Charles’ eyebrow twitches slightly at the mention of “golf.” He tried it once, but his bad knees won’t allow him to drive the tiny ball very far.
Lewis shrugs his shoulders. He knows exactly what the young man is thinking. It's a pity that Charles' knees can't handle more than one round of golf with his wealthy backers.
"So getting back on topic, to reiterate VG is seeking to enter two different markets: virtual reality gaming, and MMORPGs. But we are not ready to release this information to our investors until we make more progress," the CEO says.
Lewis nods in understanding of the implicit request. "Fair enough. Ask for funding for the MMORPG, but leave Virtuous Gaming's name out of the discussion," he summarizes the unspoken request from the CEO.
"Will you be able to find non-VG investors to fund the MMORPG initiative?" Charles asks.
The chairman provides a cautious non-answer. "I'll see what I can do."
Chapter 20 – Divine Lodestone
“What have you got, Vergil?” Lucious asks.
The shopkeeper offers a mysterious smile at the younger man. It’s been only a day since the mage presented an unusual request to create an artifact level magic item to conduct divine energy from the Gods of Eternia. This theoretical device would enable their followers to work miracles in the heathen lands of We Tang Kingdom, according to multiple sources in the clergy. “Not me,” the enchanter finally replies. “This person here would like to speak with you pertaining to your special request.”
Lucious turns to face the character sitting at the bench. The individual is wearing a robe and a cloak with the symbol of the Church of Eternia. The hood is covering the person’s face, and the thin build makes it hazardous to guess the newcomer’s gender. “How may I serve the Gods of Eternia?” he asks politely, to avoid addressing the stranger as either priest or priestess.
The figure stands up and pulls the hood back, revealing a feminine face with a very short, cropped hair of a warrior. The woman is pale looking but her sky blue eyes are brimmed with divine power. “May the Gods of Eternia bless you, Brother Lucious,” she says with a deep, husky voice.
Lucious bows politely. “I am flattered that you know of me.”
“I am Priestess Kassender, the head of the divine enchanters in the church. Count Zeensoon, who is an NPC, has made a similar request to the one you made of Vergil. It appears that he is seeking to invade the We Tang kingdom,” she reveals. Since Lucious was among the ambassadors dispatched to the foreign land, the mage is probably aware of this already.
Lucious nods slowly. He expected as much even though Wesley had declined to divulge much regarding his meeting with the Count.
“The problem is the lack of player access to divine magic in this other world. Without the healing, protection, and other supportive magic of the divine sphere, I fear that we will be sending our raiders to a slaughterhouse,” high priestess continues.
“I agree,” Lucious replies. “I was among the ambassador group that made initial contact with the gatekeeper. My impression is that the culture is warrior based, and the troops are well disciplined. They also have access to magic, but the gatekeeper was careful not to reveal what sort of magic they have access to. It is quite possible that the other world has magic not seen in our world. And it would be foolish to rely solely on our elemental based magic for this upcoming invasion.”
“We need to figure out a way for the Gods of Eternia to maintain a divine presence in this other world,” the priestess says.
“I may have a solution,” Vergil offers, drawing the attention of the two powerful spell casters. “You know how magnets attract and repel one another? We could create a lodestone that attracts divine energy.”
“I think we could modify the ‘gravity sphere’ spell and make the phenomenon permanent,” Lucious suggests. “Gravity sphere is a master level elementalist spell that creates a miniature black hole. Where ever the hole appears, it sucks the occupant of the space into the hole. The spell only lasts an instant though.”
“The item must be created on Church grounds, as that is the location where divine energy is most concentrated,” Kassender adds.
"Okay, so we have the spell and the location. What do we use for material?" Lucious asks.
"The Count has suggested that we obtain ore from Mount Zissley," Kassender replies.
"Why Mount Zissley?" Lucious raises an eyebrow.
"According to church lore, there was a fight between two Gods of Eternia above the area. One god threw a bolt of divine energy that crashed into the ground and created the mountain. In addition, the energy ripped a hole in our dimension and allowed demons from the plane of fire to enter. Thus, the mountain region is inhabited by fire demons," the priestess explains.
"That makes the mission quite difficult," Vergil remarks. Demons are upper tier level monsters with a lot of health, and some demon kind even has resistance to magic. Even worse, they travel in packs.
"We will need to rely on the Church to fight the demons. They are strong against fire in particular, but weak against cleansing magic from the divine sphere," Lucious notes while recalling his last encounter with a demon. “If the Magic Guild is a sponsor, the Council could send a contingent of water mages as well,” he suggests.
"We also need to bring miners to dig the ore from the mountain. They will need protection while they work on the veins," Vergil adds.
"I will need to consult with Count Zeensoon and other Church officials to obtain permission to create an expeditionary force. I invite you to join us, Lucious," Kassender offers.
The elementalist nods in acceptance. "Please send me the details. Would you mind if my girlfriend joins the mission if she's available?" he asks.
"Your girlfriend is a member of the Church, correct?" she inquires and sees the nod from the mage. "The short answer is yes. I will seek permission to be put in charge of this mission, and I plan to open the force to all volunteers beyond a certain minimum character level. We don't know how many demons we'll come across, and the more players are involved the more likely the mission will succeed," Kassender says.
“Agreed,” Lucious replies. “Should I ask The Strangers to join the force?”
“Ask only if your party has the time to participate in this raid. We don’t know how long it will take, though. The mission will be under the jurisdiction of the Church, but experienced players like The Strangers are more than welcome to join,” she says.
“I will check with my party members then,” the mage replies.
“I will also notify the Council of Mages of this mission, and see if the Magic Guild would co-sponsor the event,” Vergil adds.
Kassender nods in acquiescence. The demons inhabiting Mount Zissley come from the plane of fire, and involvement of the Magic Guild would help tremendously in offering fire protection and using water based spells to do extra damage to these demons.
Chapter 21 – Organization
“Thank you for being here today on a Saturday morning. I am Priestess Kassender from the Church of Eternia, and I will be in charge of this mission,” the player looks at the large group of players gathered at the town square. There are sixty players in all, with twenty from the Church of Eternia, fifteen each from the Magic Guild and the Fighter Guild, and the rest from the Trade Union. The ten miners are split into two caravans that carry mining equipment, while the rest of the travel group is on horseback.
As part of this special mission, the game developers finally released mounts into the game. However, WoE requires players to be at level forty to use mounts, and the priestess decided to use that requirement as a cutoff or else the size of the expeditionary party will swell to unmanageable numbers. She looks around the square and sees that everyone is attentive to her. Good, she thinks.
"The operation will involve a number of phases," Kassender starts to outline the plan to the group. "First, we're going to use a portal to travel from here to the Mount Zissley region. From there we will journey to the mountain and estab
lish a base of operation where we will leave our mounts and supplies. The prospectors will be split into two groups to excavate samples. The enchanters from both the Church and the Magic Guild will evaluate these samples, in order to locate the most suitable veins to mine the Zisslean ore. Specialized demonologists from the Church, along with fighters, will accompany the prospectors while they locate the best veins. Once the veins have been discovered, we will proceed to mine the ore and leave the region as quickly as possible. I don't know how long this mission will last. So if you need to grab a bite or use the bathroom, now is the time to be away from the keyboard ("afk"). We will leave ten minutes," she says.
Upon conclusion of her speech, the majority of the players designate their avatars as "afk" while they attend to their personal business.
Kassender turns over to face the expedition leaders standing behind her. Maximus the Stout is the ranking officer from the Fighter Guild. Deidra is the Chief Demonologist from the Church of Eternia. Xavier is the ranking member of the Trade Union. Icy Lotus is a high ranking member of the Water Guild. And then there is Lucious, attending as an official representative of the Kingdom. Too bad the rest of The Strangers can’t attend this mission. "I am concerned about wandering demons," she says.
"The rip into our dimension is located deep within the mountain," Deidra replies. "As long as we avoid entering the mountain itself, we shouldn't be encountering too many demons."
"Indeed," Maximus agrees. "I'm sure there are scores of demons that will fight to defend their portal into our world. If we encounter a random demon or two, we only need to neutralize them before they call other demon kind for aid."
"Exactly so," Deidra nods. She is impressed by the fighter, as not many players are aware that demons can call other demons to their location. He's fought demons before. "The call is treated in game as casting a spell, and the most important thing is to interrupt the call to prevent its completion."
"Easier said than done, considering that the casting time for the call is only two seconds," Lucious notes.
"Then it's a good thing that I can cast a low level ice arrow in a half second," Lotus remarks.
"Half second?" the fighter asks with skepticism.
"Specialists who cast spells in their field of magic can reduce the casting time of their spells, depending on the level of the caster. Ice arrow normally takes one second to cast. For each level of the specialist, the game allows a one percent reduction of casting time for spells from the specialty elemental sphere. Thus, a level fifty specialist like me can reduce the casting time by the maximum of fifty percent," Lotus explains. "And since water magic does double damage against fire demons, the Magic Guild decided to send a large number of water specialists on this expedition. Including myself there are eight water mages joining this expedition."
Maximus nods in appreciation. He turns to face Kassender. "The only weakness with this plan is that we're splitting our forces into three groups, and that means more chances to encounter roaming demons," he says.
"True, that is a risk,” the priestess replies slowly. “However, we need the wagons to carry mining supplies like picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. And we want to bring back a large quantity of Zisslean ore. I want to avoid a return trip to that area if at all possible. Horses are needed to carry the caravan to the site. Once the most suitable vein is found, we can move the base to the location of the vein and have the entire force in one location. It is the prospecting phase of the mission, when we have two prospecting groups along with the base group, that carries the most risk of encountering demons," Kassender replies.
“The risk is unavoidable,” Xavier agrees. “However, the two prospecting groups will remain in communication with the base at all times. This way, if one group encounters demons, the second group or even the base group can serve as reinforcements to help fight the demons. I will lead one group, and Clarke, my second in command, will lead the other group. How many demonologists, water mages, and fighters will accompany the prospectors?" he asks.
"I don't know about the others, but I plan to have four water mages plus another mage to accompany each prospector group. Five mages, including myself and Evangelina the portal master, will stay on the forward base," Lotus replies.
"I would like to send five fighters to accompany each group," Maximus answers. "I will stay on base as well."
"I would like to send three demonologists with each group, along with a diviner who will check the sample for potency. In addition, a healing specialist will accompany each group," Kassender replies. "The demonologists are warriors with limited access to divine magic, but they are trained in fighting demons. The remaining ten members of the Church, including myself, will remain on base. The diviners will be able to maintain contact with one another, including those on base," she adds. The priestess turns to look at Lucious. "What do you plan to do, Lucious? Will you join a prospector group or remain on base?" she asks.
"I think I'll accompany the group led by Clarke," Lucious replies. He had adventured with the young craftsman once in the past, and finds Clarke to be pleasant company. Besides, staying on campus with the leadership just isn’t his style, in all honesty.
"Very well," the expedition leader nods in acquiesce to his decision.
Chapter 22 – Into the Region
The villagers and players watch as Evangelina starts her chant to create a massive portal for the entire expeditionary force. The portal master specialist is a rare breed, as the specialty requires a high number of skill points in all four elemental magic spheres of fire, water, earth, and air in order obtain the travel spells available. Once the level sixty cap is reached for player characters, the game allows players to exchange the additional experience points for skill points. However, the cost of obtaining each successive skill point is doubled, and the cost of obtaining enough points to become a portal master requires the equivalent of level one hundred twenty. Thus, the specialty is rather exclusive, and there are only two dozen known portal masters in the World of Eternia, out of tens of thousands of players around the world. Additionally, since the game has a death penalty that results in loss of experience points, a portal master who is killed during a campaign may suffer a devastating loss of her specialty class. Thus, the player guilds are rather protective of portal masters, and ensure that there is enough protection for their portal masters during player campaigns.
Evangelina raises her magic staff up in the air, and calls for a delayed lightning strike at a certain spot that she has marked on the ground at the town square. Next, the portal master casts a wall of earth at that location and makes it wide enough for the two wagons to pass through. Then, she casts inferno on the spot and a fire starts to engulf the stone wall. She pelts with wall with a low intensity gust of wind, whipping the flames to burn even hotter. Suddenly the portal master slams her staff on the ground and yells: “Trilegyomangii!”
The word of power triggers the powerful bolt of lightning to crash down on the burning earthen wall in an instant, and the town square shakes from the impact of the bolt striking the wall. An overwhelming flash of light temporarily blinds the onlookers. Finally, the flash is gone and a shimmering portal appears in place of the burning wall of earth. Across the portal is a black, charred landscape.
Kassender takes control of the moment. “Let’s go!” she orders and leads her horse straight into the simmering portal.
The rest of the expeditionary force follows in an orderly fashion, with Xavier sitting in the driver’s seat of the lead wagon that is being pulled by two horses and Clark sitting in the second wagon. The caravan is surrounded by horse riders, with Maximus taking the lead.
Once the expeditionary force is through, the portal winks out of existence.
* * *
The area surrounding the force is full of rocks and stones that litter the land. The rocks are charred though, as if they have been roasted over an open flame. As the players walk around, tiny crunchy sounds are made. The air is covered by a veil of fine dust
that makes the sky look gray. The wind blows intermittently, kicking up more dust into the air.
The players are on high alert, spread out in a tight circle covering all three hundred sixty degree angles. Yet, there are no demons appearing before them despite the opening of the portal to attract the attention of any nearby inhabitants.
Maximus turns to look at Kassender. "It doesn't look like any demons are nearby," he says.
"Thank the Gods of Eternia," she replies. The leader dismounts and lands on the ground lightly. "This place is as good as any to set up the base camp," Kassender announces. "Xavier and Clark will lead two separate prospecting groups. The representatives from the Church, Magic Guild and Fighter Guild will decide how to allocate their forces among the two groups and also the base camp. As soon as the prospecting groups are organized, they can proceed. Let's get started!" She claps her hand, and everyone begins to dismount.
The leader watches everyone start to form groups. Each wagon is drawing riders from the three guilds to form tight circles around the wagon. A fighter is positioned to the left, right, and back of the wagon. She notes that the fighters each carry a bow and quiver on his back. Two fighters take up the front.
The three demonologists from the Church are split similarly, along the left, right, and back. Each player is wearing chainmail armor, and equipped with a mace, shield, and sling shot. All equipment carried by the demonologists had been blessed by church leaders, and are particularly effective against denizens of extra-planar origins. The healer and diviner, wearing only robes rather than armor, sit next to the driver of the caravan.
Three water mages are also placed along the left, right, and back but wedged between the fighter and the wagon for further protection. The remaining two mages in the group ride behind the two lead warriors, but in front of the carriage.
Maximus nods to the two fighters leading their respective prospecting groups. Without word, Wilson Quick Draw takes the left direction and sends his horse onward. Titus Steelblade takes the lead for the other caravan toward the right direction.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 26
