Graham rode next to me. The group we were taking to Softpaw would hardly count as an army, but it was something. Of the 95 people in the Commonwealth, only 24 were combatants. Of those 24, only 15 were above Level 15. Of those 15, 6 were stationed in Whispercreek. All-in-all, only 10% of our group stood any chance against Liberty troops.

I was Level 20. Graham, Theresa, Elsa and Nick were Level 19. Jerry and Bill were Level 18. Matt had gone with Cain, Taylor, and Jackson to Whispercreek. A couple newcomers stood with us as well. Thomas was a Level 17 Monk and was the 2nd highest of the new group. The other new comer was Bailey, a Level 16 Bard. Bards in this game were essentially healers, although they had a lot more “group buff” abilities.

As we got to Softpaw, I was surprised to not see an army. If anything, it looked like a small group of Red Liberty soldiers were calmly and respectfully waiting for us. The walls around Softpaw had yet to be fully constructed, and so the gate was just an empty archway through which we could see the soldiers.

Graham and I led the group. He ran his fingers over his new Level 16 Rare Tachi. He had apparently seen me invest all of my gold into a new weapon and had decided to do the same. I wondered if the additional level to his blade was an additional one-up. It was funny if it was.

I checked my stats again.

NAME

Jeremiah, L.

CLASS

Ranger

LEVEL

20 (10%)

GOLD

105

STRENGTH

10

DEXTERITY

41 (18+23)

WISDOM

17 (12+5)

AGILITY

33 (20+13)

CRAFTING SKILLS

Cooking (2)

SPECIAL SKILLS

Diplomacy (2)

ACTIVE SKILLS

Multi-Shot (12)

Quickdraw (10)

Ranger's Mark (6)

Cover Fire (1)

PASSIVE SKILLS

Tracker (8)

Resolve (8)

Bone Piercing (6)

Analyze (3)

MAIN-HAND

Black Dawn Pistols (15R)

[+11 DEX]

OFF-HAND

N/A

HEAD

Bullhide Hat (10U)

[+5 DEX, +5 WIS]

CHEST

Shackleford Vest (12C)

[+7 AGI]

LEGS

Gnoll Hunter's Leggings (12C)

[+4 DEX, +3 AGI]

BOOTS

Scout's Boots (14U)

[+6 DEX, +6 AGI]

I hadn’t been able to complete any quests or do anything of the sort since Albany. Still, I had managed to kill a few things along the roads and near the towns. The wild Level 16s and 17s yielded very little experience for me, but Whispercreek was in a 21-30 zone. The potential for bigger kills was slightly higher and I had tried to utilize the time I had there to the best of my ability.

I had to hope we weren’t getting in a fight today. I scanned the Liberty men and they ranged in level from 20 to 25. I was surprised when I read the Level 25’s profile.

Raphael H. - Level 25 Blood Knight

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Blood Knight? I looked over to Graham and from the confusion on his face, I could tell he was equally confused. There were 12 Classes that were presented to all of us when we reached Level 5. Four were capable of being designated as a Tank. Four were capable of being a Healer. All 12 were capable of being Damage Dealers. Nowhere on the list was ‘Blood Knight’.

We got to the archway and the man stepped forward. “I take it you are the members of the Commonwealth? Which of you is Jeremiah?”

The questions seemed silly. He could easily see our profiles and knew instantly. I figured it was simple a gesture of respect to ask. I stepped off the horse and sized the man up. He was taller than me with long dark hair flowing to the small of his back. His facial hair looked cartoonishly evil, but he seemed intelligent. I stuck my hand out. “Jeremiah Lakewood.”

“Raphael Hawk, Captain of Liberty.”

“That’s got be a cool title to say.”

“Oh it is. I was a car salesman before all this. This is much nicer than the old position.”

That explained the cartoonishly evil look. “I bet. Tavern?”

He smiled. “Of course. This is your home after all. Lead the way.”

“It’s the rabbits home.” I walked on foot next to Raphael. Graham dismounted and walked a few paces behind us, next to a few of Raphael’s men. I turned to the rest of the party. “Wait here, guys. I won’t be long.”

Graham gave a grin. “Nicky, you’re in charge.”

Nick flashed a smile at me. “Understood.”

We got inside the tavern, each receiving a tankard of ale and sitting down. It was quite an odd scenario, but I was starting to get used to all of these repetitive meetings involving alcohol of some sort. “How can I help you, Captain?”

“Well…I’m sure you received the message.”

“I did.”

“And…I’m sure you’re smart enough to read between the lines.”

“I did.”

“So, what’s the answer?”

“To clarify…the offer was Liberty or Death. Right?” I gave a smile.

“Sounds kinda patriotic right?”

“It would if the situation was different.”

He gave a nod.

“I have a question, Captain.” I gave him a look. Graham was standing by the door, chatting up the Liberty soldier. “Why did you send Dan?”

“Hm?”

“You could have sent a letter-rabbit, or you could have sent one of your own men. Why did you send a man from Eastland?”

“To make a point.”

“What point is that?”

“The Crusade fell to us. They are our vassals now. Their men pay 10% tax on all sales and loot to their uhm…’King’.” Raphael gave a chuckle. “Then that King pays 25% of the taxes to us. We have a man in their guild with access to the finances to ensure it all goes according to plan. Additionally, we have a single squad of five men and an advisor in every settlement.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. We institute our laws, taxes, and their is a call to arms if things get too interesting.”

“What’s the call to arms?”

“20% of adults must enlist in the army register. It’s optional unless it’s not. You don’t have to send your best and brightest, but sending your worst and dumbest would lead to a lot more deaths.”

I nodded. They had this all figured out. “What’s a Blood Knight?”

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Your class.”

He nodded. “It’s a sub-class. At Level 25 you reach a stage where you can select from 3 options for your sub-class. It adds a new ability and the sub-class comes with a passive. I truly hope you make it long enough to be able to choose your sub-class.” He gave a laugh.

“I assume you mean by joining the Liberty.”

“I can’t see a reason why not too.”

“You know I’ve got some problems with the Liberty.”

“Oh, yes. Captain Dan informed us.”

“Captain?”

“We like to keep the afforded titles and ranks to our vassal’s citizens. You call a pebble a king, and we’ll address it as such.”

“I thought Dan worked for Captain Vincent.”

“Vincent…was removed.”

“Is he dead?”

“Not quite.”

I frowned. “So…what did ‘Captain’ Dan inform you of?”

“Katrina Lakewood. She is interned at one of our camps.”

“The slave camps, you mean.”

Raphael shrugged. “Things are different when we are immortal, Jeremiah.”

I cocked my head to the side.

“Think of how much more death means when you’re dealing with immortals. Death is not a fact of life anymore. You aren’t terminating a short life early. You are destroying a possibly eternal future. An immortal could have a million children, a million partners, a million successful inventions, a million saved lives. The potential is limitless. We don’t execute.”

“You just enslave them?”

“They are more so work camps. No member of the Liberty claims ownership of a human. They are prisoners.”

“That sounds like the same thing.”

“You know what our first prison camp was?” He took a sip of his beer. “An old actual prison camp. This isn’t a novel idea.”

“What do you do with those who don’t work?”

Raphael shrugged. “We put them in the ground.”

“So you do execute.”

“No. We put them in single cells in secure locations. We give them food and water until they cooperate. We initially tried to bury them. One of the guys up top used to love those old vampire shows. Turns out, we do need food and oxygen. Live and learn, ya know?”

“So my sister is alive?”

“I believe so. I reached out to her Camp Director and he said she is alive and well. That was a few days ago.”

I tapped my finger on my chin. “You have to know that we aren’t going to accept vassalization.”

“Oh?” Raphael called the bar-rabbit and ordered a water. “Why’s that?”

“We don’t support slavers.”

Raphael grinned. “Percy said the same thing.”

“What happened to keeping the titles?”

“It’s not his title anymore.” Raphael gave me a cold stare. The threat was evident.

“Bring me my sister, Captain. Until then, it’s not a discussion.”

“Liberty or Death, Mr. Lakewood.”

“We may have different interpretations on liberty.” I stood up and walked out. No one stopped us as we mounted up and rode back to Harehill.

--------------------------------

October 15th, 2049 (2 Weeks after the Start of the Game)

“KATRINA!” It had been two weeks into this horrible world. I had somehow managed to reach ‘Level 4’ whatever the hell that meant. The small pistols I looted from one of my first kills had been working alright so far. I figured it would be enough to keep the monsters away. I hadn’t figured out that the main threat wouldn’t be the monsters. It was the people.

As my sister was loaded up into a cage with several other men and women, I saw the tears in her eyes. She was 17 and a few months from turning 18. I didn’t know what they were going to do with her, but it didn’t sound good. The cruel laughs from the men didn’t help dissuade my fears. I raised my pistols and fired.

“FUCK! The bastard shot me!” One of the men turned around. The others looked for me.

“Someone grab him!”

The men wore crimson uniforms and their profiles said they belonged to something called Red Liberty. Was that a guild? I had played enough video games to barely understand the mechanics here, but it was a lot harder to process everything when you couldn’t read anything online or have anyone around you to teach you.

As they came for me, I realized I didn’t have a chance. With tears in my eyes, I ran. I ran fast, and I ran hard. Dad had said we could only go to town once a week because it was too far too walk and gas was expensive. Food had run out and our farm was compromised. We had stayed too long and I lost my sister. I needed to get to Eastland.

As I ran, an arrow flew past my shoulder. “Fuck it. Leave him. We’re out too far anyways. We were supposed to stop after Abilene.”

I turned to see the men getting back on their wagon and driving it north. I didn’t know who they were or where they were going, but I was going to find them. I was going to save my sister. I was going to kill them.