by Oliver Mayes
Noigel cowered. For once, he had nothing to say. Somehow, that made Damien angrier. He’d expected snark, or defiance, or at least some of his most important imp’s charisma to manifest. Which is when he realized: there were no imps besides Noigel present. Noigel didn’t have the ability to speak. Not in tongues that Damien would understand, at any rate. Yet somehow, this realization made Damien angrier still. He was somehow the bad guy, verbally attacking the minion he’d relied on when it lacked the ability to speak in its own defense.
Whose fault was that? Was it Damien’s fault Noigel couldn’t speak? If he hadn’t been so busy cavorting, they’d have dealt with Aetherius without issue and there would’ve been a plethora of imps in the base, in due course, to support Noigel’s ‘Forbidden Knowledge’. Even better, there’d be no need to berate him in the first place.
Yelling at him was only making him feel guiltier and angrier, but not in that order. Damien cast his eyes about his base, looking for a suitable course of action to further chastise his summon.
“Go sit on your hands and stare at the wall. This is your fault! I order you to stay out of my sight.”
That was a pretty unreasonable order, but Noigel had behaved pretty unreasonably himself. He did as he was told and Damien looked away, then went into his menu. With Noigel as his only surviving imp and in time-out, base construction was not going to happen. Damien still needed to edit together the footage from that morning into something that implied a successful run.
He revisited the whole debacle with Aetherius and the Carlisle-Elite, only to decide none of it was fit for consumption on his page. Which made him feel like as much of a spin doctor as Kevin.
Nevertheless, it did end up serving a purpose. He went over his conversation with Aetherius in detail, looking for one particular point he hadn’t had time to digest before he lost control of the situation. Aetherius had referred to Magnitude as ‘Richard’. He knew him by his actual name. They weren’t allies, since the Carlisle party had attacked Aetherius without hesitation. With someone like Aetherius, it was hard to tell where the truth began and the lies ended. But what he’d said had seemed pretty sincere. Hateful, sure, but heartfelt.
After half an hour, Damien had compiled a neat ten-minute-long clip. A great deal of the time had been spent waiting, and the fights themselves had not generally lasted very long. That was the point of the strategy. He stuck the longer, more interesting fight with Gatz at the end. At least it had been pretty cool when he threw the dagger through his eye. That was a standout moment, for sure.
Right. Maybe this would look a bit better from a distance. He attached the succubus to his own Soul Summon Limit to make sure Noigel didn’t get any hanky-panky in while he was away. The succubus would leave Arcadia with him and come back when he logged back in, leaving Noigel with only the incubus and a wraith for defense. And hopefully nothing else.
“Noigel, if you do anything funny with the incubus or the wraith, so help me God, I will find every imaginable way of making you pay for it. Stay there, just like that, and think about what you did.”
The log-out procedure finished and Damien opened his eyes to his own room, hungrier than ever. After he’d had something to eat, it would be time to go visit Lillian. It would be the first time they’d seen each other since she’d gone with him to check up on his mom, after her operation. He’d wanted to stay away from work talk, to connect with Lillian over something other than Saga Online. Yet, if anyone could tell him who ‘Richard’ might be, it was her.
The ride to Lillian’s house took half an hour, considerably less time than when he’d been traveling mostly on foot while pursued by the law. His reclamation of automated taxi services went a long way to making that possible. They were more expensive than the vast majority of transportation services, that went without saying, but they were also the safest by far.
It was certainly strange though, passing under the city as a simple passenger rather than as a fugitive. Spanning the gap between him and Lillian in minutes rather than days. Every now and then his eyes would alight on a tuk-tuk, or an internet cafe, or a sheltered market stall down a dark alley.
It was funny, thinking how much more secure he was now than he had been then. He never intended to go back. He had to make the most of the opportunity he’d earned for himself. He just hadn’t thought it would be so complicated. A brief analysis of his profile and the myriad but underwhelming competing PvP accounts showed that Kevin was right. It had taken a little while, but the view count of Kevin’s duplicitous edit had resulted in a fresh wave of subscribers to his stream channel and a marked increase in the views of all his original videos. He’d have that to look forward to when he got his first paycheck at the end of the month. What Kevin was not taking into account was the stagnation of Damien’s abilities.
So while his visit to Lillian was originally intended to be a social call, there was work on his mind when he found himself outside her door. He gave it a few seconds to let the déjà vu pass, then hit the buzzer and the Mobius call-box in rapid succession. The call-box lit up.
“Hello, who’s there?” inquired Lillian in her best bedside manner. A plethora of sound effects, including spell-casts, explosions and cries for help, created a backdrop of total madness. She sounded quite calm in the middle of it all.
“It’s Damien.”
“You’re early! I thought we— hang on.”
Damien’s head rolled back as Lillian screamed into her microphone. A loud buzz heralded the door opening, followed by a slew of orders from Lillian. She was back to raid mode.
“Burst down the adds! You’re forbidden to heal players who stand in AoE, no excuses. That means you, Judge, you soft wimp! And somebody leash— fine, I’ll do it myself! Damien, get inside, shut the door and wait!”
Damien was inside and closing the door before the static emanating from the box had died away. He gave the expansive living room a sigh before settling in on the sofa, wringing his hands as he wondered what Lillian was up to. Maybe it was the Lair of the Emerald Queen? That would make sense, since she wasn’t much lower level than him.
Too bad she’d end up stuck in the Human Realm, just like everyone else. At least she was enjoying the game for now. Since she was a casual gamer rather than a pro, maybe she’d be able to come back to Saga Online once Damien had sorted out Magnitude’s mess.
He was still mulling over how to convey the bad news when her bedroom door opened and Lillian emerged from down the corridor, still fastening her dressing gown around her waist. She was wearing her pajamas and a massive pair of plush green slippers, modeled after goblin feet. A new addition to her line of home comforts. It didn’t look like she’d been out of the house all day. Good for her.
She looked up from the bathrobe cord to shoot him a broad grin. She threw out her arms and advanced on him, still smiling from ear to ear. It appeared her raid had gone well.
“Come here, you filthy cultist! How’s it going? Like my new feet?”
Damien was up on his own feet and beaming back at her just in time to get squeezed. His smile was more than a simple return of her affection. As she advanced, his eyes had involuntarily darted to her wrist to find it bare. She’d removed her guardian wristband.
She was doing so much better than when Damien had last visited. He felt a lump rising in his throat and pushed it back down while she couldn’t see his face, only for his eyes to start watering as Lillian seamlessly transitioned her hug into a chokehold and an unwanted noogie.
“Oi, don’t bully me! Bloody paladins, always throwing their weight around.”
He was still a little bit shorter than her, and not in nearly as good shape. But Lillian relented, giving him a last embrace before dropping down on the sofa and sighing.
“Yeah, I’ll admit, I’ve been doing a lot of that recently. So, champion! How goes professional streaming life?”
“Eh, not great, to be honest. It’s not what I thought it was going to be.”
Lillian nodded sagely
and crossed her legs.
“Can’t say I’m surprised. It was pretty exhausting supporting Andrew with it. You don’t have a guild though, surely it can’t be that bad?”
Damien scrunched an eye shut and looked at her.
“Funny you should mention Andrew. I ran into him today. We had a “conversation”, if you can call it that. Then he signaled the Carlisle-Elite to our location and almost got me killed.”
“You’ve been having trouble with the Carlisle-Elite as well? You didn’t mention it in your stream today.”
“It wasn’t stream-worthy. Aetherius didn’t have anything nice to say and the fight didn’t go too well for me either. It was better to leave it out. He’s unhinged.”
“He’s been unhinged for a while. I’m glad we got revenge on him, I don’t think we could’ve handled it any better than we did. But looking back? Maybe if I’d been in a better place I’d have done things differently.”
“Lillian—,” Damien’s hand dropped on her shoulder, “—you helped me save my mom, and you got me my dream job. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, by the way, about the streaming gig not being what I thought it would. I enjoy it a lot, it’s just more complicated than I realized.”
Lillian put her hand on his and gave it a quick squeeze before moving it back down to the sofa.
“That’s pretty much what happened to Andrew. He was committed, I’ll give him that, but the stress turned him into a completely different person once we hit the big leagues. I couldn’t let what he did slide, but...it would’ve been nice, you know, if things had turned out a little better. And a big part of that is on me, since I’m the one who tore it all down once he was set to win.”
Damien coughed loudly and pointed at himself.
“I think you’ll find I tore it all down. I can’t have you taking the credit for my accomplishments!”
She gave him a hard whack on the shoulder. In game or out, it still hurt.
“Please! You didn’t even have a proper profile page until I showed up. I could’ve wiped the floor with you when we first met if I felt like it, back in the Twisted Forest. Then you’ve got the raid on Rising Tide’s waiting room I had to pretty much drag you into, which is what really got everyone’s attention for the first time—”
Damien’s ego was taking a bit of a battering. The big sincere smile he’d had since he got there was starting to feel strained.
“Okay, I get it—”
“—you remember? When I let you kill that Pegasus I told you about and get all the EXP?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“And how about the Rising Tide guild headquarters? Did you march in and destroy it top to bottom in a couple of minutes?”
“No.”
“And I’m pretty sure I saved you from Andrew when he had you cornered, at the bottom of your base with the firewalls penning us in. If memory serves. And before that—”
“Alright Lillian! I get it! We tore it all down. You were a reliable sidekick.”
Lillian looked at him in shock as Damien tried his best not to laugh, then started whaling on him without warning.
“How dare you! Take that back!”
“Alright! It was all you!”
Lillian kept on, jabbing him in all his pressure points through his outstretched hands with no effort at all.
“You’re damn right it was all me! Your plan to player-kill all Rising Tide, your successful one-man raids on their dungeon runs and your one-on-one duel with Andrew had NOTHING to do with it! And don’t you forget it!”
She lurched back into her seat, crossed her arms and blew a strand of hair out of her face with a huff. Even though she was grinning, Damien decided to tread a little more carefully.
“I was only joking. I know I owe you, big time. If you hadn’t helped, I probably wouldn’t have got anywhere.”
Lillian remained quite still, but her eyes darted to the side and her lips spread in a mischievous grin.
“Oh, so you owe me? That’s good to hear, since I had something in mind for you. If it’s not too much trouble for the big-shot streamer?”
“Sure, whatever you want. So long as we can get some pizza after we’re done?”
She eyed him sidelong for a few moments before extending a hand to shake on it with a broad grin.
“Deal. Easiest bribe ever.”
“Worth it. What exactly is it you want me to do?”
“We’re heading into the Inner Circle.”
“Whoa, hold on a sec, why are you going there? And what do you need me for?”
“You should know why! The Carlisle-Elite has been harassing us all over Frozone, trying to kill us or push us out. They don’t have the numbers yet, but they will soon enough. The other guilds aren’t interested but we don’t have any bases to maintain, so nothing to lose. We may as well push through and get new quests and content in the Inner Circle. We’re expecting just a tiny bit of resistance, so it would be good to have a player-killer along. Last I checked, you’re one of the best.”
He could do her this favor and he’d also be helping himself out in the process. And he’d get paid in pizza. Excellent all round.
“Okay. Honestly, I’m heading for the Inner Circle as well, so this is a pretty good deal for me. Who are the other players? Is this a new group you’ve pulled together?”
Lillian grimaced. Damien could already tell he wasn’t going to like her answer.
“It’s what’s left of Rising Tide. They needed somebody to take the reins after the whole thing imploded, and I thought since I was at least partially responsible I could reprise my old role. There aren’t many who stayed, but those who did are some of the best.”
“You’re the guild leader of Rising Tide?”
“Come on, Damien, gimme some credit. I half ran it even when Andrew was officially in charge. I dealt with the players and he dealt with the economy. No bases or economy to worry about now.”
“Don’t you think that’s going to be a bit of a problem? I doubt they’ll want to work with me.”
“Uh, Damien? I’m the boss. If I tell them we’re working with you, that’s what happens. Besides, they can’t very well complain about you without complaining about me.”
He hadn’t thought of that. Lillian saw his discomfort and patted him on the back.
“Don’t worry, we’re all squared away in Rising Tide now. Nobody’s following me who doesn’t want to and I make it worth their while. Remember the dragon Andrew took down, while we were attacking the waiting room? We’ve been doing the dungeon every night for the last week. We have really steady runs now we’ve leveled up, no one even died today. Of course, if Magnitude recruits more players he’ll block us from running it, so we need to get a step ahead of him.”
Ah! The mention of Magnitude reminded Damien of what he’d wanted to tell her.
“There’s something else I need to ask you. I think Aetherius knows Magnitude in real life. Does the name ‘Richard’ mean anything to you? He called him Richard a couple of times.”
The smile dropped off Lillian’s face.
“Magnitude is Richard? Are you sure?”
“He didn’t say it, exactly, he sort of laughed it into my face. He was so busy evil-monologuing I’m not sure he realized. Who’s Richard?”
Lillian gave a long sigh and delivered the bad news.
“Richard is Andrew’s older brother. He was beta-testing the game right from the start, that’s how Andrew got into Saga Online in the first place. I never met him in real life, but Andrew used to talk about him a lot until...until things went south.”
Lillian trailed off at the end, looking away and raising her head to the ceiling. Damien cut through the awkward silence.
“Do you still want to attack him, now you know who he is?”
“You’re damn right I do. He’s the one pressuring us, not the other way round. Are you up for it? I’d have thought it goes with your channel pretty well.”
That was true. It would be safer to scout out
Carlisle with a big party in tow, and rolling with Rising Tide of all people would show once and for all that he could cooperate with other players. He’d been planning on scouting out Carlisle before he moved past it anyway, so this played right into Damien’s hands. Except he didn’t have any minions. He’d be a fat lot of use without any imps to enact his strategies with.
“I’m running pretty low on minions after today, I’d like to help but I’m not sure I can. It would take me—”
“Oh! You’re in bad shape? I Portal Stoned back to Camelot after we left the dungeon, but I could always come with you and help you grind some souls out, if you’re in a bad way?”
She stared straight at him, eyes wide and searching. A small smile played out on her lips as she took in Damien’s reaction. She knew enough about his class to know she had him. So did Damien. This offer was too good to refuse, even when he was supposed to be taking the night off.
“That would be great. It’s difficult getting my minion count back up from nothing.”
Lillian rose to her feet, raring to go.
“Alright! Sorry to make you work on a day off, but Saga beats a movie any day if you ask me. I’ve already seen all of them five times anyhow. We’ll farm until six, have some pizza, I’ll tell my guild to meet us at the start of Frozone at seven and then we’ll head out. Sound good?”
“Better than good.”
“Sweet! Just like old times.”
“Not exactly. Unless your guild tries to kill me.”
7
This is Getting Out of Hand
Damien and Lillian opted to roam the end of the Brociliande zone, looking for high-level mobs. The two of them were level 42 and level 43 respectively, which posed a problem. The lowest-level mobs Damien could expect to obtain souls from were level 37 and Brociliande mobs only went up to level 39. Also, finding a decent soul farm was difficult on a Saturday afternoon. There were a lot of players out there, it was daylight and Damien still had a large price on his head.
