Yukiko: Night’s Requiem? Wasn’t that the guild that was racing you for the ‘Explorer’ titles?
Johnist: Yeah, they’re the ones. We actually became something like friendly rivals for a while.
Zayn: So what’s up?
Johnist: They’ve found the family of one of the four ‘heroes’ that trapped Mirelth. They got a guild quest to eliminate the family. But that isn’t their problem.
Bercilac: Let me guess, they’ve got better protection than they ought to.
Johnist: Right in one. The guild leader, Jayden Redmane, was chased away from the house by three Knights of St. George. When the guild ambushed the pursuing knights, it kicked off a subquest for the Duskfall Event, saying that there were 22 more knights to kill. Or people could join up with the knights, to learn their secrets of dragonslaying.
Zayn: I can see where this is going. What do they need?
Johnist: They’re going to end the family (who turns out to be the head of the Slavers’ Guild), but they are going to need help with the knights, and anyone who decides to join up with them. They reached out to me, seeing if we had any resources in the city.
Zayn: Wait one.
Turning away from the guild chat, I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. Looking at Merkath, I smiled, and said, “Lady Dragon, as you know, your mother has taken possession of the city of Duskhaven. Through the use of Traveler magic, I’ve learned that members of the Order of St. George are in the city, protecting the family of one of the four that chained Mirelth. Do you think you’ll be able to get us through the barrier surrounding the city?”
(Jayden POV)
I cursed as I saw what was ahead of us. In the hours since the event quest with the knights was announced, players in the city had taken sides. A running battle had started between some of the Knights and members of the Thrillseekers guild, trying to collect the bounty and get out of the city. Others, mostly ‘lightsiders’, had started intervening on behalf of the Knights, to try and gain the skills to slay a dragon. Those Scions of Torgan emerged from the shadows and declared themselves allies of the Knights and those that fought with them. This caused more players to enter the battle, fighting against the Knights to get the reputation bonuses from killing Scions and their allies.
In short, the city was a mess, and the guard on the target’s mansion had not eased up in the slightest. In fact, according to what Shadrack, our Goblin Ranger, said, the guard had increased, in number, if not in quality. It was going to be tough for six players to break into the mansion, even if the guards were all lower level than we were. Unfortunately, the guards ranged from 30 to 65, and I knew the guard captain and the guild leader were in the neighborhood of 100. We couldn’t rely on a brute force approach, not unless something happened to give us an opening.
Thankfully, Scholar (that was his forum name, anyways) had come through. He wasn’t specific, but he said one of his classmates was Johnist, that guy from the Lords back in WoD that we’d competed against. He had always been good people in game, but I was surprised to learn how close we were in RL. Anyways, apparently Johnist had made a couple calls, and we should expect a distraction soon.
“Fighting is getting awfully close, Jay. We’re going to get blown if we don’t move soon.”
“Keep it together, Shadrack. We’ve got a distraction incoming.” I looked at the time display in my HUD, and said, “Thirty seconds. Don’t know what the distraction is going to be, but we give the guards thirty seconds after it goes down to respond, and then we move while they’re facing the wrong way. Everyone ready?” Five heads nodded at me, and I smiled. I was about to make some kind of witty remarks to pump up the team, when the silence was broken by a dragon’s roar.
Reflexively, we all looked up, to see a dragon, much smaller than Mirelth, fly through an open portal… fifty feet above the ground. Several other figures stepped out of the portal over the town square, and stood on a platform of hardened light. One of the figures transformed into a miniature dragon, and he and an angel flew down towards the square, while the rest began sliding down a chute of hard light to join them.
New Event Quest Alert!
Return of the Dark Daughter
Many centuries ago, after Mirelth was captured, one of her surviving hatchlings attempted to free her mother, but was sealed away by Knights of the Order of St. George. Her whereabouts lost to the ravages of time, only now has Merkath the Dark been found, and freed, looking to join her mother once more.
Will you aid the dragon? Or will you fight alongside the Knights?
Rank
B
Success
Merkath survives the battle until the Knights of St. George are defeated.
Failure
Merkath dies before the Knights of St. George are defeated.
Rewards
Gold
Experience
Title
Duskfall Event conclusion
Consequences
Gold
Experience
Title
Duskfall Event conclusion
I blinked, and then laughed, as I looked to the group. “MOVE IT! That’s our distraction!”
Khatouhm, our Human Monk, chuckled as we broke cover, and ran for the mansion. “Who did you call to arrange THAT?”
“You guys remember Johnist from WoD? Seems he’s my roommate’s classmate. So I called my roommate, he called Johnist, and Johnist, it seems, called his boss.”
Shadrack redoubled his pace. “We better hurry, then! That bastard’s had enough glory. Now it is our turn!” Still, we were all laughing as we struck the guards, cleaving through them like a hot knife in butter. I just hoped we could do this before Zayn went and did something completely crazy.
As if unleashing ANOTHER dragon into the city wasn’t crazy enough!
(Zayn POV)
This was the first time taking my dragon form, and I found I was enjoying the hell out of it! Of course, all my gear melded into my skin with the change, which actually made me slightly weaker than I was, but the ability to fly and breathe hellfire mostly made up for it.
Especially when Nithroel was at my side. We made our way to the city square, where most of the fighting was, and between my hellfire breath and Nithroel’s blast of unholy power, it was like a bomb went off in the middle of the fighting, clearing a spot for the rest of us to land, while Merkath circled around.
Transforming back to my original form, I smile at everyone, and then yelled, “HELLOOOOO DUSKHAVEN! ZAYN DARKMORE IS IN THE HOUSE! So glad you all turned out for this. Now, I’m sorry to interrupt your squabbling, but will all of the Knights and Scions please line up in an orderly fashion so we can start killing you? I’ve got a family reunion to get to, so I’d rather not spend all day trying to catch you cowardly little rats.”
There was a scream of rage at my words, as I hoped there would be, and I easily took a step back to avoid a jet of flame that passed in front of my face. “YOU BASTARD! I’LL KILL YOU A HUNDRED TIMES FOR ALL YOU’VE DONE! BY THE FIRE BE PURGED!”
Zephara Void
Corrupted Human Living Dead Female
Level 40 Hellfire Mistress (Flame Sorceress) / Terror Cultist
Titles: Chainbreaker, Former Slave, Broken One, Corrupted One, Flametouched, Undead Bane
Guild: Scions of Torgan
I turned, and smiled at the woman on the other end of the path that quickly opened itself between us. “Ah, Zephara. I promised you that I’d be seeing you soon, didn’t I?”
Chapter 60 – The Liberation of Duskhaven
(Jayden POV)
‘That bastard’, as Shadrack called Zayn, had given us the perfect distraction. All the players in the area were concentrating on the square, and even most of the guards had gone, in an effort to kill the dragon and end the event. Zayn had basically drawn agro for the entire city.
We’d prepared for this fight well. Devon, our Cleric, was able to bless our weapons, giving us a boost to damage against undead creature
s. With the distraction, we didn’t bother with total stealth. The single guard outside the home barely noticed our running in the direction of the fighting until we turned, and killed him. Without wasting time, we continued on, weapons drawn and ready.
There were only ten people in the house, and five of them were on the first floor.
Aspar Blackhand
Human (Living Dead) Male
Level 90 Brute Lord (Fighter) / Mauler (Barbarian)
Titles: Sadistic, Human Bane, Violator
Guild Guardians
Human (Living Dead) Female
Level 40 Guardian (Fighter) / Huntress (Ranger)
Titles: Slave, Human Bane, Broken One
Typical of the guild to use slaves as their guardians. Fortunately, the ones here were all warrior-types. While that would make them difficult to take on without being able to sneak attack them, they didn’t have any healers with them, which made all the difference as our blessed blades cut the small fry down to size.
Aspar and Regent, our fighter and main tank, were going toe to toe, keeping the level 90 off us until we cut down the small fry. The fight didn’t last too long, since five of us were easily able to keep Aspar away from Devon long enough for him to unleash some powerful single-target holy magic. Since undead were unholy abominations, usually, and Aspar had low magic resistance to begin with (being a musclebrained idiot who just got off on hurting people as captain of the Slavers’ Guild guards), the result was just what you’d expect, taking off almost half of Aspar’s health in a single spell. On top of the wounds we’d already given him, it only took a few more hits to destroy the bastard.
I led the way up the stairs, and saw the Guild Leader standing there, sword in hand, with his family cowering behind him. His wife, two sons, and a daughter, which accounted for all of his living (or unliving) family members. Good, that meant we didn’t have to try and hunt everyone down.
Stanway Lashlord
Half-Demon Human (Living Dead)
Level 100 Mindslayer (Dominator) / Assassin (Rogue)
Titles: Chainmaker, Sadistic, Elfbane, Violator, Willbreaker, Corruptor
“So, at last, one of Mirelth’s flunkies has come to…” I’m sure he was going to continue on, but I simply motioned to Devon. A mass healing spell took out the family (all level 10 to 20), and made the Guild Leader stop monologuing like a B-movie villain.
“ATTACK!” At my command, we launched into the attack, committed to ending the Lashlord line this night.
(Zayn POV)
The silence following our entrance to the square didn’t last long. Soon the fighting resumed, with greater ferocity than before. The Knights of the Order fell back behind the core of Travelers that were protecting them, mainly lightsiders and those idiot Scions. The neutrals and darksiders crashed on them like a wave. Like a spear, I led my group through the front lines, towards Zephara and her Scions.
The Scions of Torgan were in horrible shape, honestly. They’d been hunted continuously for weeks as they were sworn enemies of Mirelth, thanks to me. Their NPC members had mostly all died, and the Travelers had all been killed enough that, except for Zephara, their levels had dropped into the 20s. Well, there were only about thirty Travelers in the whole city that were over level 30 before we came through the portal. Six of them were the Night’s Requiem guild that had been restocking before setting out again to explore the world, and were in their 50s. All the players were in crap gear, too, since money for maintenance and materials or quests to get new gear weren’t coming in.
So, naturally, I took the opportunity to gather more slaves, since I still had a bunch of low-level collars from when I was grinding Enchantment experience. Of the thirty surviving members of the Scions, ten were now my pets, and another fifteen were sent to respawn. In front of me, Zephara, along with her four minions, bristled as I approached. Three of them broke, and turned to run, disappearing into the crowd. That left just Zephara and a melee type. That melee type soon found that it is a bad idea to turn your back on a Death Knight when you’re undead, and became Hrozne’s bitch.
Zephara screamed at the betrayal and capture of her minions, and pointed at me. I couldn’t hear what she said over the din of battle, but the effects were obvious.
Zephara Void has challenged Zayn Darkmore to the Demon’s Duel! As Challenger Zephara has paid 1000 GP as required by the terms and conditions of the EULA, this challenge may not be refused. Both players may decide on the death penalty for their opponent should they prove victorious. The death penalty may be anything, up to and including character deletion. Death penalties may not affect your opponent’s Struggle.net account or reveal any financial or personal information about the player. Attempts to do so will result in a permanent ban from all Icestorm products.
Enter your opponent’s death penalty now:
Processing death penalties…
Both players have selected allowable death penalties, as per the EULA.
I chuckled as the battle was interrupted by a blue screen. Looking over to Yukiko, I called, “Kill the knights while I’m gone!”
ATTENTION!
A Demon’s Duel has been declared by Zephara Void, challenging Zayn Darkmore. This duel will be to the death. There is no restriction on spells or abilities. No other creatures may participate in this duel unless summoned via magic. The contestants will be summoned to the Duel Arena in 3… 2… 1…
Once again I found myself in the arena, this time with Zephara standing in front of me. Looking imperious as only insane zealots can, she said, “The time has come, foul creature! I shall purge you of your sins, and restore Torgan to his rightful place in this world! The flames of hell shall consume you!”
Zephara was talking about something, but I didn’t really care about her villainous monologue. If I wanted to be preached at, I’d go to church. However, when she started throwing hellfire at me like the crowd throwing beads at topless coeds during Mardis Gras, I had to laugh. I didn’t even dodge the attacks. Why would I need to? I was immune to hellfire!
Charging through her flames without taking damage caused Zephara to shriek in fright. The bitch actually turned, and ran, trying to get a bit of distance so she could go to ‘Plan B’, whatever that might be. I could hear her chanting as she ran. Couldn’t quite identify it, but it was a summoning of some sort.
Gnasher Swarm
Terror Other
Level 40
Well, fuckityfuck. Seems that ‘terror cultist’ class wasn’t just for show. The arena was suddenly swarming with what had to be at least a couple dozen three foot high, bipedal creatures that were all teeth and mindless appetite. And they were WAY too interested in me. Leaping up onto a nearby wall in order to avoid the gnashing teeth, I saw Zephara standing back a ways, laughing, as though she had already won.
OK, so this was a tight spot, but I could still work with this. Running along the wall, I jumped off in the direction of Zephara. She didn’t seem worried, since I still had a swarm of the beasties between me and her. But I summoned Midnight where I would land, my feet finding the saddle nicely. Midnight crushed a couple members of the swarm with her summoning, but wouldn’t stand a chance in straight combat, so I unsummoned her as soon as I lept off her back, successfully getting past the swarm of none-too-bright Terrors.
The look on Zephara’s face when I landed at a run past her terrors, who took a few moments to realize where I had gone, was priceless. With my DEX of 230 (after items), I was easily able to reach Zephara before her own shock wore off. Casting any more spells would not be allowed, so I ended up stabbing the bitch in the gut with my wakizashi, before cutting off her head with my katana. With that, the duel was over.
(Yukiko POV)
After Master was teleported to the Demon’s Duel arena, the fighting in the square didn’t just end. However, Master had enslaved quite a few of the Scions, and our push had allowed the people trying to kill the Knights to press the attack, but we were unable break through the enemy lines. The ‘light-siders’
were disorganized, but still holding firm.
And then suddenly there was a roar from the other side of the square. In their rush to either kill the Knights or protect them, and with Master causing quite a stir, it caused everyone to forget about Merkath. This proved… unwise.
A blast of dragonfire swept over the rear of the pro-Knight faction (and more than a few of the Knights themselves). At that moment, AoE attacks from mages and other casters blasted the core of the Knights as well. Spellfire, holy light, and dragon’s breath combined to form a massive pillar of destruction. And when it faded, there was only one of the Knights remaining, surrounded by three defenders. But they fell to the ground shortly after, succumbing to their wounds.
With a warcry, I brought my katana down, separating the Knight’s head from his shoulders. With that, a blue screen appeared before us, just as Master returned from the duel. As the dome overhead shattered, revealing the daylight sky for the first time in months, I looked to see what we got.
Rules-Free VRMMO Life_Volume V_Power Base Page 9
