World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (28 page)

Richard grins like a
shark. “I’m feeding some bit of false information with some
outlandish speculations on future projects. The information has to be
cutting edge, given your position in the company. The file also has
to be credible to our rivals, one of which I’m assuming hired this
lovely spy in the first place. Specifically, I gave a trumped up
estimate for updates of our main product, World of Eternia, plus a
bunch of side projects related to our proprietary virtual reality
hardware. Hopefully the information will make its way to Deana’s
employer so that we could unveil its identity indirectly,” he
answers honestly.
No need to lie
about this,
he sneers inwardly.

“Brilliant idea,
sir,” Mark says.

“But of course!”
the CEO grins again. Corporate espionage is one of the scenarios that
he has already planned for. The meeting at the bar with his erstwhile
rival, Charles Winter, confirmed the presence of a mole inside his
company. And it lit a fire in Richard’s belly to find them all. He
wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie was the one who planted Deana in
EDE.
I wonder if there are any
more spies
, Richard ponders as the screen continues to
record Deanna’s ongoing activities at Martin’s desk.

The four members of The
Strangers slowly walk along the brick road, painted yellow and
relatively clear of dirt and dust. A portal had been discovered, and
the four have been ordered by King Richard to investigate what’s on
the other side. Or at least that’s the storyline behind the
oriental expansion according to the game developers for the World of
Eternia. With any luck, The Strangers may even be able to start
relations with the rulers of this plane of existence on behalf of the
king. Thus, the four were summoned to appear before the King and, in
a pompous ceremony video captured for later dissemination online,
appointed as ambassadors for the kingdom. Specifically, the players
were asked by the King to act with utmost courtesy to the natives
here and refrain from “unnecessary violence.” Depending on their
achievements, the four players could earn substantial experience
awards and unique prizes at the completion of this unique mission.

“You know, this place
is kind of desolate,” Diana remarks. The road is surprisingly
narrow, perhaps some ten feet across if that wide. On either side of
the road are solid, granite walls that rise approximately fifty feet
into the air. If the four players hold hands and walk side by side,
the two outer players’ shoulders could rub against the wall.

There are no animals or
humans within their vicinity, not that the ambassadors could see. The
portal is a shimmering blue line hovering six inches above the
ground. Behind the portal is a large cliff that juts straight up and
curve into a perch hanging over the portal; the cliff looks
impossible for a player to climb.

The yellow brick road
and the surrounding walls were obviously built to facilitate movement
into the portal, and also to prevent visitors from the other side
from wandering about. However, there is no one stationed along the
path to watch over the portal. Seeing no alternate but to continue
walking along the road that is reminiscent of the one in the
Hollywood classic film, “The Wizard of Oz,” Diana tries to pick
up her pace.

“Please stay behind
me,” Wesley calls out as the impatient priestess mindlessly wanders
pass him. “We don’t know if there are any hostiles at the end of
the road,” he adds.

“Sorry,” Diana
mumbles meekly and stops walking, to wait for the cavalier to get
ahead of her.

Lucious wiggles his
left forefinger at her as he passes her.

“Don’t you pull a
Mutombo on me, Lucious,” she growls and sticks out her right leg to
try to trip him.

The elementalist senses
the movement, and nonchalantly hops over her attempted leg sweep.

“Come on, Diana.
Please save it for the enemies,” Conrad pleas. As the rear guard,
he has seen just about every antic between the two squabbling love
birds.
If they’re arguing like
this in-game, how do they act in person, face to face? I would love
to sign up for a pay per view to watch the two. Aren’t they going
out in real life?

“Guys, pay attention
please! We’re clearing the path shortly. Be ready for anything!”
Wesley barks aloud to get their attention.

The two spell casters
immediately stop their squabbling, and direct their attention to the
heavily armored cavalier. Diana pulls out her mace from the loop on
her belt while Lucious tightens his grip on his griffon clawed,
magical staff. The sunlight gleams off the opaque orb, held tightly
by the griffon’s claws, on the top end of his six feet long staff.

Wesley smiles to
himself and resists the temptation to look back at his troops. The
ex-Marine pulls his long sword out of its scabbard, and continues his
march at a steady pace. The key to marching as a group is rhythm, and
getting his party members accustomed to the pace set by the retired
soldier. After a year of partying together in the World of Eternia,
the three have learned to do just that.
We
really should introduce mounts for players in the game
,
Wesley notes.
I will mention it
to the project manager the next time I see him.

After some fifty yards,
the Strangers reach the end of the open air road. The land in front
of them is comprised of farmland, acres upon acres of crops to his
left, and some domesticated farm animals to his right. Pigs and
horses are fenced inside wooden gates while chicken roam freely. The
animals look at the strangers briefly, and then ignore their
presence. The three party members behind Wesley exchange silent
glances, wondering if they went to the right place.

“I thought this is
the oriental expansion,” Lucious blurts out.

“That’s what Mark
told me when he asked me to take our group through the portal,”
Wesley replies.

Conrad puts his ivory
club back in the loop on his belt. “At least we didn’t get
ambushed,” he notes while relaxing a little bit.

The four party members
leave the road and move further inland. As they exit the path, the
rear guard checks back and he suddenly makes a realization: the road
had been carved into solid rock! "Take a look at this, guys!"
Conrad says excitedly.

The players standing in
front of him turn their heads in unison, and immediately see what the
barbarian is concerned with. The mountain is in reality a solid block
of granite, and more importantly the surface is smooth. The work
involved is more akin to the old Egyptian pyramids, intricate man
made wonders of a past civilization.

Lucious quickly
realizes that the portal was placed at that location by some powerful
magic user, a person with authority to order thousands of laborers to
carve a wide, open air tunnel into this huge slab of stone.

Suddenly, a horn sounds
in the distance! "Huuueeeeeeh!" Immediately thereafter,
drums could be heard banging to the party's left and right.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

The four turn quickly
and see that there are guard stations placed just ten feet away on
either side of the opening, but hidden from view until the Strangers
exit the road. Oriental looking men in armor quickly pour out of
these wooden buildings and surround the strangers to this land. Each
newcomer is carrying a long spear ending with a curved blade, with
two sets of bright colored tassels tied to the end of the blade.

Wesley does a quick
head count and notes that there are two dozen men in all, and quickly
decides to avoid hostilities. "Drop your weapons and hold your
hands in the air," he orders aloud.

"Why should we
surrender?" Conrad protests. "We could take them easily if
we fall back into the tunnel, and simply defend while Lucious calls
up his monstrous earth elemental to stomp these turkeys into
pancakes," he suggests.

"Our King has
ordered us to avoid hostilities with the natives of this land if at
all possible," Wesley reminds the barbarian. "As long as
blood is not spilled, we may be able to negotiate some sort of treaty
with the authority in this land. We also need to learn more about the
people here. To do that, we need to talk to them rather than trade
blows right now." To settle the issue, Wesley quickly drops his
long sword to the ground before Conrad could reply, and the ex-Marine
raises his gauntleted hands high in the air to signal his intention
to surrender peacefully to the oriental guardsmen.

The two spell casters
exchange looks, and decide to follow Wesley's lead. They fully trust
the old man and his intuition in handling these situations. If Wesley
decides to parley, then that is what they will do.

Conrad grinds his teeth
and avoids hurling a curse word.
We
could take these turkeys easily
, he fumes. However, he is
not looking to mutiny against a man that Conrad respects.
Reluctantly, the giant warrior drops his ivory club to the ground and
winces as he hears the sound of his beloved magical weapon hit the
yellow brick road with a loud “thud.”

The guardsmen suddenly
make a path for a man to pass through. This particular non-player
character (“npc”) is distinct by his lack of armor. He is wearing
a fine silk red robe, with gold trimmings, and a black bird with two
tails that resembles a hawk on his chest. The newcomer’s hair is
black colored but long, and tied behind his neck with a red string.
His skin color is yellow, like the rest of the men surrounding the
player characters. However, he radiates an aura of authority, and the
guards appear to be both respectful and fearful of the newcomer.

On a sudden impulse,
Lucious looks at the man’s feet and sees that the character’s
feet are not touching the ground at all! The npc is slightly hovering
above the ground, meaning that he is a spell caster. The elementalist
quickly turns to look at Diana.

The priestess notices
the stare from her boyfriend and sees that the pupils of his eyes are
cast downward. Diana looks back at him quizzically for a moment, and
then realizes that Lucious wants her to look at the ground. Finally
she understands his concern as the priestess sees that the newcomer
is wearing flat red slippers, but hovering an inch off the ground.
She nods slightly at Lucious, who rolls his eyes exasperatedly at her
slow uptake of his silent message.

Conrad sees the
exchange between the two in front of him, and quickly understands the
silent message that the mage was trying to convey: the unarmed man is
a powerful spell caster and the one person in this group to watch out
for. If the parley attempt fails, then this spell caster will be The
Strangers’ first priority to target. If the newcomer stands a
little closer, Conrad can quickly spear the spell caster with a
shoulder tackle and disrupt any spell casting. Even though Conrad is
unarmed, it doesn’t mean he is harmless.

Gatekeeper Kang Lu Ying
stands in front of his guardsmen, and stares at the four strangers.
His nose turns up at the offensive sight of the four unruly
barbarians. There is no uniformity at all in their clothes,
reflecting the chaotic nature of their society. He can’t help but
stare at the bare chested, big oaf standing at the rear. In Kang’s
society, the strongest stand at the front to protect the weakest
amongst them. Based on the tall barbarian’s physique, he is
obviously the most powerful warrior in the group. And yet he stands
at the very back, as if requiring the protection of the two weaklings
in front him!

These foreigners are
apparently from a backward culture, and totally incompatible with the
honorable ideals of the We Tang Kingdom. If these barbarians are
allowed to enter Tenshen Village just further down the Three Year
Road, named in memory of the sacrifices of workers made in carving
out the tunnel into the granite rock, then the gatekeeper will lose
face amongst the villagers as well as the underlings standing behind
him. No, Kang must make them turn back immediately. [“What have we
here? Are you strangers who accidentally stumbled through my portal?
Or are you scouts for a planned invasion of the great We Tang
Kingdom?”] He asks out of politeness to these strangers, doubting
that the four of them would comprehend his language.

The Strangers are
unable to understand the man’s foreign language, which sounds
Asiatic but none of them are fluent in any Asian language.

The official smiles at
the barbarians’ lacks of comprehension of his native language.
[“No, you wouldn’t be able to answer my questions like this.
Here, I will provide the means to help communicate.”] He removes a
gold earring from his left ear, and slowly approaches the four until
he is standing directly in front of the armored man, who is
apparently the leader of this ragtag group. He holds up the earring
in front of the leader’s face, and points a finger to the
stranger’s left ear.

Wesley understands what
the official wants Wesley to do and slowly holds out his right hand.
The gold earring is promptly placed in his palm. The cavalier turns
to Diana. “Could you help me put this earring on my left ear? I
can’t do it while wearing my gauntlets,” he requests.

Diana takes the earring
and puts it on the party leader’s ear as directed.

Wesley turns back to
face the official.

The official puts his
palms together with fingers stretched out, and nods slightly in
greeting. “My name is Gatekeeper Kang, trusted guardian of the
Three Year Road leading to the Tenshen Village behind me. Why have
you trespassed on our land, strangers?” His eyes smolder at the
accusation.

Wesley returns the
slight nod and imitates the hand gesture. “We mean no offense,
Gatekeeper Kang. I am Wesley, an Ambassador from the Kingdom of
Eternia. Our liege, King Richard, has ordered the four of us to seek
the authority of this land, and perhaps start official relations with
your kingdom.”