The meeting with Archon had gone well; I had opened his eyes to the reality that this game world was not functioning as intended. I did not want to be a shit disturber, but if we were to form an alliance then we would have to be honest with each other. My thoughts tossed and turned, and I just could not sleep, I was not going to be able to have a nap.
I stood up and went to the wash area and cleaned my face and hands. Looking in the mirror I stared at the image reflected back at me. Average Height, darkly tanned skin, slanted eyebrows and a black cloth wrapped around my eyes. In the sockets, a red-orange glow was visible behind the cloth. My cheekbones were high and my lips were full while a square chin sat at the bottom of my face.
My arms were covered in black tattoos of flowers that writhed about with a life of their own. Entangled amongst the flowers were two swords, one on each arm. On my right cheek was a demonic glyph, denoting my status as a Demonic Prince. It was more of a title of honor as I was not a demon, but then I was not really human either. My ears were slightly longer than normal and tapered along the top to a point. My shoulders and arms were heavily muscled, more so than when I had first entered this world.
I looked like I was not the kind of person you would not want to meet in a dark alley late at night. This thought made me smile, and with that, I left to go back down the stairs. It was mid afternoon and I wanted to get some things dealt with. Nodding at Raik, I called out for Ama and Sebastian to accompany me and then walked towards the door of the Inn. Looking around as I exited I was pleased to see that if was half full of humans who were ogling Ama’s sisters as they wiggled back and forth shaking it while serving the guests. I also noticed a contingent of dwarfs who were sitting near the kitchen entrance and who seemed mesmerized by Gluzzie as he worked.
I am sure there is a story there and once I have a little time I would like to find out what it is but for now, I needed to get going. “Are you ready?” I asked nodding at Sebastian and holding Ama’s hand. Seeing him nod we departed and made our way down the street. “Where are we going, “Ama asked? Both Ama and Sebastian were gazing around with wide eyes at the city, gazing up at the tiers leading to the top of the Temple mount and the palace of the King.
“We are going to deal with the city, I am registering the bill of sale of the Inn and also I wish to make some more purchases if possible. I want to buy as much of the abandoned zone as I can, and as many of the buildings around the Inn as I can.” Nodding at this, Sebastian spoke up. “Purchasing near the Inn makes good sense and is a strong tactical move. But why buy the abandoned zone, Tor?”
“Once it is cleared out, it is going to be prime property, and it already has a large wall around it, I am thinking of a gated community within a community. It will all depend on the price the city wants for the property, hopefully, it will be cheap.” As I finished speaking I noticed two Donators, with House of Pain patches on their gear. I stopped and watched these two players; they were harassing a Female NPC.
One of them began to push at her and then finally slapped her on the face as the other looked around at the small crowd. They then both grabbed her and dragged her towards an alley. “That is not going to be happening,” I said with an angry look on my face. I hit Shadows and disappeared, quickly making my way to the alley from which I could hear cries for help and the sound of someone being slapped.
Looking towards the girl I saw that she was being held by one the players with her arms twisted behind her back, the other player meanwhile had ripped her shirt and skirt off and was busy pulling his pants down. The motherfucker was trying to rape an NPC girl.
I made my way behind the player holding the girl and then activated my basic DPS attack. I was not going for fancy here; I just punched the rapist player as hard as I could in the back of his head. With the Critical bonus from using Shadows and what seemed to be a multiplier effect from hitting the rapist from the back, the damage was outstanding.
By outstanding I mean his head actually came off his shoulders and he went for a respawn. Meanwhile, his cohort stood there with a stupid look on his face until Sebastian grabbed him and tossed him against the alley wall.
“Ama please take this girl to safety out of the alley, Sebastian and I have some business to take care of here.” Seeing Ama gently grab the girl and lead her out I walked over to where the player was trying to stand up. His shoulder was dislocated I would guess, and he seemed to be in some pain. As he looked at us his face paled but he spoke with some bravado. “Do you fuckers know which House I belong to, the fucking House of Pain. You are going to pay for what you have done. We are going to corpse camp you till you bleed from your eyeballs.”
Having heard enough I slapped him hard then stood back as he began to cry and spit out a couple of teeth. Reaching out I grabbed him by the neck and lifted my arm, holding him like the rat he was I began to shake him as I spoke. “I do not care what house you are in, this is my city, and I do not allow assholes like you to walk around assaulting the people who live here.
You give this message to the Jackass, leave the game now. If I find anyone of you twats here on the second tier I will send you to hell till your game time is up. Now get out of here.” Being a kind hearted person I helped the asshole by throwing him against the wall near the exit of the alley.
As we walked towards the street Sebastian looked at me and said grimly, “What the heck, why were these two trying to rape that poor girl?” I looked at him and shook my head, “I think that some people believe if they cannot be punished they have free will do whatever they want, they have no absolutes in their life. If the Jackass and his Donators are now going about and doing whatever they want in the city that does not bode well for NPC or other players.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As we left the alley I saw Ama comforting the girl at a nearby stall, there were several other NPC all clustered around, and they all were looking mad. As we made our way to Ama I could hear the people talking, it seems that the House of Pain has been busy, attacking and robbing both NPC and other players.
At this point, I asked the crowd what the Kings Guards or the City Guards were doing about this situation. Looking at the people all shaking their heads I finally heard one of them say that The Kings Guards were preparing for some war and that the City Guards had all been ordered to only patrol the city from tiers three to five. Tiers one and two had been abandoned by the King.
I looked at the crowd and then spoke in a loud voice. “Go to the Hearth home Inn at 6 bells, I will have something to announce about the safety of the city. The crowd looked at me and then a few asked questions, I responded as best I could without giving away any information. I was offering hope to people who had never needed it but who needed it now.
I asked if anyone could escort the young lady home and when several people volunteered I let them lead her away.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, the city officials were more than happy to transfer ownership of the Inn to me, the only change that needed to be made was to the name. I called my Inn the Dragons Den, and with an exchange of monies, it was done.
Once I explained that I was also interested in the whole area around my inn including the Kradula and the abandoned zone I was quoted a price that was clearly too high. After some negotiations, I was not broke but my stash of rainy day funds was almost empty. However I did now own a sizable chunk of the second tier of the city. I then also asked where I had to go to register a House that would not be part of a guild. It turned out to be just down the hall and so making my way there I entered another room.
After signing some more papers and paying another sum of gold I was now the official leader of the House of An Diadan. Ama asked, “What does An Diadan mean?” It has a nice sound to it, I like it. Sebastian nodded he also wanted to know what the name meant. I looked at the sky the light was beginning to fade as we walked back towards the Inn, all three of us on alert for possible attacks. The name An Diadan means house of Shelter or a house of Haven, it is what this city needs, and I hope that it lives up to its name.
It was nearing six bells by the time we arrived back at the Inn and I was surprised to see the courtyard was full of NPC and the Inn itself was packed with people eating and drinking. Clearly Gluzzie was working his magic and I don’t think any male could withstand the Succubae charms of Brae and Clea.
I sent Ama in to get me a sharp apple cider and then jumped up on a wagon that was parked next to the Inn. “People of the city,” I began, “I am Tor, leader of the house of An Diadan and the owner of this Inn and all the buildings in this area. I have recently been away and since arriving back at the city I have seen lawlessness and anarchy.”
“The House of Pain is running rampant and the King has not seen fit to establish law and order. We are left at the mercy of thugs and people who have no respect for us. These Donators are out of control and many of you have experienced what to expect from them. Just today I stopped the rape of a girl by two of these Donators from the House of Pain.”
I could see that many of the men in the crowd looked angry and several of the women had a fearful look on their face, I was looking a little pissed off myself. “This can not continue, I am inviting you to join my house, to submit to my authority and direction. The rewards will be having safety in your life. It will not be something that will happen overnight but together we will achieve together what the King refuse to do, have a safe city.” As I finished speaking I saw many of the male NPC nod their heads in agreement and even a few players seemed to be agreeing with my words.
“My man Raik here will take the names of all who with to join my house. If you join then meet here tomorrow morning by nine bells, and we will proceed from that point on. One word of warning, if you join and then betray us there will be no safe place hidden from my wrath.”
I stood by and watched as NPC after NPC came forward and signed the membership bill for the House of An Diadan. All told we had 113 NPC and 23 Players join the house. I would talk to the players in the morning to determine their level of competence and their abilities.
I turned to find Ama standing next to me with a proud look on her face. “Tor, in the Demonic culture, we are often told what to do, who to be with and not given a choice in our future.” Here she smiled at me and then continued, “That is why I was ready to marry you so fast, it is really the norm for us. But what I have seen you do here, giving these people the choice to do something about their situations, their lives, it is wonderful. Thank you.”
Smiling at her I said, “You can show me your thank you in about an hour when we are in bed. Let's go get something to eat first.” Holding her hand we walked into the Dragons Den.