by G. R. Cooper
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Also By
Author's Note
Prolog
Character Sheet
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilog
Character Sheet
Acknowledgments
LitRPG Facebook
About the Author
The Marchstone Dale
by G.R. Cooper
Copyright © 2018 G.R. Cooper
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
Trademarked names appear throughout this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.
The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Also By G.R. Cooper
Omegaverse Series:
Shepherd Moon
Shepherd’s Crook
Shepherd’s Cross
The Kings of Edonis
The Marches of Edonis
Coming soon:
The Better Part of Valor (Book 1 of the Valor series)
Author’s note
In the previous two books, I have used the prolog as a short “catch-up” that reminded the readers of what had happened in the story previously. I was never really happy with the way they turned out, and it was probably obvious that they were the last thing, rushed through and written off-hand.
Thus, in this book, I have used the prolog to not only bring the reader back into the world, but to introduce new, important, parts of the story. I have also taken the opportunity to tell this part of the story from the eyes of another character - much like I enjoyed doing with the previous epilogs.
The story begins the morning after the last left off, when Rydra had just finished looting King Clive’s treasure room and Wulfgar had confronted King Clive about their respective roles in the Omegaverse.
So, you’ve been warned - do not just skip past the prolog thinking that it’s once again nothing more than a rehash!
Thanks!
-grc
Prolog
Rydra sat back into his chair and enjoyed the warmth from the fireplace to his rear. He was still a little wired from the night before, when he and Wulfgar had looted the treasure room of King Clive’s palace. He smiled. That had been profitable. And fun. He laughed a little, thinking about Wulfgar’s reaction to the loot. The fun was behind, however. He had work to do. Recruiting.
Rydra was on the latest of his tour of the taverns of Edonis, beginning his work in spreading Clive’s propaganda. In telling the tale of Wulfgar and his friends - how they’d created a rival kingdom on the marches of Clive’s kingdom - he’d found roughly two-thirds of the players seemed to favor King Clive. He suspected much of that was down to jealousy; that a different player had seemingly risen so far, so quickly, within this world. Rydra lifted the pint of amber ale to his lips and took a short draw from the glass, frowning a little at the over hopped brew.
I’d hoped, he thought, I’d left the hoppy beer craze behind in the real world.
On first sitting down in the great-room of the Gilded Pumpkin he’d ordered the amber and not the IPA - the Indian Pale Ale that seemed to be the usual target of hops overload. He shrugged, now he knew better. He’d go back to the stout he’d enjoyed on many previous occasions; the stout he’d avoided today because he had hoped that the amber would provide an easy respite from the heavy brews he’d been drinking on his crawl around the inns of the city.
He smiled as he thought, well, at least I won’t be drinking this ale down quickly, so I won’t be tempted to switch afterward and drink my weight in stout!
Remembering he didn’t have to worry about getting furiously drunk or gaining weight in this world, he laughed at himself - it didn’t really matter what or how much he drank anymore.
“Was it something I said?” asked a looming figure on the other side of the table.
Rydra looked up. The figure, tall and broad shouldered, was pulling off a black helm, adorned with a skull-like visage across the front in darkly blued steel. He was, Rydra saw as he took in the character in whole, cocooned within a similarly dark suit of plate armor. The dark knight unbuckled a heavy belt and dropped a long, wide, sheathed sword onto the table in front of himself, and looked down at Rydra with dark eyes and raised one eyebrow.
Rydra smiled and waved toward the open chair on the opposite side of the table, and the warrior pulled it out and dropped into it with a sigh.
“Not at all,” said Rydra, beaming, “I was just laughing at myself. An activity which, I assure you, is not unusual among those who know me.” He leaned in to the table as the dark night signaled the waitress for a beer, “So, are you just in from the frontier?”
“No,” said the fighter, deadpan, “I always wear full armor into a bar.”
Rydra bowed in his seat, “Pardon me, for pointing out the obvious.”
The warrior returned a brief half smile.
“I am Rydra. Thief. Denizen of Edonis.”
“Darkwind Knightfall. But you can call me Jay, if that’s easier.”
“Whatever you prefer, friend.”
“Jay, then, for now. No need for formality.”
Rydra nodded his acquiescence, “Where have you been, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Jay shrugged it off, “Not at all. Down south, in the Dark Hills. A three day ride. I was there working on a professional quest. I’m a Magus of Evening.”
“A good friend of mine is a Magus of Evening as well.”
Jay nodded, “The Knight Magus has a different path, unique for us. Once we reach tenth level, we can take the path-finder quest. It allows us to cast with and through our weapons. Before, we could either wield or cast, not both simultaneously.”
“And now?”
Jay shrugged - or as much as he could in heavy armor - and tapped the sword on the table, “And now, this sword does extra magical damage. What I can now do is pre-cast one of my spells onto the sword ahead of time. The next thing I hit with this sword will get a nice, level one lightning bolt besides whatever melee damage I inflict. And as I level up, I’ll not only be able to add more spells to my book, I’ll do more damage and, eventually, I’ll be able to add multiple charges to the blade.”
“So, once you hit someone with the blade, the spell is cast and you must reload it in order for it to work again?”
Jay nodded, taking a sip from his newly delivered beer, “Mmmhmm,” he grunted.
“So, what brings you back?”
“The rumor. That resurrection and quests had been turned off. I figured this was the place to go if it was true. At least, if I wanted to find out what the hell was going on, you know?”
Rydra nod
ded, smiling. “It was true. Did you get the message?”
Early that morning, Rydra had received a system message.
“Effective immediately, resurrection and quests will turn back on. For one week only for resurrection, after which they will again be turned off for six months. Quests will award three times the experience points for the period of time in which resurrection is turned off.”
“Yeah,” said Jay, “I got it. But what the hell does it mean? Why were they turned off in the first place?”
Rydra shrugged. “I have no idea,” he lied. He knew well the experimental nature of this world; how Clive was conducting an experiment on the players; an anthropological study of himself and everyone else who had died on Earth and been reborn in the Omegaverse. He also knew that alone of all of the players, Wulfgar had not died before entering this world. Rydra knew that made his friend special, but he didn’t know how or why. As King Clive’s spy-master, Rydra had been filled in on much that other players were left unaware, but not that. All he knew, or thought he knew, was that Wulfgar was central to whatever Clive was up to.
“It might,” began Rydra, bringing the conversation back to his mission at hand, “have something to do with the new kingdom.”
Jay shook his head and raised his eyebrows, “The what?”
“A player has setup himself as the king of a valley up in the mountains to the west. I can’t imagine that Clive is thrilled, at all, about that.”
“Who is this player?”
“His name is Wulfgar,” said a tall man with long dark hair. Several strands of silver hair lay along the right side of his face, draped over his shoulders like the rest of his black mane. He sat heavily, without asking, next to Jay.
“His name is Wulfgar,” the new arrival repeated, “And you know him.”
Rydra nodded, “Yes, Tim, I do know him. Tim, meet Jay. Jay, Tim,” he nodded between the two.
“I know Wulfgar,” Rydra continued, “and he’s a friend of mine.”
“So, why aren’t you with him?” asked Tim. His tone was not unfriendly, but serious.
Rydra just shrugged, “My place is here. I have a good life here. I’m not interested in helping to foment rebellion against my good life.”
“Especially,” added Tim, “since he and a handful of friends are going up against Clive and myself.”
“Yourself?” asked Jay.
Tim nodded, “Yeah. King Clive has tasked me with leading his forces. Leading them with one goal - to defeat and dethrone,” he chuckled, “Wulfgar. To remove the threat from the borders of this fine kingdom.”
Rydra looked up, shocked. This was news to him. He looked at Tim closely, but didn’t get the feeling that the man was lying to him. He smiled benignly at Tim, nodding.
“Tell me about him,” smiled Tim. “Wulfgar.”
Rydra smiled back, “There’s not much to tell, really. I only knew him a week or two. We went on a couple of quests together. He’s a Rogue Magus …”
“Of Evening,” interrupted Tim, “like me.”
“And me,” added Jay.
“Of Evening,” conceded Rydra, “and he’s pretty much a newbie. He’s only been in-world for about two weeks total.”
“Really?” exclaimed Jay. “He’s made quite an impact, pretty quickly.”
“He has. Disproportionately so.”
Tim nodded vigorously, “Very disproportionately.”
Rydra smiled back at Tim, “May I ask your beef with him?”
“Sure. He was my mentor in my professional quest. He sabotaged me.”
“How?” asked Jay.
Tim looked over at the warrior, “Remember the room with three doors?” He waited for Jay’s nod, “When we were in the first room, he told me that when I got to the door room, to choose the door on the far right.”
“Whoah. Dick move,” grunted Jay. “You must have had quite a fall.”
“Yeah,” growled Tim. “A long fall into pitch darkness. Scariest thing I’ve gone through in this world, and it happened because I trusted Wulfgar.” He frowned, “Never again. Never,” he looked pointedly at Rydra, “trust that bastard.”
Rydra smiled, shook his head, but kept his counsel to himself.
“And then,” said Tim, more animated, “he had the nerve to act like it was all a joke when we ran into each other the next day. He acted like it was no big deal. But then,” he sneered, “he would, wouldn’t he? I had my friends with me that time, and we outnumbered and outweighed him and his friends.”
“You sure did,” laughed Rydra.
“I’m sorry, man,” said Tim, “I really am. I shouldn’t have put my anger with Wulfgar on to you and the others.” He smiled, “And that was a really neat trick you pulled, sneaking in behind me and getting your blade on my throat.” He smiled more broadly and winked, “And thanks for not decapitating me.”
“I’m glad I didn’t,” chuckled Rydra, “especially now that I know the whole story. And there’s no need to apologize. None at all.” He smiled openly but frowned inwardly. He had seen the fury in Tim when the man had confronted Wulfgar, Lauren, Snorri, and himself. The fury and the arrogance. While Tim may have felt - may have even been - justified in his anger, the way that it manifested, Rydra thought, showed the man that Tim truly was.
Rydra grasped at some way to change the subject.
“So,” he began, “Tim and Jay. Aren’t you guys worried about using your true names, assuming those are your true names, in this world? It was my understanding they provided leverage over you, at least magically.”
“They do,” conceded Jay, “but you have to know the full true name. First, middle, last, whatever. The whole thing.”
“Yah,” laughed Tim, “there’s no partial credit offered. Close only works,” he snorted, “in horseshoes and hand-grenades!”
Rydra chuckled, sipping his beer. He nodded.
“Good to know, gentlemen, good to know.” Rydra wiped his upper lip of foam, and looked at the two character sheets for his new companions.
Darkwind Knightfall. Level 10. Knight Magus of Evening.
General Tim the Undying. Level 4. Magus of Evening.
He smiled broadly at Tim, “Dedicated magus, eh?”
Tim nodded, “Yup. And I’m only level four, even though I’ve been in this world for a long time. I’m a pretty methodical person. I plan.” He winked, “I scheme. I make sure I have all of the information I need, that I have everything in place, before I make my move. I studied out this world, the rules of this world, before I decided on my path.” He leaned forward toward Rydra, “Like you, I want to build a life here. I realized early on that this isn’t just a game.” He looked over to Jay then back to Rydra, “I mean, you guys understand that we could eventually have lives here that are much, much, longer than our lives before, right? As far as we know, we are immortals in an eternal world.”
“Thus Tim the Undying?” asked Rydra.
Tim shook his head, “That’s a new honorific. Bestowed upon me by the King, at the same time he made me his general.” He shook his head again, “You can’t change your name after you enter this world, probably even if you go out and re-roll for all I know, so there’s no way I could have added those on myself.” He laughed, “It’s not like I knew when I chose my characteristics that I’d come to be a general, or undying.”
“But we’re all undying,” countered Jay. “At least, for the next week.”
“And I’ll be the only one who still is in a week and a day.” Tim frowned in thought and brushed back a long, dark lock that had fallen over his right eye, “I thought a lot about whether to tell anyone this, but it’s part of my deal with King Clive. In exchange for leading his forces against Wulfgar, I get to resurrect. As often as I need.”
“Why the concern? About keeping it a secret?”
Tim shrugged, “I didn’t want any jealousy. It’ll be bad enough now. But in a couple of weeks, once people are actually facing not being able to rez for six months, it’ll be worse.”
>
“Then why tell us?” asked Jay.
“I wanted to be honest with people. I plan on leading this fight from the front. If I somehow look brave doing so, great, but I didn’t want people to rethink their opinion if I got killed and suddenly rezzed with no explanation.”
Tim looked up between Rydra and Jay, “I mean, if people started second guessing my motivations and my actions, it’ll be very hard to lead them into the war that’s coming.”
Rydra nodded. He was beginning to understand that Tim might actually have the makings of a real leader. He had wondered about that earlier - wondered how the guy who came across as a complete asshole in the village the week before had managed to get the other players in the village to follow him.
He smiled inwardly, thinking, I guess it’s OK to be a complete sociopath, a heartless dick, as a leader as long as you’re only a dick to your enemies. He thought about that for a moment. People didn’t follow a Tim because he was an asshole, they followed him because he was an asshole to the other guys. To the guys that the followers felt were the competition.
It might even be, he considered, that was one of the reasons why some people followed someone like Tim. They wanted someone in charge who would do what the average person wasn’t willing to do in order to win.
Do unto others before some bastard does unto us.
Rydra examined that against the kind of leader that Wulfgar was. Wulfgar wasn’t loud. He led by example, allowing his natural charisma to attract followers. He delegated, he didn’t dictate. His leadership almost felt as though it was an afterthought - that Wulfgar simply went about his business and was surprised when people decided to follow him.
Rydra wasn’t sure that was the kind of leadership that Wulfgar needed now - not with the weight of an entire kingdom preparing to fall upon him and his small band.
He looked back to Tim. Clive had chosen wisely. Tim was the kind of leader who pulled people to him, by force of will. The sentiment that Rydra had noticed so far - that two in three of the players in Edonis seemed inclined to side with Clive against Wulfgar - played into Tim’s hands. He had a larger pool to draw from, and his outgoing and active form of leadership were likely what was required to actually get the players to line up and fight against Wulfgar. Given that, plus the much greater base of resources that Clive could provide, it seemed, to Rydra, to give Tim an overwhelming advantage.
