World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (31 page)

The divine room is
empty but for a man in a fine white robe with a blood red cross on
his back; the man’s back is facing the page. The worshipper has a
round, shiny bald head but a deep, dark colored complexion. The man’s
robe is somewhat ill-fitting on the strong, broad frame of the man.
The page immediately recognizes the man as Count Zeensoon, who is
kneeling in front of the cross and appears to be praying. "Your
Grace, the Ambassador has arrived," the young man announces. The
King had instructed the page to interrupt the Templar if necessary to
get the holy man’s attention.

The Count takes another
moment to finish his silent prayer, and slowly gets back on his feet.
He turns around and his steely, dark brown eyes bore into those of
the man standing behind the page. "Please hand over your weapon
before entering the Divine Chapel," he orders.

Hearing this command,
the page turns around, still down on one knee. He lifts up both
hands, with his palms up, to await the cavalier's sword to be placed
in the commoner's care.

Wesley slowly removes
the belt attached to his scabbard, and places the scabbard and sword
into the page's outstretched hands. The cavalier is well aware of the
no weapons policy in the chapel, and had left his shield back in his
room for this reason. After all, it is easier to remove one item than
two from his person.

The young man rises to
his feet, and bows deeply to the Ambassador and steps aside to let
the man enter the chapel. The page will remain outside the chapel
until he personally returns the magical long sword left in his care.
The NPC is aware of the exploits of Wesley the Ambassador and how the
cavalier had personally led his team to remove the curse from Castle
Eternia last year. No doubt the weapon in his possession was
instrumental in battling the Betrayer, as the Regent of Castle
Eternia is known among the populace, and lifting the Curse. The young
man will make sure that the Ambassador is handed back this precious
weapon.

Wesley walks into the
room with his head held high.
It
is important to maintain eye contact with important NPCs
,
the player notes to himself,
as
a sign of self-confidence and respect.
Following his own
advice, Wesley gazes back into the Count’s eyes, refusing to waiver
in the slightest.

Finally the two alpha
males stand in front of one another, the eye contact maintained the
entire time.

“Well met, Count
Zeensoon,” Wesley says in greeting as he holds out his right hand
for a hand shake.

The Templar briefly
looks at the hand, and then back at the infidel, giving Wesley a
withering look that forces the Ambassador to withdraw his hand.
“Advance word is that you failed in your mission to establish
relations with the people on the other side of the newly discovered
portal,” the Count says. "Is this true, Ambassador?"

So
that’s how it’s going to be eh, Richard?
The player
maintains his cool, despite the unpleasant man’s obvious attempt to
get Wesley riled up. The CEO of EDE could order the game masters to
tweak the game slightly to adjust for mobster levels, probability of
loot drops, and more. Thus, inserting this dialogue, word for word,
is a piece of cake.

Why
am I not surprised that this mouth piece for Richard will blame me
for the mission failure? After all, it was set up to fail in the
first place
, the player notes with mild amusement. Turning
his attention back to the NPC before him Wesley replies, “It is
merely a setback, Your Grace. We only made one attempt to pass the
gatekeeper’s test. I’m sure we will pass with flying colors the
next time and force him to let us through.”

The Templar sneers at
this infidel’s presumption. “What makes you think there will be a
next time? The King does not tolerate failure. He originally wanted
to have you arrested and flogged for your failure as his
representative. After all, your failure is his failure in the eyes of
his subjects," his eyes flare in anger at the infidel's utter
incompetence! The holy warrior sighs heavily and continues. "However,
I pleaded with His Grace for mercy and to give you a second chance,
noting your valor and heroism in guiding The Strangers to lift the
Curse from Castle Eternia last year. This is why I’m receiving your
report in His stead, Ambassador. He doesn't wish to see you in
person, and be tempted to act rashly out of His justifiable anger.
Now, I wish to spend some time with you to discuss our options before
I make a recommendation directly to the King."

Wesley nods in respect.
Yeah, with Richard it always
comes down to what I could do for him next,
he muses.
And
the one year consulting contract is almost up too, isn't it? How
convenient for you, Richard.
"What do you have in
mind?" he asks, suspecting that the Templar has made plans
already.

The bald man smiles
smugly at the response, because it means that the Ambassador is
clearly aware that Count Zeensoon has the King's ear in this matter,
and the King will simply rubber stamp whatever the Templar decides in
the end. "Tell me about the attempt to pass the gatekeeper's
test," he orders.

"The We Tang
Kingdom has its own culture and way of life," the Ambassador
begins. "They value order and uniformity, almost like a military
hierarchy. Gatekeeper Kang called us 'barbarians' because of the way
we're dressed and the fact that each of us is dressed differently."

"I can imagine
this Kang taking issue with your naked barbarian," the Count
comments. If it was up to him, Zensoon would ban all barbarians and
their barbaric way of life from the entire Kingdom. Alas, these
outlanders have their uses in serving the needs of the Kingdom,
providing protection as fighters and guards, and scouting too.
Perhaps the King could be persuaded to order members of the
Ambassador's party to dress more appropriately on any future endeavor
sponsored by the Kingdom?

Wesley nods in
confirmation. "You are correct, your Grace. The gatekeeper kept
eying Conrad. Kang was polite but I could see the mockery in his
eyes. Also, this Kingdom seems to have a preference for the strongest
men to be standing in front of the others," he adds quickly.

The Count's piercing
blue eyes light up in understanding. "Since Conrad is your
rearguard and thus standing behind your puny looking spell casters,
the We Tang people viewed him as weak and vulnerable," he shakes
his head slowly at the mission's strategic but inadvertent blunder.

"We offered proof
of our advanced culture via magic. Since there is always a chance of
failure in wizardry, I decided to have Diana make her holy cross glow
through divine magic," the knight continues.

The Templar's eyes
narrow. The mission failed because of . . . a member of the Church of
Eternia? "Go on," he hisses dangerously.

"The divine spell
did not work. Our mage, Lucious, believes that the Gods of Eternia
have no presence in the We Tang Kingdom, and therefore their divine
influence are non-existent in this world," Wesley answers.

"Is that so,"
Count Zeensoon's eyes light up at the prospect of spreading the words
of the Gods of Eternia to an ungodly land of heathens and heretics.
"It seems that the Gods of Eternia have issued a new challenge
to its faithful. I will pray through the night for divine guidance
before I speak with the King. You are dismissed," he says
curtly.

"Yes your Grace,"
Wesley bows deeply. With military precision, he turns sharply and
marches out of the Divine Chapel.
And
so the oriental expansion begins.

Conrad hums to himself
as he starts up his World of Eternia program on his computer. “I
can’t wait for some online action!” he says aloud to no one in
particular. The minor league baseball player’s current hamstring
injury means that his baseball related activities are limited to
swinging a bat; he can’t run around the outfield like a lion
roaming his territory. As a center fielder Conrad loves the challenge
of trying to grab cheap dunks into the shallowest parts of the
outfield. He loves to slide and make the fans’ collective hearts
stop as he tries to coral the baseball into the webbing of his glove,
and then get applauded afterwards for making the game saving catch.
Conrad is a showboat at heart, and moments are these are what make
those hours-long rides in tight buses full of sweaty men more
tolerable. Alas, he’s out of the spotlight for the moment, and
using WoE to defray his worries about his spot on the team.

The first thing the WoE
player notices is that his inbox has mail. Using his virtual reality
gloves, Conrad accesses the inbox and sees mail from a “Laura
Deathmaiden.”
Just great
,
the man groans as he opens the mail and reads the message aloud:
“Laura feeling lonely. Laura wants to play with stud. Tonight at 8
PM. Don’t be late.” Conrad immediately rips the virtual headset
from his face and manages to exercise enough self-restraint at the
last second to avoid slamming the fragile equipment on his desk. “Is
she blackmailing me?” he fumes. “I was hoping she will forget
about me; I guess I was too naïve. What does she want with me
anyway?” he wonders.

Conrad looks up at the
clock on the wall behind the computer monitor in his room. The short
hand of the clock is pointing at 7 and the long hand is point at 11.
It’s already 7.55 PM
,
he notes.
I guess I should log
in and see what she wants
, he sighs. The player dons his
virtual reality headset again, enters his username and password by
typing with his virtual reality gloves, and clicks “Enter.”

The word “Loading”
flashes in white on a black background within Conrad’s visor, while
his computer connects to the game’s server. After a few seconds,
the view of the Main Plaza in Starter Town appears before his eyes.
Laura didn’t mention where to
meet up
, he realizes suddenly as he sees throngs of
players milling around the area. It’s a busy night for gaming
despite the fact that it’s the middle of the week. Abruptly someone
grabs his arm, and Conrad turns his head to his face his assailant
and offer the daring fool a world of hurt.

“What took you so
long?” asks a young woman dressed entirely in black.

Conrad looks down and
recognizes the person in front of him: Laura. He frowns as she looks
at him up and down like a slab of meat, grinning the entire time.
“What’s the matter? Never seen a barbarian in this game before?”
he asks with annoyance.

“Sure, I have. Not
many studs like you though,” she grins her toothy grin again.

“I’m not interested
in you,” he rejects flatly.

Laura chuckles as she
gingerly glides a fingertip down his massive chest. “I didn’t
take you for a shy one. I guess looks can be deceiving,” she
teases.

“Enough,” Conrad
growls. He quickly puts his massive forearms across his chest, in
order to shield himself from her roaming finger. “I’m here. What
did you want?” he asks gruffly.

“Besides the company
of a handsome stud?” Laura grins mischievously. The necromancer
holds up an animal’s skeletal arm, a focus item to work her death
magic, tapping him lightly on the chin to interrupt him. “Seriously,
I need a warrior companion to hit a dungeon,” she replies honestly.

Conrad brushes the vile
item away from his face. Even though it’s just virtual reality, he
hates foul magic and prefers not to be in contact with it. Most
players in WoE feel the same; hence necromancers are among the
outcasts of the game that nobody wants to party with.

“What do I get in
return?” he asks. Since he’s in-game and has some free time to
play, Conrad might as well accompany Laura and get some gold and
experience in the process. Besides, he sees himself as a gentleman
and it offends his sensibilities as a man to ignore her request for
assistance. Conrad would prefer to roll with a cleric or elementalist
rather than a necromancer, of course, but it’s good to widen his
circle of friends.
You never
know when a necromancer comes in handy
, he tries to assure
himself that Conrad is making the right choice in helping Laura.

“You get half the
gold we find, along with first choice for any magical item we find
aside from the quest item I need,” the necromancer offers.

“I can’t do half
gold for this trip. Since this is a two member party, I’ll be
taking a lot of damage and using healing potions during this
adventure." Conrad pulls a tiny vial from a hidden pocket near
the top of his left boot, and holds it in front of Laura's face. The
vial is clear, and half the length of his finger. "They will
cost me a bundle to replenish my stash. I want two thirds of the
gold, and I’ll let you take the first pick of magical items,” he
counteroffers.

Laura gives this offer
some thought, and tilts her head for a moment.
I
need the magic items more than the gold
,
which
is easy to get with a bit of grinding and looting
, she
thinks. Looking back at Conrad, she sighs heavily and says, “You
have a deal.” She offers a handshake to seal the agreement.

The barbarian takes her
petite right hand in his enormous right, and shakes once with a nod.
“So . . . where are we going?” he asks.

“Blackheart Manor,”
she replies.

Conrad shakes his head.
“Never heard of it,” he says.

Instead of explaining,
Laura makes a join party request to Conrad.

The barbarian sees the
small pop up in his visor: “Request to join party?” He looks at
the necromancer, who simply looks back at him expectedly. Seeing no
answer forthcoming, he sighs and clicks, “Yes.” Once the party is
formed, Conrad looks at Laura Deathmaiden’s player profile, and is
pleasantly surprised to see that she is at level forty-five, with a
bit more health than Lucious at level sixty.
I
guess she could take a few hits herself,
he thinks.