“Yes sir,” the priestess replies as she begins to establish a communication link with her counterparts in these groups.
While waiting for the brief check-ins, Virgil sighs again. Why doesn’t World of Eternia have in-game communications between parties via a messaging system? By having a priest serve as a communications officer, and wasting valuable mana in doing so, the game is restricting the leader’s options for party alignments. The game may be the first to offer a virtual reality environment in MMORPG, but it sure ain’t player friendly!
Davida speaks up. “Sir, the cloud runners are actually shadowing our movements; they’re nearby and hidden by the clouds. The assassin corps has reached the back of the mountain. They decided to climb up the mountain from eight o’clock. Also, the riders from Marcus’ group are scouting nearby; there are five riders in the group. Priscilla is asking for permission to engage them,” she reports.
“Tell her that’s a negative,” Virgil quickly replies. “The skirmish will attract the attention of the defenders and we’ll lose our element of surprise. Instruct her to wait for the scouts to pass before starting to scale the mountain.” He pauses to check the timer at the top of his player screen. “Tell everyone we will start the attack at two hours prior to expiration.”
“Roger that,” Davida replies and quickly relays his orders to the assassin corps and the cloud runners.
* * *
A long distance behind Easy Money is the remnants of Marcus’ column. Having lost all the spell casters in the column, including Marcus’ best friend JB, the five fighters are using the surrounding environment to mask their presence from the traitors up ahead.
Marcus is content with remaining in eyesight of the traitorous group for now. Once Easy Money is preoccupied by combat engagement with the defenders, we will make a break for the portal, he thinks silently.
Chapter 60 – Sighting
“We have visual confirmation of Virtuan scouts,” Lorna the Faithful reports to Kassender via the communication link.
“Okay,” the High Priestess replies. “Have your partner mage cast an illusion to distort their clairvoyance,” she reminds the priestess. The High Priestess pauses for a moment to recall Lorna’s position on the mountain top. “Heimdall, our lookout at ten o’clock has spotted Virtuan scouts,” she reports.
“Thank you,” the warlord replies. “Listen up guys!” he shouts in a booming voice. “Enemy scouts have been spotted! The main troops will be arriving shortly. I know you’ve been bored by the lack of action so far, doing the old hurry up and wait routine. Now it’s time to rock and roll! For Eternia!” he shouts and raises his halberd in the air.
“For Eternia!” the defenders respond.
* * *
“Wow! That was a nice, quick speech to get everyone on the same page!” Evan remarks.
“Yeah, that guy has a loud voice that probably carries over to the mountain top,” Antoinette agrees. “Speaking of voice, Richard can you tell us why the game doesn’t use a private messaging system? Wouldn’t you want your players to be able to work together without worrying about how to communicate and get everyone on the same page?”
“To be honest,” the CEO of WoE’s developer begins, “the players themselves DID request that we add a private messaging (‘pm’) system for this event. The company had a lot of internal debate over this feature, and ultimately we decided not to implement one.”
“Why not? Do you like disappointing your players that much?” Charles taunts his rival.
Richard chuckles at the remark, and lets it roll harmlessly off his sleeve. “It comes down to two issues. First, the World of Eternia is set in medieval times, and the use of a pm system goes against this environment. Second, for the Hundred Man Tournament itself the ‘Fog of War’ is a strong factor in the outcome of this event. We want the participants to discover enemy movements and positioning for themselves, and not allow outsiders to feed reports to the players. I personally think that it is absolutely critical that the instance is completely walled off from outside influence. Leave the fifty players on each side to their own devices and watch them try to overcome the other side fairly and honestly.” He smiles for the camera. “Well, there you have it.”
“And now let’s see what each side is doing,” Evan says before the stream shifts back to the two sides again.
* * *
The defenders salute Wesley once he climbs onto the mountain top above the guard station.
Wesley returns the salute. “You heard Heimdall issuing an alert of Virtuan scout sighting. No matter what happens, you cannot allow Virtuan fliers to take over this spot. Your spot and the one across the chasm are the key points. If Virtuous players secure both positions, then we’re going to have difficulty protecting the portal,” he warns the five Eternians.
“We will defend this post to the death!” Pablova Switchblades proclaims. Normally, the rogue prefers to hide in shadow, jump on his victim’s back and stab with his twin daggers. However, since the defenders sorely need skilled archers to defend the mountain top, he is on loan from the Thieves Guild to participate in this event.
Wesley nods and quickly moves on to the next defensive position. The majority of the defenders up on the mountain top are either spell casters or archers. If Virtuans somehow manage to land fighters on the mountain, he is to provide a blade and shield to preoccupy melee fighters while the other defenders provide support. Of course, Wesley would rather join Heimdall on the ground below, but the warlord needs wide space to swing his long pole arm weapon. And Wesley would only be a hindrance with no room to avoid the halberd in the confined passage way in front of the gate.
Chapter 61 – Two Hour Mark
Virgil waits patiently for the clock to wind down to the two hour mark. He spends the time staring at the mountain, the passage way carved into the landscape, the two guard stations next to the passage, and the rows of abatis fencing the perimeter. Due to intelligence work from his employer, the leader of Easy Money already knows how the Eternians are setting up their defenses. His plan of attack is simple: blow up everything in the front to draw attention, and then sneak in from behind and above.
Virgil turns to face his column. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached the one minute countdown. It’s time for everyone to get into position, and do a final weapons check. At the two hour mark, we begin our attack. It’s time to make some money! Now go!”
Four members leave his group, and split into two smaller parties. Each subgroup is running to stand in front of the guard station.
Virgil starts marching his remaining ten members to stand closer to the defensive perimeter, but just out of range of the Eternian archers and their arrows. As the countdown reaches five seconds to two hour mark, the leader draws his sword and holds it up in the air. Finally, at the two hour mark, Virgil drops his sword and points its tip at the defenders. “Attack!”
The players behind him pull out metallic balls the size of small oranges. They quickly light up the fuse on each ball, and throw the balls at the archers standing behind the abatis.
* * *
Richard slams his fist on the table, jolting the spectators sitting next to him. We shouldn’t have bombs in this game. Virtuous Gaming must have snuck in the file while we were busy integrating their visual designs, he suddenly realizes. He quickly shoots a glare at Charles.
The rival smirks, knowing exactly why Richard is angry.
“I tried WoE briefly, but I don’t recall ever having access to explosives,” Antoinette remarks. “Is this part of the new Oriental Expansion?” she asks.
The CEO of EDE smiles at his host. “Yes, since fireworks and gunpowder are part of the Asian culture, my developers felt it was the appropriate time to introduce this into the game.”
Charles pantomimes applause. So nice of you to heed your own advice and take ownership of your underling’s foul up, he gloats silently.
BOOOOOMMM!
The loud explosion quickly forces everyone to turn back to the
screen to find out what just happened.
* * *
Iorne Straight Shot is manning the abatis blocking the path. Suddenly, the archer sees a bunch of metallic objects heading straight for him! The Army veteran recognizes the threat and immediately warns his fellow defenders. “INCOMING!” he yells as he dives to his left. The bombs go off a second later and the overwhelming explosive force pushes Iorne’s avatar fifty feet away from the blast site.
The avatar’s head is slammed into the ground, and the player sees “Concussion” flashing on his view screen. “Damnit!” he curses as the player starts retreating from the breach. While concussed, Iorne has no way to see where his character is going. However, the last thing he should do is to remain where he is, because the enemy is coming. If the concussion effect dissipates quickly, the player can return to combat. Until then, he has turn tail and run!
“Is anyone else alive?” Iorne yells as he runs hopefully towards the direction of the portal. A five man unit was guarding the passage way. While Iorne is hopeful that another comrade had heeded his warning, it is quite possible that he’s the only remaining survivor from his unit. Unfortunately, while the concussion status is live, the player view screen does not show the lives counter; thus, Iorne has no way of knowing if anyone else made it.
Suddenly Iorne feels something grab his hands, and his avatar’s movement is stopped cold on the spot.
“I got you. What’s your status, son?” the unnamed rescuer asks.
“I am concussed. I can’t see,” Iorne quickly replies. “Several bombs exploded at the abatis directly blocking the passage way. I have no clue if anyone else in my assignment survived the blast.”
“This is Heimdall. I heard the explosion, and ordered troops to reinforce the breach. I’m halfway there now. I’m ordering you to continue moving down the passage way and guard the portal. Your avatar is down to a third of its normal health bar. Unfortunately, I can’t ask our priests to expend mana to heal you, and a restriction in this tournament has disabled the use of potions. But as long as you’re alive you can wait for the concussion status to expire. So you’ll serve as the final line of defense if invaders somehow get pass me,” he explains.
Iorne salutes. “Yes sir! I swear that I will prevent Virtuans from entering the portal,” he repeats his order.
The warlord slaps the wounded man on the shoulder. “Good. Let’s have a drink once the tournament is over,” he offers.
“Yes, let’s do that sir!” Iorne accepts enthusiastically and continues moving along the passage way.
Heimdall frowns at his fighter’s back. I can’t believe Virtuans have explosives. One bomb attack took out four brave men in that unit. I’m feeling the momentum shifting towards the other side. The guild master turns back to the opening in the passage way and sees Virtuans starting to gather. “Time to show the viewers why I’m the most fearsome fighter in World of Eternia,” he says aloud as the player’s adrenaline starts to flow through his veins.
* * *
The explosions can be heard by all the participants in the event, as every player remaining in the game is now in the vicinity of the mountain. The assassin corps uses the ensuing confusion to begin scaling the mountain from the back. The five specialized rogues are dressed in black, with blue belts to signify that they belong to the Virtuous faction. With masks over their heads, the genders of these five are unknown. Special metallic hooks are bound to their hands and feet to aid in the climb, which is slow as the surface is fairly smooth; without special proficiency in climbing walls, normal player classes have no chance at a successful climb. However, no defender has bothered to look down beyond the edge of the cliff and the invaders’ presence is undetected.
* * *
The cloud runners slither restlessly in the clouds high above. The majestic animals resemble gigantic snakes, with eight sets of flippers that help propel movement amongst the clouds. Despite the thickness of these animals, their bone density is thin like avians. A thick, luscious mantle of hair lines each animal along the neck. A saddle is strapped on around the neck of each animal, and the tamer is holding onto the animal’s hair. When the vibrations from the explosions below reach these fliers, Carlos Saible finally directs his mount to dive straight for the guard station on the right! The other four fliers quickly follow behind with their own dives.
Chapter 62 – All Hands On Deck
“Hail Wesley!” Conrad says as the sniper sees his leader approach.
His partner, Laura Deathmaiden, offers a sloppy salute to the ex-Marine. She has a grin on her face. “What are your orders, oh fearless leader?” the necromancer asks.
Wesley just manages to avoid rolling his eyes. It took a rather hard sell from Conrad to convince the leader of The Strangers to accept Laura’s condition to join the tournament. I hope her entry into our small group will not lead to an avalanche of requests from other players to join, he sighs to himself. It’s one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t situations. And we really need players with moba experience, and she is known as a particularly strong player. Time to make her earn her alliance membership!
“Your assignment is to provide support and cover the passage way. That’s why you two are positioned at this spot overlooking the portal. Conrad will try to one shot any Virtuous player that tries to enter the portal; meanwhile you will keep him safe and use your death magic to summon minions as necessary to defend this position. Unfortunately, World of Eternia does not offer a summoner class, and your necromancer class is the closest one resembling a summoner,” Wesley explains.
Conrad looks at his leader skeptically. “Are you sure bringing in an undead summoner is worth the risk of antagonizing the Church of Eternia? Kassender had eyed Laura briefly back in the portal room, and I’m sure she already knows Laura is a necromancer,” he says.
Before Wesley can reply, he is interrupted by a loud “BOOOOMMMMM!”
The trio takes advantage of their perch above the portal to stare down the end of the passage way, and sees the invaders slowly stepping past the mangled remnants of the abatis.
* * *
Pablova Switchblades notices the fast moving, dark clouds heading directly over the mountain. Hints of lightning stir within the clouds. “What the heck is that?” he asks while pointing at the weird acting clouds.
Jaden Windmaster stares at the clouds. The air mage switches from normal view to magic screen view and peers into the clouds. As an air specialist spell caster, Jaden has the innate ability to find hidden objects within the clouds. “We have incoming!” he shouts suddenly while pointing at the clouds. “Get ready!” he yells out to the defenders across the chasm. He sees salutes from his counterparts in acknowledgement.
“What do you see?” Pablova asks.
“There are five giant snakes slithering within the cloud,” Jaden answers, half disbelieving what he just said.
“What?” the rogue stares at the spell caster.
“Yeah,” Jaden nods in agreement. “And the strange part is that each snake has a rider. I can only assume this is part of the Oriental Expansion for World of Eternia. Unfortunately, our bows and spells can’t reach them right now. So you’ll need to run back to alert Lorna. Now go!” he orders.
* * *
Raynor the Houndmaster readies his special, magically enchanted arrow. He has just gotten a warning from the air mage on the other side of the chasm.
Tildan the Spyro readies his spell components to cast a meteor swarm. While the master level fire spell will drain two thirds of the fire mage’s mana, this is the best opportunity to cast the spell since the fliers are grouped together inside the clouds. Just ten more yards and they will be within range of the deadly spell.
* * *
Carlos Saible hears the explosion below him. He turns to face the rest of his squadron. “There’s our signal to attack. For Easy Money!” he cries out.
“For Easy Money,” the four followers repeat.
* * *
Phhhheeeeeeeeee!
The trio above the portal looks around to find the source of the noise. To Wesley it sounds like a fighter jet making a dive.
Crackle! Crackle! Boom!
Suddenly bolts of lightning slam into the two guard stations simultaneously, snuffing out all ten defenders in an instant!
“There!” Conrad points at the objects moving in the sky above the mountain.
Wesley looks up and sees a group of gigantic, slithering snakes! They are busy weaving through the clouds, dodging arrows and spell fire from the defenders perched above the now burning guard stations. “What the heck?” he stares at the unfamiliar beasts. Is this part of the new expansion?
* * *
“Wow!” Evan exclaims with excitement. “A bombing to knock out the abatis and archers blocking the passage way, immediately followed by a group attack from the flying cloud runners to knock out the guard stations. The Virtuans now have a clear shot at the portal!”
“The coordinated attacks just took fourteen more Eternian players off the field,” Antoinette adds. “And now Eternians have just one man advantage. Momentum is clearly riding with the Virtuans now. Can the Eternians withstand the charge?”
“My players have been knocked down, but they are not out just yet. I see one of our best melee fighters going in to meet the enemy at the gate now,” Richard says calmly.
“He’s the only one either brave or foolish enough to approach Virgil’s team. The defenders guarding the outer perimeter are either knocked out of the game, or busy dealing with my fliers. What can one man do to stop the push towards the portal?” Charles scoffs at his rival.
Richard offers a faint smile but remains silent.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 38
