Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  “What’s up, boss? I mean… how can I help your Majesty?” She curtsied dramatically, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Keep up with that majesty nonsense and I’ll put you over my knee.” He half-growled at her.

  She batted her eyelashes at him. “Oooh! If only!” causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation. Just to mess with her, he focused his gaze over her head and behind her.

  “Oh, hey Jules!” He smiled at empty air. Beatrix got a horrified expression on her face and spun around, only to find nobody there. Still, knowing that Jules had stealth abilities, she looked around nervously until Alexander lost it and burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. It was just so easy.”

  She stomped her foot and gave him the evil eye. “Did you call me down here just to mess with me?”

  He patted the air between them, surrendering. “No, no. I promise. I need your help here.” He showed her what was going on inside the building, and she adopted a wicked grin very similar to the one Jules had when talking about killing him.

  “Sure, that’s easy enough. Just tell me when.”

  Alexander called out to the shapers inside and warned them to steady themselves. A moment later he gently lowered the floor inside the room about four feet, leaving a space just inside the door at normal level, and the same for the altar at the other end. When he was done, the shapers went back to work.

  “If you don’t mind hanging out till they’re through? Then do your thing?” Alexander asked Beatrix. “It shouldn’t be long.”

  “Of course! Happy to do my part. And this is gonna be AWESOME!” She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

  Alexander reached out and handed her the reward he’d put together. She took one look and her eyes grew wide. “These are… thank you! I’d hug you, but I’m still not sure Jules isn’t hiding around here somewhere!”

  Chuckling, Alexander teleported himself back to the keep. He was amused to see a small group of dwarven crossbowmen walking past to take up sentry posts on the wall. Each of them was proudly sporting a mooning dwarf pin on their chest. Except for one female dwarf, who had somehow braided hers into her beard. She grinned at Alexander as he noticed, and waggled her beard a bit to make the little dwarf dance.

  With most of his pre-battle preparations either completed or being handled by someone else, he decided to go wake up Jules and spend some quality time with her.

  *****

  Fitz stood behind Baron Dire as the lich gibbered nonsensically. The panicked former ruler of Dire Keep was down below 10% health from repeated light magic damage inflicted by the wizard. Fitz had been very systematic about it. He would ask a question, and when he wasn’t happy with the answer, a whip would lash out and inflict light damage on his undead prisoner. This had been going on for the better part of a day now. The lich couldn’t take more than another hit or two before dying. And for the first time in centuries, he was facing permanent death.

  So now the lich was doing his utmost to give Fitz whatever he wanted. Only he was speaking so quickly and incoherently the information was useless to the wizard. Fitz stood there, contemplating whether the baron had outlived his usefulness when he heard a word that interested him greatly.

  “…Damerion!”

  “Stop!” Fitz ordered the prisoner, who clapped his mouth shut instantly. There had been a magic compulsion behind that command. “You mentioned Damerion. Tell me more.”

  The baron’s eyes went wild, as if just now realizing he’d said something he shouldn’t. “Did I say Damerion? I must have misspoken.”

  Fitz held up his whip and stared into the undead eyes of the Baron. “Well, now. Let’s just see here. I think that you can survive another lash. But I’m not positive. You’ve been bleeding quite a bit. Shall we test my theory?”

  The lich backed away as far as he could without touching the walls of his cage. “No! No there’s no need. The dark one will be in Damerion by now. Since you and your adventurers took Antalia from him, he’s made plans to take the throne of Damerion instead!”

  Fitz gripped the whip so tightly the leather handle squeaked in complaint. Like many of the rulers on Io, the King of Damerion was a friend of his. He’d watched him grow up and assume his office when the old King died.

  “And if the Dark One’s not in Damerion yet? Where is his stronghold?” This was maybe the fifth time he’d asked this question, and the Baron had steadfastly refused to answer. To the point that Fitz began to suspect a compulsion spell of some kind was keeping him from sharing that information.

  With a wave of his hand he dismissed the cage of light that surrounded the Baron. A second wave lifted the lich into the air so that he could not move on his own. “Tell me!”

  Baron Dire opened his mouth and tried to force the words free. But he could not. He gasped and pointed at his head. “He’s… in here…”

  Fitz stepped forward and seized the lich’s head between his hands. Closing his eyes he invaded Baron Dire’s mind. He saw images of torture, death, resurrection. Locations of dungeons and hideaways the Baron had visited and/or claimed as his own. He pushed back farther, focusing his own thoughts on the Dark One and his location. A cave entrance appeared, a nondescript stone cliff face surrounding it. Fitz tried to get some frame of reference that would help him determine the location. He pushed harder, and the lich screamed. Fitz felt something snap inside the lich’s mind before he perished. Whatever safeguard had been put in place inside the Baron’s mind had just made sure he would never reveal anything more.

  Fitz reached into his pocket and pulled out Baron Dire’s phylactery, which was now glowing with the essence of the lich’s soul. He dropped the thing to the floor and summoned Wizard’s Fire. Mostly as an experiment. He wanted to know if the undead abomination could feel pain while inside the crystal. As the magic flames licked at the crystal’s surface, a high-pitched keening escaped from it. Dismissing the flame, he switched to a channeled beam of light magic. Again the keening, but at a much higher pitch.

  Satisfied that he had his answer, he lifted the crystal into the air using Levitate, then lowered it into a specially designed box. Closing the box, he time-locked it, then put several protection spells on it before stowing it away in his bag.

  With a grim look toward the east, he teleported himself to the palace in Stormforge. He spoke briefly to King Charles to update him, and requested the services of Sophie the spy. As soon as she arrived, he teleported them to the Greystone Manor portal. After a few minor adjustments to the portal’s stones, he opened a portal to Damerion and they stepped through.

  Chapter 16

  Battle!

  The following morning Alexander, and everyone else in the keep, awoke early. In truth few of them had slept much, the upcoming battle on all of their minds.

  Alexander led Jules downstairs for breakfast. The mood in the dining area was sedate, folks eating quickly and talking little. A few nervous laughs echoed across the space. Alexander tried to think up something amusing to say, but failed. Instead he went to the smithy to check on the bolt production.

  The moment he arrived, several of the smiths leveled up. He could see everyone’s blank stares and smiles as they viewed their quest completion notification and rewards.

  Brick pointed toward several score crates that were overflowing with bolts. “We managed ta craft 2,800 bolts.” He bragged with his chest puffed out. “We’re gonna need more demons!” the other smiths laughed and clapped each other on the back.

  Alexander said “Very well done, all of you! You make me proud. Now, I don’t plan to start the battle until noon. So all of you, go sleep for a few hours. No arguments!”

  None of the exhausted smiths tried to argue in the least. The smithy was quickly emptied out for the first time since it had been constructed.

  Alexander asked Silverbeard to task some of the soldiers to load the bolts onto a wagon and take them to the battlefield. He also had some barrels of water taken down, and a good supply of health, mana, and cure potions. Al
l of it would be distributed as necessary before the battle.

  He opened a portal to Antalia at sunrise, and Martin strode through with nearly twenty healers. Pollock followed with his guys plus the five players whom he’d recruited to the guild and had passed the background testing. There were two warriors, a paladin, a cleric and a summoner. The two warriors were women and looked as battle-crazed as Pollock and his guys. The paladin wore gleaming armor and a massive sword similar to the one Alexander himself had used on his previous avatar. The summoner was followed by a succubus with twin swords strapped to her back and a whip wrapped around her waist. And the cleric was a mainly nondescript woman of about six feet that wore plain brown robes. But her staff was pure, clear crystal that glowed with a blue light.

  Alexander greeted everyone as they came through. He halted the entire group, Martin’s and Pollock’s people both, and said. “Please join me in the great hall, if you would?”

  He led them all inside and offered them seats on the benches set to one side. Taking a seat facing them all, he began. “You’ve all undergone the screening and passed with flying colors. And I know you’ve all been warned of the dangers, both here and in the real world.” He waited while they all nodded or answered in the affirmative.

  “Then for those of who you aren’t already members, welcome to the Greystone Guild, and to Elysia!” He sent guild invites to Pollock’s new people. They all accepted immediately.

  “Now down to business. First thing is the upcoming battle. I believe all of you are planning to become immersion players, correct?” he looked around for any negative responses. Finding none, he continued. “Then the xp for today’s fight won’t mean anything for you. You’ll be starting over at level one. To be fair to all of you, I’m going to give you the option to do so right now. You can log off in a few minutes, and our teams will have you back online in your pods in time for the battle. I can teleport you here from the noob zone, and you will receive experience from this Defenders quest.” He shared the second part of the quest with all those who didn’t have it.

  “Now, you won’t be able to participate in the battle. As level ones you’d be killed instantly and wouldn’t be able to contribute any meaningful dps or heals. With the exception of you healers who have a resurrection ability. That works on any level. So you’d be spectators. I’ll leave it up to you. You can participate in the battle for fun, then go load into your pods. Or go immersive first. Either way you’ll collect the same monetary rewards from the quest. And the same share of any loot we recover.”

  He waited while they thought it over. After about ten seconds, he said “I will add one other thing. Our guild members will be available to power level you in the weeks to come. We just did the same for Lugs, Helga, and some others. And helped Pollock and his guys level as well. We now have our own dungeon with level 30-50 mobs that you can grind through when you reach that level. So if the lost experience is your main consideration, please keep that in mind.”

  One of the new folks, the cleric, spoke up. “What would you choose to do?”

  Alexander grinned “No question, I’d choose to stay online and get into the fight! I mean, how often do you get to fight a whole demon army in a pitched battle?” His enthusiasm was infectious. Pollock jumped up and pumped a fist into the air. “I’m staying to fight!” His guys were right behind him, as were the two lady warriors.

  One after the other the rest of them stood. Martin and his core group of officers were already in immersion anyway, but Alexander was proud of them all. “Great! The battle will begin around noon. In the meantime, if you want to borrow some better gear just for this fight, see Max and Lainey. They’ll get you into the guild vault and sort you out. Also, before you log out for the last time, see Master Silverbeard. You can give him all your gear and funds for safekeeping and reclaim them when you log back in as a noob.”

  “Now, let’s talk a little bit about when you come back…”

  Alexander spent half an hour telling them about how he and his group had discovered ways to tweak their spells and combine their magics to make attacks more effective. Encouraging them to think outside the box and try to come up with twists of their own. This had some of them second-guessing their decision to wait, excited to test out the improved features. But when he offered again, none changed their minds. It would only be a day, after all.

  He left them to organize their gear and get acquainted with the citizens. He wanted to make a quick visit to the minotaurs.

  Repeating his steps from before, he teleported himself back to the spot outside their new stronghold. He was surprised to see much more activity around the tower. There were tents made of animal hides set up in several distinct camps around the tower. Most were occupied by minotaurs, but Alexander could see orcs walking around several of them as well.

  He walked to the gate and was ushered in immediately. Molgo met him just as he stepped through. “Welcome, Alexander. It is good you are here.”

  The oversized cow-man led him inside the tower where they took seats at a long table. “Dawn has passed along your kind offer. My people reached out to what is left of the orc tribes that we trade with. Some chose to come. Many stayed behind.”

  Alexander had been doing a mental calculation in his head “It looks like a few hundred orcs, from what I could see. And maybe five hundred of your people?”

  Molgo nodded his massive head. His horns glistened in the torchlight. Dawn approached the table with tankards for the three of them. She placed one in front of Alexander and sat down as she handed one to her mate. Alexander thanked her and took a drink, expecting ale.

  He nearly coughed up his first couple swallows of the drink. It burned its way down his throat and into his gut. Eyes wide, he gasped “What is this?”

  Dawn laughed. “Fermented goat’s milk. With a special ingredient.”

  Alexander coughed once, then took another drink. It burned less this time, and tasted rather good. Molgo chuckled at Alexander’s smile. “Easy, puny elf. A little of this will feel good. More will knock you off your feet!”

  Alexander believed him. He set the tankard down. “Would you like to see what we have to offer?”

  Both Molgo and Dawn nodded in agreement and downed the entire contents of their tankards. Alexander stood and moved to an open space, where they joined him. He teleported them directly to the village that the orcs had previously seized. “There are two villages like this. Lots of lumber for expansion, and land can be cleared for farming.” He said as they walked through the center of the village. “There are also a couple of mines, a river for fish, and plenty of wildlife.”

  When they reached the other side of the village, he teleported them to the garrison tower. He introduced them to Regina and Bodine, who showed off their zoo. Then Alexander told the minotaurs “There are three towers like this. And several smaller ones scattered about. Your people can retreat to them if needed, and stay safe until help can come. But approach the western tower cautiously, without weapons. A family of prowlers guards that tower for us.”

  Next, he teleported them to a spot at the top of the escarpment. He stepped forward to the edge and pointed down toward the keep. “Down there is our keep, and most of the forest that you see is within our lands. As well as the entire forest up here.” Then he pointed farther out to the spires visible in the distance. “That is the human kingdom of Stormforge. Friends and allies.”

  Finally, he brought them to the keep. He walked around with them, showing them the various buildings, introducing them to citizens and players alike. Molgo grunted when he saw a duergar woman speaking to Blix the gnome. “You spoke the truth when you said many races live here in harmony. I did not believe. I am sorry I doubted you.”

  Alexander said “We will learn to trust each other more as time passes, we work together to build this kingdom.” He turned to see a company of dwarven crossbowmen heading out the gate toward the battle site. Looking at his UI he saw that noon was approaching. “It is nearly time for
our battle with the demon army. I can return you to your people, or you may stay and observe, if you wish.”

  Dawn elbowed Molgo in the ribs and give him the cow-woman equivalent of ‘the look’. Molgo snorted through his bull nose and replied “We will stay. My mate never misses a chance for battle. But we carried no weapons here with us. Would you have some we can borrow?”

  Alexander said “Jeeves, please ask Master Silverbeard to meet me in the great hall” as he led the minotaurs into the donjon. Silverbeard actually found them in the corridor, and Alexander explained what they needed. Silverbeard promptly led the two guests to the guild vault to try and find weapons.

  Alexander teleported himself to the roof of their new building. Looking down, he inspected the trench that ran around the sides, and the supplies that were being distributed. Every few feet there was a crate of bolts, a water barrel, and a crate of potions. Satisfied with what he saw, he hopped down off the roof and peered into the building through one of the slots. As they were set at dwarven height, he had to bend a bit to see inside. There at the end was the altar, still glowing softly. The floor was covered to ground level with water from the moat. It was completely still, and if one didn’t know it was water it could be mistaken for glossy stone. At the other end, the door was still open, and there was a small stone ledge at the water’s edge where Alexander would place the portal orb. While he was thinking about it, he went to do just that. Walking along the trench to that end of the building, he strode up the ramp and around the corner to the door. Stepping inside, he withdrew the portal orb he’d taken from the lich. Using his Earth Mover, he raised a short stand about the height of a golf tee, but wide enough to support the orb. He shaped the stand into a sort of bowl to support the thing and keep it from rolling away.