Official Road to Purgatory-Beta Forum

-Leonidas, confirmed Beta-Account-

Hey Guys

Currently, I’m doing a quest in which I, along with a few other Travellers, are working with a group of NPCs to escort a merchant-caravan over a vast stretch of land in Aretia. Those of you who started there or kept up with information about the northern part of the continent, what would be Russia in our world, know that it is mostly wild lands with little to no civilisation. There are villages, a few towns and even cities, but mostly, it’s a mix of steppe, brush-lands and forests, all more or less teeming with monsters. Suffice to say, it’s a fun place and only the ancient, imperial roads allow for travel at a decent pace.

It’s something I feel that should be changed for the life-version, if it takes weeks or months to just travel from one quest-hub to the next, it will be very hard for groups to play together and that’s not saying anything about doing quests such as the one I’m doing that requires you and the rest of your party to put your life on hold for the duration.

Anyway, enough of that and have a look what happened today.

surprise.avi

The view pans over a pine-forest, the last remnants of snow slowly melting away between the trees. The traveller filming the footage is walking next to a wagon, drawn by a pair of oxen, near the front of the caravan. He looks around for a moment, turning to look back over the rest of the caravan, showing similar wagons, all carrying a heavy load.

“There are people coming.” a voice coming over the group-chat announces and the filming Traveller quickly calls out a soft warning to the leader of the guard-group, a grizzled Orc-Veteran. Moments pass, while the rest of the filming Traveller are getting a better look, while the rest of his party assure him that they are keeping an eye on the back of the caravan.

“Only four, most likely adventurers, travelling west.” the others announce and the information is relayed to the orc.

“Good, having one of you Travellers with the main-group, while two at the front, two at the back, that was a good idea. Those guys are a little early in the year, normally people wait longer to move back to civilisation, but maybe there are issues. I’ll talk to them and get some more information.” the orc explains, before starting to give orders, just in case there’s something out there they haven't seen. The people on the road might be a distraction for an ambush from the sides or the back.

“They are slowing down.” the group-chat announces and there are figures visible far down the road, barely more than indistinct blobs.

After a minute or two of further walking, the orc-captain gives his mount to spurs, quickly closing the distance before slowing some distance away.

“That’s an adventuring party, for sure.” the party-chat announces, before continuing, “three girls, even if one is build like a brick-shithouse and one guy? If that guy is a player, he’s got the strangest taste for his harem.”

“Doesn’t matter, Captain Korlem is going to talk to them. You should continue moving, it’s your job to make sure we don’t get ambushed.” the filming Traveller grumbles over the chat, resulting in snickering and jibes at the fact that he’s just the secretary while they do the work.

As the caravan trudges on, the recording Traveller soon comes close to the spot where the captain has dismounted and is now talking to the adventuring party. Suddenly, the camera focuses on one particular person, a small, black haired figure, petite and with almost deadly pale skin, appearing to be light blue in the sun. She is clad in black leather, clinging to her slim body, wearing a bag at her hip and the hilts of two blades peek out behind her back, one on each side.

After a moment of observation, the Traveller filming quickly moves forward, breaking rank and approaching the talking group.

“You are Morgana, right?” the female blinks twice, her eyes focusing at the camera. “I’m a huge fan, so cool to see you.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Suddenly, the figure turns black before vanishing, like a shadow in the light. The huge amazonian looking figure who had stood next to her, with skin a similar shade of light blue, instantly steps forward, her weapon ready to cut the recording player down, demanding to know what he was on about, why he had approached the other. Korlem, the captain, slightly shifts to stand between them, trying to calm the situation, when suddenly, with a burst of white smoke, the figure reappears, right next to the taller figure. At first, the only thing visible in the white mist is a dark shadow, with glowing, blue eyes.

“I am Morgana.” a voice, vibrating with power, comes from the mist, causing the recording Traveller and Korlem to take a step back.

For a moment, nothing happens.

But the moment doesn’t last, suddenly, the mist billows forward and the footage slows down. The mist turns into a glimmering sheet of crystal clear ice, light reflecting off it before a thin line is carved into it. The footage is slow enough to show the actual crossbow quarrel for a few frames, before it deflects out of sight, into the forest.

Just as fast as the ice appeared, it disappears, turing into a cloud of icicles, all shimmering in the sunlight as they are launched out of sight, even as a voice commands everyone to stop. The footage tries to follow but the person filming suddenly freezes as a soft voice, obviously coming from right behind them, whispers, “Don’t move, or you will die.”

Despite the warning, the person recording looks over their shoulder, revealing a wolf-beastman, with one blade pressed against their lower back and an arm, obviously holding another blade, snaking over their shoulder, ready to cut the recording person’s throat.

At that point, the footage fades to black.

surprise.avi end

First of all, don’t worry, I’m alright. But I wanted to give a shout-out to Morgana, who, at least to me, just demonstrated that she’ll reign supreme in Mundus, as she did in Craft of War. And that is not just me speaking, even Captain Korlem, who is an experienced NPC Adventurer, agrees with me. He later told me to be very respectful of her, as she was destined to great things, as if I didn’t know that already. He even impressed on me not to talk too much about her, just to make sure we didn’t invoke her ire. I mean, do you know about any spellcaster out there who’s able to deflect a crossbow fired from what essentially had to be an ambush, with the ability to instantly retaliate?

Anyway, I just wanted to share my meeting with the legend and give a shout-out.

Best Regards, Leo

Howardlight, confirmed Beta-Account

So we have a confirmed sighting. Quickly, tell us where it was, so the Crusade can proceed!

Harms, confirmed Beta-Account

Was only a matter of time until we saw something of her again, the amount of videos featuring murder on ice have been sparse lately.

Jeanyra, confirmed Beta-Account

Did she teleport? Or some kind of actual invisibility? And how on Earth did she even know about the crossbow, she was staring at you and that NPC, not keeping an eye on her surroundings.

Morgana, confirmed Beta-Account

Jaenyra, I can’t really give away my tricks now, can I? What I can do is for me to know and for you to wonder about, I wouldn’t want to have no tricks up my sleeve once I meet Howardlight and his buddies. It would be far to boring if they actually know what I can do.

And, Leonidas, maybe you can answer a few questions for me, I didn’t want to hold up your caravan more than necessary.

Why are they using wagons and oxen? To transport goods, sure, but why not use Magical Bags? Is there an in-universe explanation given or did they handwave the fact that magical bags have to be abundant when they gave almost every new player one, right after they appear.

Leonidas, confirmed Beta-Account-

I actually know that one. Yes, they could use magical bags and for important cargo, they are. But magical bags are not that cheap, those given to the Travellers were given out by the Gods, so, kinda-handwaved.

Another reason for the wagons is kinda funny, if the caravan is attacked by bandits, the wagons can be readily abandoned, with the guards splitting in groups, each escorting one of the merchants, who might have magical bags with important goods and money. You could call the wagons bait.

Palda Hengar, confirmed Beta-Account

Wow, that look in her eyes…

Step on me, Mistress!

Goliry, confirmed Beta-Account

That, with the wagons, sounds really smart. Sure, bandits might know about the tactic, but would they risk losing their already gained loot, just to hunt after a few fleeing merchants in the hope to get more? Maybe.

It’s almost like an anti-bandit insurance.