World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (15 page)

To the left and right
of the door leading to the kitchen are four dining tables, two on
each side. Four patrons are dining at a table on the left, and three
at another table on the right. The remaining two tables are empty.

Not trusting his eyes,
but seeing no reason to attack innocent common folk, the big warrior
rises to his feet, and slowly walks into the room. As he stands at
the doorway, he sees that every eye in the room has turned towards
him.

“Welcome, stranger!”
A deep, husky voice breaks the silence.

Conrad turns his head
toward the voice, and sees the barkeeper offering him a friendly
smile. The man is nearly the size of Conrad, with a strong build and
a barrel chest.
I guess he
doubles as the bouncer,
the adventurer thinks wryly to
himself. “Well met, sir,” he replies with an equally friendly
tone.
There is no need to
initiate hostilities just yet, not until these non-player characters
attack me. I wonder if this entire room is a magical illusion of some
sort,
he ponders as he surveys the room again.

“Would you like to
sit at my bar and have a drink? Or would you prefer to have a fine,
home cooked meal at the dining tables?” the barkeeper replies
politely. The bar patrons take the hint and slide over to the left
and right to make room for the newcomer right in front of the
barkeeper.

Conrad mulls his
options for a moment. “I appreciate your offer to sit at the bar.
However, I think I will sit at the dining table. I am a little hungry
right now," he answers politely. "What's your special for
today?” he asks.

“Stew,” the barkeep
replies succinctly, offering no additional information regarding
what's inside the stew.

The adventurer nods in
acknowledgment of the answer.
The
guy is clearly the alpha male in the room, and I need to keep an eye
on him.
He walks over to the empty table on the left side
of the swiveling door, and claims his seat at the table. The warrior
removes the reflective tower shield from his left forearm and puts
the massive shield on the empty chair next to him. He notices that
the conversation amongst the patrons at the bar have quietly resumed.
From his position, Conrad sees some of them surreptitiously glance
back at him and his shield.

A young, attractive
brunette girl wearing a white apron, a white shirt with a low v-cut,
and a black skirt appears next to him. “What would you like to
drink, milord?” she asks politely, her light voice making her seem
even younger.

He looks up at her and
stares into her crystal blue eyes. “A mug of mead is fine,” he
replies with a broad smile to put her at ease. “And today's
special,” he adds.

“Yes milord! Right
away!” she replies cheerfully, and disappears into the kitchen. A
moment later she reappears and walks past his table, her skirt
brushing lightly on his bare thigh.

He stares in
appreciation at her wide hips and pinched waistline, as she walks
over to the bar and waits at the counter.
Too
bad she's a bit too young for me
, he thinks while flashing
a sour expression. He raps his knuckles lightly on the wooden table.
Let's remember our objective
,
Conrad reminds himself.

The barkeeper taps mead
from a wooden keg into an empty mug. When the mug is filled to the
brim, he puts the mug on the table, and slides it across the table
into the young server's awaiting hand. A bit of mead sloshes out of
the mug and onto the counter.

The server grabs the
mug by its large handle, lifts it off the table, and expertly wipes
the spill with a rag left in a pocket in her apron. Satisfied that
the table is sufficiently dry, the brunette sashays back to the
adventurer's table, with her blue eyes holding his dark brown eyes
the entire time. When she finally arrives, the server places the cold
mug on the dining table in front of him. “Your mead, milord,” she
says. She quickly turns her back on him, finally breaking the
flirtation, and hurries back into the kitchen.

“Thank you,” Conrad
says with a smile while staring at the retreating figure. He grabs
the mug and takes a small sip.
It's
too bad I can't taste the mead in this virtual reality world
,
the player notes with amusement.

When the mug is half
finished, the young server comes out of the kitchen, and stands next
to him again. She places a big bowl in front of him.

Conrad looks up at the
pretty server, and says with a broad smile, “Thank you.”

The girl dips her hips
for a slight curtsy, and hurries back into the kitchen.

The barbarian turns his
head back and looks at the stew in front of him, and abruptly stands
up! Staring back at him is a human head, with its mouth open and an
orange stuck between its teeth!

Sssttttttssssss! Conrad
quickly turns to look around the room, and sees that the common
villagers are tearing off their human skins, revealing dry, dark
green reptilian scales underneath!
These
are Lizardmen!
He grabs the hot bowl of stew, and hurls it
at the nearest monster.

The bowl lands squarely
on a former villager's face, and it snarls in pain from the scalding
hot water.

The barbarian reaches
for his tower shield, and quickly straps it to his left forearm.
Seeing the reptilians slowly form a wall to corner him, the big man
grabs his dining table, and uses it as a battering ram. He rams it
into the gut of the reptilian who had received the adventurer's bowl
of stew, and knock the monster to the ground.

Conrad quickly swings
the table to his right, knocking three more reptilians to the side.
He swings to his left, and catch the other three lizardmen at the
dining table.

The group of patrons
from the bar has reached his side of the room, and start swinging
their bar stools at his head.

The big man lifts up
his table to block the stools. He then aims the edge of the table
downward, smashing the hard edge of the dining table right into their
faces and knocking them to the ground. He starts to pull the table
back again.

Suddenly, a huge
reptilian grabs the other end of the table.

The adventurer tugs at
it, trying to rip it loose. However, the former barkeeper's grip is
too strong.

Seeing the other
lizardmen slowly rising to their feet, the warrior quickly lets go of
the table. He launches a sweep kick to the left and scores a hit,
knocking an unsuspecting reptilian to the ground. Whoosh! Conrad
feels the rush of air towards his head, and immediately drops to the
ground.

The dining table misses
him entirely, and hits another reptilian.

“Thanks, partner!”
the adventurer taunts the humongous barkeeper, and quickly rolls to
his right to avoid the table crashing down on him! Conrad tumble
rolls forward, and in one fluid, continuous motion springs back to
his feet. Before the stupefied reptilian holding the table could
react, the barbarian bashes his shield into the big monster's face
and knocks his adversary back on his heels.

"Yeehaw!" the
man yells in exhilaration. "Come on, who's next?" he asks.

The former barkeeper
shakes his head to recover his mental faculties. The huge lizardman
grunts, and grabs another table as the last table he held is smashed
into pieces already. As he lifts up the table with his massive arms,
the unfinished plates of food slide off the table and crash onto the
floor. The former barkeeper rushes forward at Conrad, using the end
of the table as a battering ram.

The adventurer
sidesteps to the left, and the table misses him entirely. Before the
barkeeper could turn and swing the table at him again, Conrad grabs
hold of the other end and pulls.

The barkeeper tugs back
on the table, and the two engage in an impromptu tug-of-war.

However, both sides
prove to be equal in strength, and neither man could pull the table
free of the other person's grasp.

"Man, just how
strong are you?" Conrad asks incredulously. He had never
encountered any monster that could match his strength.

"Sssshshhhhsss!"
the massive reptilian hisses in anger when he can't get the human to
let go of the table.

Suddenly, the kitchen
door next to Conrad swings open, and the player feels a sharp sting
from his real life left glove. The gamer quickly turns to his left,
and sees another reptilian standing next to him, stabbing a steak
knife into his left arm. The man looks down at the newcomer's face,
and recognizes the crystal blue eyes of the young brunette server.
"Not you too," Conrad says in a low, pained voice, fully
dreading what he's about to do next. Still holding onto the table,
the brawler lifts up his left knee, and snaps a vicious kick into the
reptilian's sternum.

The former server is
knocked back through the swiveling door and into the kitchen.

Taking advantage of his
enemy suddenly becoming off-balance, the former barkeeper makes a
hard tug on the dining table, and finally rips it out of the
barbarian's hands! The lizardman hisses in triumph as he raises the
table in the air, and prepares to slam it straight down on the
suddenly vulnerable adventurer!

Conrad is pulled
forward by the momentum, and belly flops onto the floor. He alertly
rolls to the left, and the table crashes down on his position just a
moment before. He rolls backward to his feet, and happens to stand
next to the kitchen when the door swivels again. The barbarian
instinctively raises his shield, just in time to block a blow to his
head.

Clang! The player
lowers his shield for a split second, and sees before him a squat
looking lizardman holding a frying pan. "Back into the kitchen,
chef!" he says as he bashes his shield into the newcomer, and
knocks the reptilian through the door.

"Ugh!" Conrad
blurts out in pain as both virtual reality gloves deliver electric
shocks to his physical hands. The player quickly checks his health
bar, and sees that the blow sucked 10% of his health bar! Turning
around quickly, Conrad finds himself facing the massive barkeeper
again. "You're starting to be a real pain in the butt!" he
snarls. The warrior pulls his ivory club off his belt loop, and bangs
his melee weapon on the tower shield's surface. "Let's do it!"
he challenges the reptilian.

The former barkeeper
tosses the table aside. He reaches behind his massive back, and pulls
out the double-edged war axe that was previously hanging on the wall
behind the bar. The creature lifts up the axe in his right hand, and
then lowers it until the edge of the weapon is facing his enemy.
"Sssshshhhhsss!" it hisses back, responding to the
barbarian's apparent challenge.

As the flickering light
from the fireplace reflects off the axe's blade, Conrad could see
arcane etchings on the metal.
The
war axe is magical
, he suddenly realizes.
I
have to take the fight to him before he could unleash the axe's magic
on me
, he decides. "Lalalalalalala!" the
barbarian yells out as he makes a crazy dash at his enemy. The battle
cry adds 5% damage bonus to his melee attacks, but sucks up 10% of
the melee fighter's stamina to activate.

"Sssshshhhhsss!"
the massive reptilian hisses again as he rushes forward with the war
axe held in both hands. When he meets his foe's rush a few heartbeats
later, the lizardman launches a vicious chop at the human's head,
intending to decapitate his enemy in one blow.

Conrad sees the
approaching axe and decides to block the attack. He turns his body
sideways, and positions his right leg behind his left to provide
additional support to his shield block. Clang! The tower shield
absorbs the mighty blow, but still leaves the player's left hand
stinging again. He checks the health bar and sees that he took a 5%
health damage despite the hit being blocked. The player quickly
counter attacks with a swipe of his ivory club on the reptilian's
hands.
Perhaps I could knock the
axe out of its hand
, the barbarian thinks hopefully.
Even
if I can't, my club's double damage bonus to humanoids will apply to
this guy
, he reminds himself.

However, the former
barkeeper has a strong grip on his weapon, and shakes off the blow to
his enormous hands easily. He quickly winds back and launches another
powerful swing of the double bladed war axe.

Conrad again sets
himself in position to absorb the vicious blow, and counter attacks
with another whack on his enemy's hands.

The two combatants
exchange another dozen blows in this manner, with neither backing
down and moving from his position in the center of the dining room.

Running out of stamina,
both fighters pause for a moment to catch their breaths and allow for
the fatigue bar to slowly refill.

Conrad uses the time to
think out a way out of the apparent stalemate.
I
can't believe this guy can match me blow for blow
, he
thinks incredulously.
And my
health bar is down to 40% now. I can't continue to block these
attacks. I have to try something else.

As soon as he could,
the massive reptilian takes another sweeping swing with his double
axe, aimed straight for the barbarian's neck.

Instead of continuing
with his block and counter strategy, Conrad sidesteps to avoid the
attack!
Let's try to rebuild my
stamina while making my opponent expend his
, he thinks to
himself.

Out of fatigue again,
the reptilian is unable to lift his double-edged war axe off the
ground. After a few seconds of respite, he pulls back the axe again
and starts running after the human.

Careful not to drain
his stamina bar by running around, the adventurer keeps moving at
random around the room at the pace of a normal walk. He keeps himself
a few steps in front of his adversary, taunting the giant lizardman
like a bull fighter waving a red cloth in front of a raging bull.
"You can't catch me," Conrad taunts.