it cannot come back.” I nodded and then handed him to the book, “I want to know everything that is in the book, every recipe, every detail. I leave it with you to begin the process of building the machines and making them work. This is something new and I encourage you to be circumspect with what you are doing, trust only myself and Gluzzie.

  I watched as he opened the book and saw a strange expression come across his face. Gluzzie went back to the kitchen and I sat and drank my kavaa. Twink came down and joined me as she waited for Gluzzie to prepare her breakfast. She was spending more time each day flying outside of the city exploring the nearby Islands and the bays and beaches of the coastline.

  Finally, Dram looked up and closed the book, then clearing his voice he spoke, “Good morning lady Twink, it is good to see you with such a good appetite.” Then looking at me Dram said, “My Lord, what you have given me, I have no words but if only half of what I read is true then we will change this world.” I nodded; it was what I wanted to hear.

  “I will be getting the boys together now and we will start working on the smithy next to the inn, also we will get the large building on the back of the smithy repaired to have a storage facility on hand. “One moment before you leave Dram,” I spoke quietly and gave him the instructions for a special project that needed to be done. “Let me know when you are done and tell no one of this,” I finished. With that Dram gave me a wave and walked over to the table full of dwarfs and began giving orders. Within minutes they had all cleared out, heading to get tools and start working on the smithy.