Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  The Greystone Chronicles

  Book Four

  Defenders of the Realm

  by

  Dave Willmarth

  Dedicated to my mentor and friend, Juanita Waddell

  May she rest in peace.

  Copyright © 2018 by Dave Willmarth

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  The story so far…

  Alexander and the Greystone Guild have turned their little barony, and the lands they discovered up on the plateau, into the Kingdom of Elysia!

  They’ve defeated both PWP and Chaos Nation, fighting not just players but drow servants of the Dark One within the Chaos Nation compound. Alexander has combined those compounds to establish an embassy in Antalia. Antalia’s Queen Margaret has been saved, and the city liberated from the influence of the Dark One and his minions.

  Several of the guild members encountered their arch-enemy, who turned out to be Howard, husband of Miriam, former executive at Jupiter Tech who died along with Alexander’s mother in a real-world terrorist attack. He declared himself to be the “Dark One” when captured, and was turned over to the real-world authorities.

  Dayle, leader of one of the immersion groups, was badly injured in an explosion set off by Howard’s son Matt, who managed to disappear before the explosion and is still at large.

  Helga, Lugs, and several of the players that Alexander recruited into the guild have agreed to go to work for Jupiter Tech and become immersion players. Still low level, they are working hard to level up as quickly as possible in order to contribute to the coming fights. Alexander is doing all he can to recruit more citizens and guild members. To grow and strengthen his kingdom enough that it can survive on its own.

  There is an army of undead creatures and demons trapped in the demon caverns just a short distance from the keep. Alexander is feeling the pressure to prepare his fortress and his people for the inevitable invasion that will come when they break free.

  The dragons have revealed to Alexander and his allies that the ancient enemy, the drow wizards, have risen again and plan to conquer the entire world of Io. The dragon king has proposed an alliance to include all the kingdoms and people of Io who live in the light. Alexander is doing what he can to bring the kingdoms together, and so far the alliance includes Elysia, the Dragon Kingdom, Stormforge, Broken Mountain, and Antalia.

  Lastly, while doing some research at Olympus, Sasha has discovered that Fibble’s stats can be accessed and manipulated much like a player’s stats. And she has decided that Alexander will be teaching the little goblin to read, in order to allow him to choose his path of future growth.

  *You can find a character glossary at the end of the book to help remind you who everyone is.

  Prologue

  Justin was dragged into the middle of the room and dropped face down onto the floor. With his hands tied behind him, he had no way to break his fall. All he could do was turn his head to avoid smashing his face. The impact caused his head to ring and his vision to blur for a moment. He lay there, trying not to pass out from the pain and fatigue.

  “Prince Justin of Damerion. Third son of King Arand, knight of the realm, and defender of the people. Welcome. I hope you’ve enjoyed your accommodations?” A sibilant voice rasped. “I understand you’ve repeatedly declined to share with me the information I need. We shall have to make sure you’re… more properly motivated.”

  Justin rolled onto his side so that he could look at his captor. From his vantage point on the floor, he saw a massive stone chair in which sat a man dressed in black leather. Not far from Justin’s face were knee-high boots with wicked spikes on the heels and a dagger tucked into each one. His hands had the dark grey mottled skin of a drow. His face was obscured by the shadow of a hood. The prince could see the glow of his eyes, though. Two green pinpoints within the darkness that seemed to burn into him.

  He tried to speak but coughed instead. Blood spattered his lips. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. “Who are you?” His voice rasped and cracked.

  It had been at least a day since he’d had any water. And he’d been screaming through most of it. One of his guards kicked him in the kidney, causing him to curl up in pain. He grunted, but did not scream. Screaming hurt too much.

  The voice chuckled. “That is a story beyond your understanding. Suffice it to say that I am known in this world as the Dark One. You may call me Lord. Or Sire, if you prefer. Though the term is not technically correct, right now at least. I quite recently lost control of a kingdom, but you are going to help me replace that loss with your own kingdom soon enough. In fact, I am ready to begin the moment you tell me what I need to know.”

  The prince shook his head. In a cracked and raspy voice, he answered “No. Release me now and my father will give you a quick death.” he mentally cringed, knowing what was coming. For a day and a half or more he’d been beaten, starved, and kept awake. All the while, drow interrogators whispered to him. They told him if he’d only give them the information, he would receive a quick and merciful death.

  The problem was, he didn’t have the answers they wanted.

  The man on the throne said “Your people are doomed. I will take your city, and your kingdom. That is a fact.” He inspected his hands as he made a fist, to show the confidence in his words. “Either you can tell me about the palace escape route and where it surfaces, so that I can slip in and capture the palace… or I’ll do it the hard way. Which involves the killing of several thousand of your people as my demons and undead army breach your walls.”

  Justin took another deep breath. Speaking slowly, he said “I am… the third son. I was never told what you want to know. I demand you release me! My father-” His voice failed. Just that short speech ripped at his throat and he tasted more blood. It was technically true. There was no escape tunnel as far as he knew. There was a secret door that led to a series of chambers with a food supply and a well. It was a place to hide until a counterattack could be arranged.

  “Nonsense! Your father would have told you how to escape in the event the palace was overrun!” The man was angry now, his voice rising. He thumped a fist against one arm of his throne.

  The prince shook his head, which caused yet another spasm of pain. He thought his jaw might be fractured. “Bodyguard. The one you killed. His job to get me out.” He smiled as he lied, hoping to enrage his captor enough that the man would kill him.

  He got his wish. “Ridiculous! You are of no use to me, young prince! If you cannot tell me what I need to know, you will join my army of undead.” The man nodded to the pair of drow guarding Justin. One of them bent down, grabbed a handful of Justin’s hair, and pulled it back to expose his throat.

  Justin stammered “You… you wouldn’t dare! I’m a prince!” He managed one more ragged scream before the drow’s blade opened his throat and his vision went dark. His last thought was one of indignant disbelief.

  The man on the throne spat on the corpse as it bled out. “Worthless fop!” Looking to the two drow standing over it, he said “Get me one of his brothers. And keep the bodyguard alive this time, in case he was telling the truth.” The two dark elves bowed deeply, one fist to the chest, then turned and dragged the body from the room.

  The man rose from his throne and stepped off the dais toward the rear of the room. He passed through a door there, turning to lock and bar it behind him. He was in a bedroom that doubled as a lab. A work
table covered in potions and ingredients, knives and other tools, and various humanoid body parts in glass jars sat along one wall. He moved to the bed and laid down before logging out.

  Chapter 1

  The Trouble with Fibble

  “I’m teaching Fibble WHAT?” Alexander looked at Sasha like she was insane.

  Sasha just smiled sweetly and answered “He’s got to be able to read in order to manage his skills. And use any spells or abilities he may receive.”

  Fibble, on hearing that he might get to learn spells, grinned and pointed a finger at Alexander. “Pew! Pew!” making Sasha beam with pride.

  Alexander sighed. “And did you and my father by any chance discuss how we would go about this? Or maybe a practical build for our little Minister of Demon-killing and Cookies?”

  Fibble was now standing in his chair hopping up and down. “Kill demons! Pew! Learn big magic like Sasha and Fitz!” Alexander couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.

  “Okay where do we start? Should we wait until he can read before we assign his points? How many does he have, anyway?” Alexander was intrigued.

  Sasha pulled out a sheet of paper she’d scribbled some notes on. “Fibble is now level 30. At the moment, he gets one skill point per level that we can assign. He gets two automatic points to his two primary stats with each level just as we do. We can, of course, change that. I happen to know a guy who knows a guy with access to the game code.” She gave him an exaggerated wink and a nudge with her elbow.

  Alexander rolled his eyes at her. Fibble was dead still at the moment, having been frozen while they discussed real-world topics. He looked at the three-foot tall bundle of green cuteness, asking “And what are his two primary stats?”

  Sasha grinned with excitement. “We get to choose! Pops has people standing by, watching this feed. When we decide what we want, they’ll make it happen.” She waved at the ceiling as if she were waving at one of Alfred’s or Heimdall’s sensors.

  “And what were you and dad thinking?” Alexander looked at the paper.

  Sasha said “Well there are several possibilities. We could make it so he gets automatic strength and stamina. Grows stronger with a bigger health pool. So he can use more than a wand or a knife in combat.”

  At this Alexander smiled. “That reminds me. I have a little something for him.” He removed the cloth bundle that one of the dwarf apprentices had given him to pass on to Fibble.

  Sasha unwrapped it and clapped her hands. “Perfect! Where did you find this?”

  “One of the apprentices working the dragon forge at the compound, made it for Fibble.” Alexander explained. “I meant to give it to him earlier, but it slipped my mind.”

  Sasha covered it back up and handed it to him. “Well I think once we’ve worked out his build and the changes take effect, it’ll be the perfect time. We can make a little ceremony out of it.”

  Alexander liked the idea. “So, a strength/stamina build?” he prompted her to continue.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. He’s a goblin, and a tiny one. Even with every point put into strength he’d never be big enough to become a serious melee fighter. Plus, I don’t want him to grow out of his cuteness!” she looked at Fibble fondly. “I think we should give him an agility build. He’s already fast, and he was amazing when he ran circles around that demon boss shooting it with his stick.”

  “Alright, that makes sense. Might help keep him out of trouble during fights as well. But it’ll make it nearly impossible to catch him at bath time!” Alexander smirked. “What should his other primary be? Dexterity? Intelligence?”

  Sasha shook her head “Not intelligence. I mean, I love him to death, but he’s starting in a pretty deep hole when it comes to thinking. Just like strength, the points would be wasted. He’d have to dump all his free points into wisdom to get any kind of mana pool, and at one point per level…”

  Alexander nodded. Their little monster buddy was just not meant to be a caster. “Are you thinking Dexterity? Give him a rogue build? He was pretty good at disarming the traps in the tunnels where we found him.”

  Sasha spoke slowly, thinking as she went. “Well… maybe. Or maybe stamina for his second primary. Give him a better health bar and-”

  Alexander held up a hand and stopped her. “He’s got a wand that’ll heal him 100% with one shot for the next several levels. And a big percentage beyond that. Plus, he’ll have the rest of us around to heal him. I think we can find a better primary for him.”

  Sasha saw the wisdom in his point. “Right. And when I was talking to pops, he said we didn’t necessarily need to stick to the same attributes we have. Fibble is originally a monster, after all. His exact words were ‘No reason monsters have to conform to player build mechanics.’”

  Alexander’s eyes widened. “When we were coding the game originally, I told him we should change the attributes a bit from the ones everybody knows. I wanted stuff like Cunning, Perception, Loyalty…” he drifted off. “What do you think would be good for Fibble? You’re the strategist. And better than me at this kind of thing. I’m sure you have ideas.”

  Sasha nodded, as if it was obvious. “Been thinking about it. What if we gave him something like Charisma? I mean, he is still a goblin, and we’ll be going places where people are likely to shoot goblins before asking questions. Maybe we can make him too cute to shoot?” She smiled at her own rhyme. “Or Cunning, to allow him to find ways to hide or escape?”

  Alexander agreed. “I like Charisma. But let’s make it a secondary that he can put points in as he chooses. Which means we still need a primary to go with Agility. Maybe Luck? For the extra chance at critical hits or heals? A boost to loot drops? At level 30 that’d give him 30 Agility and Luck right off the bat.”

  They talked for another half hour or so, suggesting and discarding ideas and making notes on Sasha’s paper. What they ended up with was;

  Fibble Level: 30Build: Minister of Demon-killing and Cookies

  Health: 6,000 Experience 3,000/22,000Attribute pts avail: 30

  Mana: 0Skill pts avail: 5

  Stamina: 5 Dexterity: 4 Armor: 40 Health Regen: 15

  Strength: 3 Wisdom: 2 Defense: 10 Mana Regen: 0

  Agility: 35 Intelligence: 2 Phys Attack: 5 Magic Attack: 0

  Luck: 31 Charisma: 5 Stam Regen: 10 Race: Goblin (Light)

  Fibble had come with very low base stats, being born a goblin runt. His strength, intelligence, and wisdom were almost non-existent. And his base luck had been 1. Even his higher starting stats —stamina, agility, and charisma—had only been half what a player’s starting minimum would be. Then again, goblins were meant to be basic throw-away mobs easily killed by low level players.

  Sasha and Alexander had decided to hold off assigning his free points until they saw how he handled the stack of points in his agility and luck. Sasha was still leaning toward dumping them all into charisma. Alexander wanted to talk to Fibble a bit about it first.

  Sasha looked up toward the ceiling and waved, saying “Okay guys, you heard us. Make his primaries Agility and Luck!” Then she and Alexander both sat back and watched Fibble. The little goblin, unfrozen now that they were finished discussing game mechanics, looked back at them. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder, down at his hands, then back at Sasha.

  “What Fibble do? Why you stare?” He asked sheepishly, as if believing he was in trouble for something, and wasn’t quite sure what he’d been caught at. He quickly put his hands behind his back as if to prove he wasn’t stealing cookies.

  Sasha laughed and leaned forward to pat his shoulder. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We have been talking about how to make you better. Help you grow.”

  Fibble looked at her, then put both hands on his tummy protectively. “More tingly in tummy feelings?” He asked suspiciously. His ears drooped a bit.

  Sasha shook her head. “Not right now. But you might feel a little bit different in a few minutes. The uhh… the gods are going to make you b
etter.”

  Just as she finished, Fibble’s eyes grew wide. He leapt off the chair, and instead of just landing on the floor in front of it, his jump took him over the coffee table and sofa that Alexander was sitting on. He crashed into the wall, then popped right back up. Sasha giggled as he looked down at his feet, mouth open and eyes bulging.

  “Feets! Feets got… faster!” He suddenly tore across the room, stumbling a bit before steadying himself. Alexander was sure he would trip and break his neck, but apparently his improved luck was working just as well as his agility. He stumbled over the edge of a rug, did a complete forward flip, landing back on his feet to keep going. Sasha applauded the acrobatics as Alexander chuckled.

  “Told ya. We’re never going to be able to catch him for a bath again.” He said as Fibble ran enthusiastic circles around the room, adding leaps and flips as he grew more confident. “Fibble, I have a present for you.” Alexander produced the wrapped bundle.

  Fibble leapt at him from halfway across the room, landing atop the coffee table and using it as a springboard before plowing into Alexander’s chest and knocking him back on the sofa. The little goblin looked up at Alexander from his lap, saying “Present? Cookies?”

  Alexander handed him the cloth, and after a moment the goblin managed to unwrap it. He held in his hand a tiny engraved sword. It was a two-hander for someone Fibble’s size, with a narrow, fullered blade nearly two feet long. It was as slender as a rapier but didn’t have the flexibility. Fibble immediately hopped down to the floor. Raising the weapon in both hands, he shouted “Rawr!” and took a swing at an imaginary foe. “Die, demon!”

  Sasha clapped her hands, and Fibble took a bow. “Protect Sasha much gooder now!” he beamed at her.