Rank
C
Success
Kill or Capture the band of slavers (0/20 remaining).
Optional: Defeat the band’s leader, Black Eyed Shyrl.
Failure
The band of slavers escapes the kingdom.
Rewards
10 GP per slaver killed.
30 GP per slaver captured and turned in to a Slavers’ Guild representative.
Increased standing with the Slavers’ Guild.
Optional: Profession Upgrade Quest
Failure
Decreased standing with the Slavers’ Guild.
Wait a minute! The leader of this band was Black Eyed Shyrl, not Gorthang Bloodmaul, according to the quest. That would mean--
Sneak Attack! Critical Hit! You have been struck for 2430 damage by Black Eyed Shyrl!
You are Bleeding, and will lose 10 HP/second for 60 seconds.
I yelled in pain as a dagger implanted itself in my kidney, taking off almost half my hit points in a single hit! I was staggered by the blow, but managed to turn and interpose my sword between the next dagger strike. Strangely, the attacks stopped, just as the attacker came into plain view. Oh, yeah, I still had Cloak of Chaos up. The second attack didn’t hit, but the attack was launched, which was enough, it seemed. My would-be assassin was paralyzed for thirty seconds, and slowed for another thirty beyond that. I was damn lucky not to be dead already. Without my insanely high Defense due to cheating CHA, I would have been a gonner before I even knew I was under attack.
Black Eyed Shyrl
High Elf Female
Level 100 Assassin (Rogue) / Guerilla (Ranger)
Titles: Sadist, Deceiver, Traitor, Elf Bane, Human Bane, Dwarf Bane, Goblin Lover, Slave
“STOP!”
With that word of command, everyone in the room froze. Including the now incredibly irate Black Eyed Shyrl, who I now recognized as one of the four slaves who had been bedding Gorthang when I arrived. “Everyone but Shyrl relax. You five guards, defend this room from any of the members of this gang. Gadriel, if you please?” I sighed as Gadriel’s healing magic washed over me again, restoring my health.
Looking to Shyrl, I said, “Well, now. The quest we got informed us that Black Eyed Shyrl was the leader of this group, but it seems the Slavers’ Guild didn’t know about everything. How did you come to wear the collar. SPEAK!”
The elf maiden sighed, and said, “I like a rough hand in the sack, you know? Not like those pretty boy elves. And humans always want to ‘make love’ to me. Goblins and their ilk? They give it to me like I want it, but that makes you a pervert in the Wyrmwood, so here I am. Figured slaving was an easy way to make money, but the guild wanted a lot of gold, and the enchantment for slave collars was not something anyone in the city was willing to teach me without the guild’s OK. So, I decided to forget about the guild, and sell on the side. There’s always a market for merchandise outside of official channels, especially when you start crossing borders.”
“That bastard was my partner, and my lover, before he tricked me. Slipped a sleeping potion in my grog while we were drinking one night. Woke up with one of those collars that could still be hidden below your shirt if you wore a high collar, and having to call Gorthang ‘Master’, while the crew thought I was getting too infatuated with the brute and left running the day to day with him.”
“And when I killed Gorthang?”
“There’s a window, see? Between when the master is killed and the slave first hears the new master speak. You kill the new master before they speak, and you’re not their slave. The collar pops off, and you’re free. Oh, and you own any of their slaves, too. Bonus, that.”
“Sucks to be you, doesn’t it?”
Quest Completed!
Hunt Slavers on Blacklake Road
A band of slavers has been operating on the Blacklake Road between Fathon and the border town of Blacklake, on the edge of the Horde Tribeslands. They have been operating independently of the Slavers’ Guild, and are not under its protection. The Slavers’ Guild wishes to make an example of these renegades.
Rank
C
Success
Kill or Capture the band of slavers (0/20 remaining).
Optional: Defeat the band’s leader, Black Eyed Shyrl. (Complete)
Failure
The band of slavers escapes the kingdom.
Rewards
160 GP for slavers killed by you or your slaves.
30 GP per slaver captured and turned in to a Slavers’ Guild representative.
Increased standing with the Slavers’ Guild.
Offer of 200 GP for Black Eyed Shyrl’s slave contract from Slavers’ Guild.
Profession Upgrade Quest available! See profession trainer for details.
Failure
Decreased standing with the Slavers’ Guild.
As the quest completed, I breathed deeply, and looked to Shyrl. “You’re a pervert, and I’m not opposed to that. More importantly, you’re damn good with those blades of yours. If I didn’t have all this magic and armor protecting me, you might just have gotten your freedom before I could speak. Still might have if you’d thought to strike the throat instead of the kidney. Less overall damage, especially with a healer around, but more likely to keep the target silent.”
“So now I’ve got to choose what to do with you. On the one hand, you can be sold to the Slavers’ Guild, for whatever purposes they might see fit to sell you as. Looking at you, I bet they’ll find you a nice posh noble to take you as a sex slave. But you’ve got enough potential that I’d like to see what else you can do. I think I’ll have you stay at my castle until I’ve decided just what I’ll do with you.”
Chapter 67 – Hunting the Dead
Escaping instant death in a VR game like AAO is just as harrowing as it is in real life. Once the adrenaline wears off, you crash. Fortunately, I was able to keep moving, though my hands were shaking. That was really too close for comfort.
As we went, we gathered everyone together, and made a final tally. All the slavers were dead. The final tally, as far as slaves taken, went as follows:
Name
Combat Slaves
Noncombat Slaves
Total Payout
Yukiko
7
5
220 GP
Zayn
7
25
Kamla
3
6
90 GP
Severa
4
8
220 GP
Nithroel
4
6
100 GP
Hrozne
5
3
80 GP
Since Yukiko and Severa tied, I was generous, and gave both of them an extra hundred gold. It was important to give rewards as well as punishments. I was only slightly surprised at the number of noncombat slaves I’d captured, since I had gone in figuring that most of the group’s sale stock would be in the ‘care’ of the guild master until sale. And I was right.
Now I had a problem. There were simply too many people in this group for me to take them all with me. Even with raiding the slavers’ stores, bringing eighty-three people with me while I was hunting undead was just not a smart idea. Especially when most of them were under level 10. I considered for a moment, and then opened a chat to Iqnora.
Zayn: Iqnora, if you’re not busy, head down to the dark shrine for a moment.
Iqnora: Of course, my Lord. Any particular reason?
Zayn: Busted up a group of slavers acting outside the Guild. Their stock now belongs to me, and I have undead to hunt.
Iqnora: And you’d rather them not all die drawing a horde of the things to you, I take it?
Zayn: Exactly. They are all enslaved under my authority, and I will order them to obey you, and any member of the guild. Some have combat skills that can be put to use bolstering the guards. Others are noncombatants, but they might have skills you can
use, or at least could be used as staff around the castle. Let me know if any problems arise.
Iqnora: Of course, my Lord.
With that, I cut the chat, issued my orders to the slaves, and sent them through the dark portal to the shrine under Lithaes Castle. I’ll admit, I breathed easier once I had that lot out from under my foot. There was no way that group could have done anything but cause trouble for me while going about my second quest.
As expected, the loot, other than slaves, was fairly light. The gear the slavers used was… well, it was better than starting gear, certainly, and it was enough to intimidate merchants and the like, but there’s a reason why they were a group of rogue slavers, and not front-line adventurers.
At any rate, once the gear of the dead was sorted, I opened the portal, and ordered all the newcomers through. As Iqnora had said, I couldn’t have this lot with me as I was traipsing through the countryside hunting a horde of undead. That would be stupid, and while I may be an idiot at times, I try to limit my daily intake of stupid to reading comments on my stream.
That left nine of us once again, to hunt down an ancient crypt and see what happened to a company of dwarven adventurers. Of course, when one is hunting undead, one likes to have holy magic around, because that fucks them up like nothing else. Really, that was the main reason I kept Gadriel with me so far. I didn’t like having people who were much-higher level than me around, because they removed some of the challenge. There was a difference between the cheating I normally did, which was me figuring out how to use my abilities in ways people didn’t immediately think of, and putting the game in ‘easy’ mode.
But a horde of undead was a horde of undead. The two times I’d faced a horde of undead, back at Ullelone and during the tutorial, I was in a desperate fight, and came close to getting my ticket punched. I had no idea of the size of the horde, or their levels, or what kind of undead we were facing. There might even be a lich, or some other nastiness. But I figured that between having three holy casters and a Necromancer around, along with my natural mayhem abilities, we’d be good.
At least we wouldn’t be wandering around aimlessly looking for the ruin that the undead were guarding. The slavers had already found it for us. Oh sure, they didn’t tell us as much, being dead, but the map in their common room that showed the local area had a hint. The ruin with a big ‘X’ on it, with a skull drawn next to it, over a written “NO!” underlined several times was probably the place. Or a Taco Bell.
On the off chance it wasn’t the home of gas-inducing faux-Mexican food, we headed towards what used to be a monastery of some sort. As we approached it, it was clear that we were in the right place. The smell of death and decay were heavy in the air as we sighted the ruined building from the road, and while that could still mean that it was a Taco Bell, I wasn’t sure even burritos could cause the grass and trees to be dying in what looked to be a perfect circle around the building. No, this was Blight.
Blight happens when corruption and other nastiness are allowed to linger too long in an area. It is basically taking unholy, despoiled land, and putting it on crack and steroids at the same time. Living creatures who aren’t protected from the Blight take a constant damage over time just from standing there, while Undead are healed by the Blight, and even those undead creatures who are vulnerable to sunlight are able to walk under the noonday sun within Blighted lands. Something was terribly wrong here.
New Quest Alert!
Blighted Monastery
A monastery formerly belonging to disciples of Moradin has been defiled by the Blight. What caused the Blight to come here? Why is it centered upon this monastery without spreading?
Rank
B
Success
Discover the cause of the Blight.
(Optional) End the Blight.
Failure
Die, or give up the quest.
Rewards
Experience
Unknown
Increased Reputation with followers of Moradin
Consequences
Decreased Reputation with followers of Moradin
Unknown
Oh-ho! Seems that coming here activated a quest! Well, even if we weren’t going to be going there anyways, now we had to go get to the bottom of this. I turned to look at Hrozne, and asked, “How will the Blight affect you?”
Hrozne got that faraway look one had when looking up information on their status screens, before saying, “I’m good. Since I’m neither living nor undead, it washes out. Same with the protection spells the holy magic users have. It won’t hurt me, but it won’t help me much, either.” He nodded to Kamla. “You’ll want to leave Kamla out of the holy protections, though.”
The vampiress grimaced. “Yeah, I’m a daywalker, but holy magic still hurts like hell. The Blight will up my damage and regen, though.”
I nodded. “All right, here’s the play. Kylana, stay here with the horses and the cart. If anyone causes trouble, blast them. Gadriel, you’re our most powerful holy caster, so lay your best long-term protection on the living members of the group, and renew it when it goes out. If your MP gets below half, let us know, and we’ll take a break. You’re going to be the key to this whole thing.”
Everyone agreed, so Gadriel put a blessing on us, which would protect us from the Blight for an hour. Unfortunately, it also made us glow with holy light like torches, so stealth was out completely. But it was better than trying to heal constant DOT and other nasty debuffs from the Blight while trying to fight our way through.
And fight we would have to, as the moment we stepped into the Blight, the undead began to approach us. For the most part, they were merely skeletons, though there were Skeleton Mages and Skeleton Knights in the mix, as well. They were all level 40 or so, which meant that we weren’t having any real trouble with them. We had to make sure to manage MP well, as this was going to be a gauntlet-style dungeon crawl, from the look of it, but we could do it. The only real problem was that what loot was available was too tainted by Blight for us to take. High level purifications could remove the Blight, but those would probably weaken or change the magic of any enchanted items, and none of what we found was more than dealer trash, anyways.
Finally, we arrived at the entrance to the ruined monastery. The symbol of Moradin was above the doorway, but the iron doors that formerly stood there were lying on the ground. Standing guard was a spectral figure.
The Grim Warden
Dwarf Ghost Male
Level 40 Wraith (Spirit) / Fighter
Titles: Deathsworn, Ethereal Blacksmith
The ghost looked at us and said in a low voice, “Halt, travelers! This ground is cursed, and no place for the living. Turn back if ye value your lives!”
I took a breath, and then said, “Noble spirit, we know that the ground we stand upon is cursed, and that is part of the reason we have come. If possible, we would lift the curse from this land. Is that not the reason the dead are restless, and do not lie quiet in their graves?”
“Hah! More fools walking to their doom, then, like the last group. If I am not mistaken, your group is no stranger to the dark and evil deeds man may do to another, and yet perhaps it takes one used to the shadow to bring light where it is needed.”
“Indeed. Though one may walk in darkness, why can they not have the same goal as one who clings to the light? The only difference is the methods one might be willing to entertain, and the reason for taking up the task. For myself, and my group, we are adventurers, and took up a job to seek out another party that has been lost in this area for some time, and to clear a lost vault of the undead. As we approached, we were granted another quest, to find the cause of the Blight, and end it, for which we were promised a reward. But should we succeed in cleansing the Blight, would that make it any less a boon to the lands around us?”
“Hah! You speak like one of those snake-tonged nobles back in the Dwarven lands! But ye be right in this. The Blight needs to be stopped, and ye no doubt guessed that the vaul
t below this monastery is where the Blight is spreading from. Only the wardstones keep the Blight from expanding over the entire countryside, but they have been weakening of late.”
“How did this Blight come to be? What caused a place defended by proud disciples of Moradin to fall so low? This building, though it is in ruins, is far too intact to have been lost in the Scourge. So this must be something more recent, yes?”
“Indeed. One hundred years ago, when the Scourge was ending, relations between the humans and dwarves were not what they are now. This monastery was set up as a beacon of friendship, and as a place to train smiths in the dwarven style.”
“But humans are greedy creatures, always seeking more than what is good for them, and looking for shortcuts to power they haven’t earned. An apprentice Runesmith by the name of Felix, frustrated by the slow progress of his path, summoned a demon in a foolish attempt to bind it into a weapon. Not nearly ready for such a task, the Runesmith managed to summon not a demon, but a Terror that had been sleeping. The result was… distasteful to talk about, to say the least.”
Rules-Free VRMMO Life: Volume VI: Taking the Show on the Road Page 5
