World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (48 page)

“I want to confirm
that we will have access to divine magic during the event,” Diana
says quickly.

“Pope Lemoine of the
Church of Eternia will be provided with the Divine Lodestone
artifact. It’s up to him to make sure the holy relic will be
brought to the site of the tournament,” Mark replies.

“I’m working with
the player leaders of each guild, including the Pope. He will make
sure representatives from the Church will bring the artifact to the
event,” Wesley confirms.

“How long will the
event last?” Lucious asks.

“The duration of the
tournament will be four hours. In fact, we will insert a digital
countdown on the upper left corner of the live broadcast. Your
mission is to prevent a single representative of Virtuous Gaming from
passing through the portal and entering Starter Town for the duration
of the tournament,” the official answers.

“Isn’t four hours a
bit too long?” Conrad frowns.

“Considering that our
anniversary event to lift the Curse from Eternia Castle took us a
good ten hours to complete, four hours is a breeze,” Lucious
remarks nonchalantly.

“Why did you settle
on four hours, rather than one or two hour duration?” Diana asks
out of curiosity.

“The duration of this
tournament is essentially a question of fairness, to some extent,”
Mark begins. “Since this is a modified tower defense event, we need
to give time for the VG representatives to break through your
defenses. And one or two hours would not be sufficient for that to
happen, if at all. But since the tournament is streamed live, we need
to shorten the duration before our audience decides to tune out the
broadcast. In the end, both companies concluded that four hours is a
fair compromise.”

“Four hours isn’t
that bad, compared to some of the missions in the game,” Wesley
adds.

“I want to confirm
that the setting or location would take place at the portal that we
crossed over last month as ambassadors for the Kingdom?” Lucious
asks.

“That is correct,”
Mark nods.

“The leadership
council had been discussing placement of our defenses based on the
presumption that the portal inside a mountain will be the location
for this event,” the cavalier adds. “I will provide you guys with
further instructions later on.”

“Will resurrection be
permitted?” Diane asks.

“No,” Mark shakes
his head. “Players killed during the event will stay dead for the
remaining duration. Otherwise, death has no meaning during the
match.”

“What do you know
about the players representing Virtuous Gaming?” Conrad asks.

“I don’t think a
project manager for World of Eternia would know anything about that,”
Lucious interjects.

Mark smiles at the
comment. “Yes and no. Since the 2.0 version of the virtual reality
equipment has not been released publicly yet, we needed to send out
fifty sets of this gear to the champions from Virtuous Gaming,” he
explains. “As part of the process, EDE has to add a special code to
these players’ WoE in order for the 2.0 equipment to be accepted by
our servers, or else these players will be automatically locked out
of the game as cheaters. In other words, we actually have a list of
the champions of VG for the tournament. Of course, we did a little
background search on these individuals. Ten of them were members of
The Golden Boys, which was a competitive and highly respected WoE
alliance. Another dozen or so players had quit World of Eternia for
one reason or another. Thus, that leaves about half the recruits
coming from a non-WoE background, with many VG employees among this
group.”

“Okay, if half the
players from VG are not experienced in WoE, wouldn’t that make it
easier for us experienced players in general?” Conrad speculates.

“Not necessarily,”
Wesley replies. “These players may have extensive experience in
other online games, with skills, organization, communication, and
teamwork that would translate well into the World of Eternia setting.
I fully expect Virtuous Gaming to bring in a competitive team to face
us.”

“That is our
expectation as well,” Mark nods in agreement. “Before I forget,
EDE is inviting all our champions to log into the event directly from
our facilities. Since our servers are located on site, the latency
would be minimal. Please pass the offer to the other players joining
the tournament,” he requests.

Wesley nods. “I think
it would be wise to accept your offer, since latency would affect our
in-game actions. A shorter latency will allow us move a little bit
faster and this will give us a competitive advantage especially in a
moba setting. However, many of the participants, including myself,
are located in other states. If we decide to fly over to your
premises in Washington for this event, would your company be willing
to reimburse us for the cost of airplane tickets at least?”

“I will need to check
with Richard on this, but my guess would be yes. Please give me an
estimate of the cost so that I could confirm with my boss on the
reimbursement,” Mark replies.

“Will do,” Wesley
agrees.

“I want to confirm
that the biofeedback loop function will be turned off for the event?”
Lucious asks.

The project manager can
only nod. It took a full day of arguments to convince the boss to
relent on this issue. “I should also note that the use of potions
and scrolls are also disabled for this event. So that means no
healing or mana potions,” he says.

“Why?” Diana and
Lucious asks together. It is bad enough that resurrection will be
prohibited. This new condition is a game-changer!

“Virtuous Gaming
insisted on this condition,” Mark replies sheepishly. “I think
the reason is obvious. They know that our players have a strong
advantage in terms of magic, and they want to limit the amount of
spells you guys will sling around the battlefield. So basically,
spell casters will need to conserve their mana pool for the most
strategic opportunities.”

Lucious shakes his
head. “I was hoping to toss earth shattering spells left and
right,” he sighs.

“You could use the
Church members as batteries, if you need,” Diana reminds him.

“But it’s not the
same thing though,” the mage complains.

“Our defense will
lean more heavily on fighters anyway, with a thirty-twenty split over
spell casters,” Conrad points out. “The restriction won’t
change our plans all that much.”

“I’m sure this
competition will suit you crazy barbarians better than us spell
casters,” Lucious retorts.

Conrad grins.

“Does anyone else
have any more questions for Mark?” the leader interjects. Seeing no
one speaking up Wesley says, “Thank you for meeting with us, Mark.
I will send you an email with the airfare estimate.”

Mark gets up from his
seat. “Please contact me if you have any more questions.”

Once the EDE official
leaves the players’ headquarters, Wesley turns to face Conrad. “I
need to speak with you privately.” The leader looks at Diana and
Lucious.

“Come on, Lucious.
You need to start packing for a stay over at my place,” Diana
teases her boyfriend as she pulls him up from his seat. The two
quickly leaves the player housing.

“What’s up?”
Conrad asks once he is alone with the ex-Marine. The barbarian puts
his feet up on the table to relax.

“I’ve been looking
for expert snipers, and I heard a funny story about a sniper tearing
it up in our battle arena,” Wesley says with amusement.

Conrad jerks his body
in shock, and nearly falls off his chair. He puts his hands on the
table to steady himself. “What did you hear exactly?” he asks
gingerly.

“I thought you were
busy rehabbing, not fooling around as a sniper in the arena,”
Wesley smiles at the thought of the muscular man sneaking around in
camouflage holding a bow and arrow.

Conrad winces at being
outed.

“I want you to use
your alternate class in the tournament,” the leader requests.

Conrad’s jaws drop.
“Um, but my archer class isn’t maxed out yet. Wouldn’t you find
a max level barbarian more useful for the event?”

“Oh, we have plenty
of barbarians to choose from the Fighters Guild,” the leader waves
his hand in the air. “However archers are another story,
particularly archers with actual combat experience in the battle
arena. You’re at least a level fifty archer, correct? That makes
you a master archer,” Wesley replies. “No need to be so modest.”

The larger man folds
his massive arms across his chest. “So let me get this straight.
You want me to stand around on some hill top during this competition,
and shoot at the players from the other side like fish in a barrel?”
he moans.

“Exactly,” Wesley
pounds his fist on the table for emphasis. “I also want you to
bring your arena partner along.”

“You want to bring a
necromancer into the tournament?” Conrad groans aloud. “Wouldn’t
the Church of Eternia have a problem with that?”

“My primary mission
is to ensure that we win the Hundred Man Tournament. Church
sensibilities are secondary to this objective. Mark just confirmed
that resurrection will not be allowed for this event. Therefore, a
necromancer will be able to raise minions from the dead, and these
minions will serve as our reinforcements rather than resurrected
players. Depending on the flow of the battle and as the body count
piles up, your friend may turn out to be the key to keeping VG
representatives out of the portal. I need you to convince your friend
to show up for this event. Promise me you will, okay?” Wesley asks.

Conrad sighs. “I
promise.”

“But yes, you are
correct in noting that the Church will raise a fuzz about this,”
Wesley admits. “So we’ll do a little bit of sidestepping around
the issue, by not letting the others members see the finalized list
of participants. Your partner will only be identified as a battle
arena recruit, and we’ll let them draw their own conclusions on her
player class without confirming anything. You and your partner will
log in and enter the arena right before the tournament starts, so
that the Church can’t do anything about it,” he instructs.

Conrad raps his
knuckles on the table. “Hey, if you’re willing to draw the heat
from the Church, I’m cool with it,” he grins.

“Whatever it takes to
win, man,” the veteran replies solemnly.

* * *

Laura Deathmaiden folds
her arms across her chest with an amused smile on her face. “Let me
get this straight. Your glorious leader wants to add a necromancer
into the mix for this so-called ‘Hundred Man Tournament.’ And he
wants me to keep out of sight of the Church representatives until
I’ve entered the combat arena, so that the goody two shoes won’t
be throwing a hissy fit over me. Does that sound right?” she asks.
The necromancer leans back on her chair and offers her arena partner
a blank stare.

Conrad throws his hands
up in the air. “I just keep my head down and do as I’m told,”
he replies sheepishly. The warrior folds his hands together and leans
his elbows on the table, as if to beg her to accept Wesley’s
request. The two are discussing this request at The Strangers’
headquarters in the player housing zone.

Laura starts to draw
imaginary circles on the table, using her right index finger. “Well,
I do have something planned already for that weekend,” she says.
“If you want me in the tournament it’s going to cost you,” she
grins and bares her sharp teeth.

Conrad winces. Since
the request is unrelated to the battle arena, Laura is within her
right to demand compensation for her services. “What do you want?”
he growls.

“I really like this
place you Strangers have here,” the necromancer smiles.

Uh-oh
,
the warrior worries.

“Silly, I’m not
asking for your house in payment,” Laura laughs at his reaction. “I
may be greedy, but I’m not THAT greedy.” She pauses for a moment
and gets an inspiration. “I want in,” she says suddenly.

“In what?” he asks
gingerly.

“I want to join your
merry little band, silly. I am still guild-less. And I want to be in
your group. So let me in,” she explains.

“Well, I don’t know
about that,” Conrad hesitates. “I’m not the leader.”

“Well, there you have
it. In exchange for my participation in the Hundred Man Tournament, I
want to officially join The Strangers. That way, I get to hang out
with you. Plus, I get a room in this house, no? It works out great
for me personally,” she smiles. “I can finally have a little room
of my own in the player housing zone, a little corner of Eternia to
decorate however I want.” Laura claps her hands together. “Oh I
can’t wait to get started!”

“I will have to check
with Wesley and get back to you,” Conrad says quietly.

“Okay, do that. But
the sooner he answers back the better. I need to cancel my previous
engagement and reschedule it. Once I get an agreement from Wesley, I
will go ahead and reschedule. It’s a fair deal. With me on board,
your chance of winning this tournament is guaranteed!” Laura
flashes a victory sign with her fingers.

Conrad can only rub his
temples.
This is going to be a
disaster.

The player character
stares intently at the imaginary camera. He is dressed as an official
from Eternia, with the blood red cape of office on his back. He is
sitting at a table placed on an elevated stage in the middle of the
Town Square at Starter Town. A screen floats in front of him, showing
the man from head to mid-chest. “Welcome to the Hundred Man
Tournament, co-sponsored by Eternia Development & Entertainment,
Inc., and Virtuous Gaming Co. My name is Evan Wisenhart, and I will
co-moderate this event along with my partner, Antoinette Tudor,” he
smiles at the pretty blonde lady sitting to his immediate left.