Logging out took the required thirty seconds, and then I was in my ready room once again. The plain white room had no inviting feel to the place, and I really should have gotten around to making it more comfortable before, but it always seemed like such a waste of time to me. Even now I looked at the bare walls and shrugged the idea off once more, instead opting to just finish logging out and getting back into the real world. Back in reality, I really needed to take care of myself and my first stop was the bathroom, for obvious reasons as well as a shower. It was only mid-afternoon, which left me plenty of time to play some more before night fell in the game world itself. Being at the home of Dumadine Technology gave us here an edge in the time department, as the day in game was synched with the real world based on this time zone. From all I gathered, every country had their own server with a centralized time zone chosen as the basis for that area to go off of as well.

                Showered and presentable to the rest of humanity, I left my apartment and went down to the first floor in the elevator to check if Archie and Kayla had made it there yet. Poking my head into the kitchen, I saw Kayla at the counter working on something to eat but no Archie anywhere in sight. Shrugging, I wandered into the large area and leaned against the fridge to see what was going to be for dinner. The appliance shifted a little at the weight of my body, the sound making Kayla jump with a squeak of alarm, one hand reaching up to pull an earbud out of her head.

                “Jesus Dale! Don’t fucking scare me like that you asshole!” In front of her was an assortment of onions, peppers, beef, garlic, mushrooms and a few other ingredients that she was working on. Looked like we would be having some kind of stir-fry based on what I saw, but I was only a mediocre cook at best so I could have been wrong.

                I laughed at her reaction and held up my hands in surrender. I was never dumb enough to argue with a woman holding a big kitchen knife… “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t see the earbud.” I dropped my hands as my apology seemed to mollify her and she turned back to her task. “Need any help here or should I just be a good boy and stay out of your way?”

                Those blue eyes of hers flicked towards me, a glimmer of mirth showing within. “I am pretty sure if I let you help me, it would end up turning into a disaster. No, I am fine here. Archie should be down in a few more minutes though and will probably want to break down everything from our PvP encounter. I swear, he finds more enjoyment in stuff like that than seems healthy…” Shaking her head, she went back to slicing up the veggies on a cutting board and placing them all in a glass bowl.

                My answer to her complaint was only a shrug, as before I could speak Archie himself came into the kitchen with the AR display for his computer in hand. “Good, you are here Dale. Did you check out our stream pages since logging out?” He flopped his skinny frame into a chair at one of the tables and called up an AR screen, tapping in commands faster than I could follow.

                “Uhmmm… No, not yet. Wanted a shower first. Why, what’s up?” Stepping around the table, I stood behind him so I could watch the screen over his shoulder as he manipulated the display. The window shifted rapidly to his ministrations, and quickly he had the page for my own stream up in front of us where I could see threads being commented on almost nonstop. Primary among the posts were those of the players who tried to jump us earlier. They were pissed off, threatening to hunt me down in the game and kill me over and over if I didn’t give them back their stuff. Silly really… We had beaten them once already when they were fully geared, and now they were all set back a good ways now that they had nothing. Other people were calling them every name under the sun, saying that they just got what they deserved and that if any one of them tried to go after me and my party, every member of the PK group would be black listed. Judging by the number of people backing up those claims, I doubted there would be any tries at revenge. “What is the big deal? Just some butt hurt bastards… Nothing we haven’t seen or dealt with before.”

                “No, not those posts… This one.” He trailed his finger through the air, circling a lone post that wasn’t attached to a particular thread in the comments box. The user was named Ghost_In_The_Machine, and when Archie tried to see the person’s info, nothing came up as if the profile didn’t exist. The message itself was rather odd too… ‘You missed something big. Prepare yourself, Reaper. War comes and you are in for a shock.’ Well, that just seemed like a giant bucket of crazy woven in with a bit of stalker issues.

                “Yeah, still not seeing a problem here Archie. What are you getting that I am not?” Truly I was puzzled by what he was going for here. Yeah, I miss things all the time. I was never what some called a completionist who has to get everything there could possibly be, and rather focused on what worked for me and me alone.

                “Dude, how have you survived in the game this long without me?” Archie shook his head and switched the screen to another page, this one that of another player in the complex we were staying in. It looked to be that of one of the two adoptive brothers, Adrian I think his name was. He was currently in the game, and I saw on his stream that he was dealing with some NPCs in a city environment. Archie skipped the live feed though and scrolled down through the comments till he found the section he wanted and let me read. Apparently, despite me thinking I was being handed everything on a silver platter, other people were getting the golden treatment in the game twice as much as I was. Adrian and Hidashi both had received full sets of Unique armor as well as Divine titles for achieving some rather impressive feats in the game already. While I had been traipsing off with the Fae, the brothers had run into an actual dragon!

                Now, one might assume that meeting a dragon at such an early level would lead to quick and certain death, but somehow these guys had managed to convince the beast to let them join with the monster. All the rage on this thread was about how they abandoned their House and teamed up with the dragon in order to fulfil an old oath for the creature. Comments mentioned that Calamity was screwed with both of these players as well as a dragon now hunting me down. Things here weren’t adding up though, and I raised a brow at Archie. “Okay, you obviously read all of this already… Give me the details.”

                Closing the AR screen, Archie sat back in his chair while I sat beside him. “Right. From my research, I have found that the dragon is named Ashderkantus. He is ancient and is known as one of the closest beings to the gods of the game known, since he is the direct child of two of them, and is seen as a pillar of justice among the NPCs. Even the Fairies aren’t as powerful as this being. Word has spread about Aly’s power since you have acquired her, and apparently the dragon is claiming that there is a prophecy about a Fairy with dominion over time being the cause of destroying the world. Adrian and Hidashi told this beast that they knew of you, which is how they got on his side, and now they are actively hunting you down as part of a Divine ranked quest issued from the dragon himself.”

                “Are you fucking serious? What the hell is wrong with the AI in this game that they are setting a fucking dragon against me already?!” I ran a hand through my hair, trying to sort my thoughts out. “Does this have to do with being the first person to gain a Unique Fairy in the game?” Really, that was the only thing that made sense to me that would explain what was going on.

                Archie nodded his head at me, adjusting his glasses on his face. “Indeed I think that is exactly what it is about. If another player had gotten a Unique Fairy before you, I could probably guess that their power would have been the one in the prophecy. Tough luck, Dale. With great power comes great… Hardships.” He chuckled at his joke, with my own grim amusement joining in. “But on the bright side, both Adrian and Hidashi are on the other side of the continent from you and it will take them a long time to track you down I should think. There is no hiding. Our streams will tell them where you are at all times, but outrunning them or out playing them is certainly on the table. Currently, they are one level ahead of us in the game, but their gear is above and beyond what we have by a long shot. Add to that the fact that they are each backed by a Divine ranked Fairy, and it is looking like we are going to be in for a world of hurt unless we make a plan.”

                Well, this shit kept getting better and better. Not only did I have two of the best players in the world coming at me, they had a fucking dragon backing them! What kind of bullshit is that? Ugh… Complaining about it wouldn’t help, and I needed to get my head on straight in order to make it through this event without losing my Unique Fairy. While Archie and I were talking, Kayla had prepared the meal and set a plate before each of us to start eating. The meal went in mostly silence, my thoughts turned inwards as I contemplated what needed to be done, and my friends knew when to keep their mouths shut to let me think. That was part of the reason we had always worked so well together in the past, really. The food was good, but I paid little mind to it as I ate mechanically.

                Right then. Problems were starting to compound and add up quickly for me and I had to get a handle on them before shit went so far sideways there was no chance of setting it right again. The real world had to be my base of operations for this too, since my stream was probably being watched and reported back to the brothers with details of my conversations and actions. But two could play at that game… First step would be to get some people watching those two streams and spying on them for us. I had a couple friends from work who owed me some favors, and I was sure Archie and Kayla had a couple people willing to lend a hand as well, so that aspect was covered. My next issue was gear, I was wearing starter gear for the most part still. Granted, it was good quality and had saved my ass many times so far, but I would need a serious upgrade if I was going to try and come out on top here. Third was leveling up rapidly, and to that extent I had almost no idea of how to go about it. Being a brand new game with the ten people living here at the forefront of advancement, there was no guide or info portal to look up as to how to best level up. Everything was looking to point at how well we could make use of everything we encountered.

                As it stood, I didn’t have enough information to make the best plans that I could. Too many unanswered questions in Tyrith city on top of where exactly the brothers were. That left me little options in my mind and the best one was to keep pressing forward and gaining levels. The stronger we got, the better off we would become. In truth, I really wanted to get to level 25 and acquire a second Fairy before dealing with these guys and their bastard dragon. My best bet would be to avoid the monster entirely if I could help it… I doubted a dragon would be a low level mob that I could smoke without any effort. Actually… I had my own personal benefactor possibly. The outlines of an idea began to form as I thought on the topics of gods and their scions, but to put it in motion I had to be careful.

                My face must have shown that I was coming to a solution as Archie slapped me on the back. “Alright, looks like we are back on track. Welcome back to reality, by the way.” I blinked at him, then noticed we had all finished eating and all of the dishes were taken care of. I really had to stop spacing out when deep in thought… It was bound to bite me in the ass someday.

                “Yeah, I have an outline in mind as to how I can deal with this. Not sure about how you both will grow in the end, but my own path seems to be opening up before me if I can play my cards right.” I leaned back in my chair and ran a hand through my hair. “When we make it back to Tyrith I can show you around quickly if you want, but there are some things I will need to do alone. No offense, but you guys don’t have the fame or rank I do here so if you come along it may not go as well as I hope.” I paused, then looked sideways at Archie. “Actually, you may well be a help to me with your Fallon when I head off to one of the locations. You should come too, Kayla, when I head there. Might be worth it for you.”

                She gave a smile and nod, her eyes locked to an AR screen on her pers-com as she checked messages. “No problem. We shouldn’t split up for long anymore in the game. Our feeds have shown us together for a little bit now so I am sure that both Archie and I are going to be targets as well for this situation.” The blonde had a point. Being watched all the time was really starting to show downsides. Oh well, all part of the game as I saw it. We may not be normal players, but that just came with the whole work for DT package in the end.

                “Good point. Alright, let’s head on up and get logged in again. I have a lot of stuff to get done in a short amount of time to be ready for trouble.” I stood and stretched, my body having cramped a bit from sitting in the chair for a good half hour straight without moving. Taking my own advice, I headed out of the kitchen area and pressed the elevator call button with my friends following along with me. As soon as I got back to my room, I moved straight into the game room so I could log back in. My mind was full of possibilities and plans that were as of yet like liquid. Nothing was set yet, and depending on how things turned out, the backup plans for my backup plans may not even be viable. I needed certain things to fall into place, and for that to happen I had a lot of scheming ahead of me.

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                Once all three of us were logged back into the game and we were on the road back to the city, Kayla opened up the conversation with a question. “So, what is the first step for this? No sense in hiding too much since people are going to see it all as we do it anyway.” She was right of course, but at the same time I didn’t want to give a heads up to where we will be in advance besides the obvious locations.

                “Well, first things first we are heading back to the city. I need upgrades and to talk with some people there before we head out again. I will probably end up stuck in town overnight and will head to the next place on my list in the morning.” I gave a wolfish grin at the two of them. “I think that it is past time you met my first big friend in this game tomorrow.” Maybe I said too much there, someone smart would be able to connect the dots depending on how much they had followed my stream, but I didn’t come right out and explain what I meant so I felt reasonably safe. “The rest of today will be spent doing business and getting upgrades to my armor as well as meeting with the Captain.”

                “Make sure we go with you so we can be introduced to him too. I still have my old title and want to switch to your faction if I can.” We were jogging down the trail, and Archie was having absolutely no trouble keeping up with his light leather armor while I lugged a large scythe and Kayla was wearing full plate. It wasn’t the actual weight that was the issue, but our energy bars depleted slowly when moving faster than a brisk walk and the weight we carried made it drop all the faster.

                “Sure thing. Still not sure where I am standing in the House at the moment though, so don’t get your hopes up in case it turns out to be bad news. Then again, the faction bonus is quite nice even if it is random advancements, so you might want to join up anyway.” Both of them had told me what their faction bonuses were and they were decent as they added to two different stats every level, but getting free skill levels was looking to be much more worthwhile even if it was randomized.

                We had to take a couple breaks to let our energy refill, but in the end it only took a little over an hour to run back to the city from where the Realm Gate once stood. The caravan was gone and the slap-dash market had been broken down with their departure, leaving the gates clear of people and allowing us quick entry. Something seemed off as soon as we stepped past the walls, soldiers were rushing around everywhere as they emerged from houses and made their way towards the keep at the far end of the road.

                One of the guards at the wall spotted me and approached quickly. “You there! Calamity! Captain Vermund has been looking for you all afternoon. You are ordered to report to him immediately.” With his message delivered, the man wandered back to his post to keep an eye on things. I dismissed the window that popped up giving me the proper quest to visit Vermund before the end of the day, with failure being a demotion to my title rank. Shitty drawbacks for making him wait. Well, he was one of my main objectives tonight anyway, so that was fine.

                “Looks like the tour will have to wait for the most part. Let’s swing by a couple shops on the way towards the keep. I have loot to sell and armor to commission if I can!” For the next hour, we wandered to several shops to dump the extra gear weighing us down as well as making a stop at the blacksmith to hand over the Dark Iron to be crafted into a set of Rare quality chainmail armor for me. It was at the high ends of the NPC’s skills, but he assured me that it would turn out better than my current gear which is all I cared about. We also found a storage bank that could be accessed from every city in the game and dumped the bulk of our money in there. The longest part of our trip to the keep was when Kayla saw the clothes shop for Fairies and nothing else would do but that she ducked in and spent fifteen minutes with Celeste to pick the best new outfit for her. Actually, it was three outfits, but who was counting?

                For our entire trek through the city we saw soldiers all making their way towards the keep in alarming numbers. Something must have happened for that many warriors to gather in one spot, and it made me want to get to the Captain that much faster as my curiosity was starting to bother me. As we neared the two-story building Vermund used as an office, I saw all of the soldiers were lining up in formation. At least three hundred men at arms were gathered, all in the black and red of House Tyrith’s colors as they stood at attention while still more men filtered in and took up their positions. Waving the others to follow me, I headed into the building to find out what was going on.

                Vermund was in his normal place behind his large desk, but this time there were half a dozen men surrounding the open surface. Voices argued back and forth while they discussed something I couldn’t make out from the door. Heading that way, I saw the top of the desk was covered in a large map of Grendor where the officers with Vermund were all pointing to various places in turn to report on troop movements as well as other topics of war. The giant man in black armor caught my approach, his hard gaze following me as he straightened up from looking at the map. That deep voice which demanded attention and obedience called out to me, drawing my gaze up from the map to meet his own. “Ah, so our last Outlander has decided to join us finally. Of the forty Outlanders under my command now, you are the final one to follow orders and report for duty, Soul Reaper.”

                That name got the attention of the others surrounding the table, all eyes turning to look me over. Apparently, my fame score was starting to show, my feats spreading through the province farther and farther as my fame increased. Either good or bad, my deeds would be known through the lands as that number increased which could have some interesting consequences. Anonymity would become a thing of the past if I kept accruing fame, but the new quests that would be opened because of it would hopefully be only a good thing. As if by some unspoken command, the officers all stepped away from the desk and moved out the door to handle the gathering troops outside.

                “Captain Vermund, first let me introduce my two friends. This is Archie and his Fairy Fallon, and Serena with her Fairy Celeste.” I motioned to each as I spoke, then turned back to the Captain. “Depending on the decision set forth by Lord Tyrith, they might wish to join the House and help with whatever it is you have planned for me.”

                Crossing his arms over his chest, Vermund looked the pair over where they stood a little behind me, gauging their strength and worth with a glance. Finally, after a couple seconds he nodded at them. “Glad to hear you wish to join us. You can have his rank as he won’t be needing it any longer. I gave Calamity a rank above that of the average starting recruit to the faction, and it has borne fruits much greater than we could have hoped. Hopefully, as his friends, you will be able to do the same for House Tyrith.” He pulled out three pieces of paper, jotting down his writ and handing one to each of us. Archie and Kayla each got papers saying they were accepted into House Tyrith, but mine was quite the opposite…

You have lost the title Nightblade!

Captain Vermund of House Tyrith has revoked your title and rank within the house. You have lost the following benefits:

1.       +3 Str, +3 Dex, +1 Int

2.       Upon level up, you will receive +1 to a random stat

3.       Upon level up, you will receive +1 to two random skills.

(Skill level bonus can possibly effect the same skill twice.)

                What the fuck? Did I not make it clear that my friends would only join if I was in the faction still? I wasn’t that worried about the loss of the stats at this point, even if I would miss the nice level up benefits. Yeah, this was so not going to fly… Balling up the paper, I tossed it back onto the desk and opened my mouth to say something. Vermund held up a hand before I could even utter a syllable. “Peace, Calamity… I will explain in a moment. Wait here.” He turned and walked away from us towards the stairs, his armor making noise as he climbed up to the second floor to vanish from sight.

                This was all just a heavy dose of strange, and I really hoped this wouldn’t ruin any of the plans I had made to deal with everything. I glanced at Kayla and Archie, but they were both looking around them and paying no attention to me standing there. Typical, as soon as I get knocked sideways, they pretend nothing happened and leave me to fix it all as if nothing happened. Well, things might not be as bad as I feared, although getting kicked out of the faction was certainly not going to help me in the long run.

After only a minute or two, the Captain started clanking down the stone steps to the first floor again. In his hands was a large scythe made of solid black metal, and even from my place across the room I could make out engravings covering the shimmering black blade and most of the long handle. As the light from the outside hit the metal, it reflected off in rippling bands of dark purple color. The craftsmanship was excellent, but pulling up the inspect window only gave me a list of question marks on the item. Vermund walked over and dropped it on the desk before taking up his place once more. “Now then, take this weapon to reveal its power, Calamity. Once you have seen what this is, I will explain what is going to happen.” Not being a person that says no to new loot, I did as instructed and lifted the scythe from the desk. I was expecting it to be quite heavy, but to my shock the metal was lighter than wood yet I felt the strength and durability of the weapon easily.

Elrayna’s Pride

Divine – scaling

Soulbound - indestructible

Damage (lvl 11): 54-62

Bonuses (lvl 11): +5 Str +5 Dex

Requirements:

Polearm Mastery lvl 10

‘Reaper’ title

Made from Black Mithril, this scythe was forged by Elrayna, Goddess of War herself and gifted to her chosen champion Allistar the Grim Reaper. Only someone blessed by Elrayna may wield this weapon, which will match the power of the one wielding it. Before gifting this item to Allistar, Elrayna engraved several hidden enchantments within the blade and haft, leaving it to the one who could use this item to figure them out on their own.

                Now there was a weapon! I stepped back to the middle of the room and twirled the scythe around a few times in practice motions to marvel at the lightness of the massive weapon. Made of solid metal, it should weigh more than would be comfortable to use, but thankfully the game made it work. Grinning from ear to ear, I moved back to the desk and focused on Vermund, looking for an explanation as to why I was receiving such a gift. Granted, I was the only one who could possibly use it at the moment, but nothing is ever free.

                “As you have most likely figured out, that was once the weapon of Allistar, whom I told you about last time. Lord Tyrith and I have discussed you to great length and have decided to give you his weapon to use. To that end, you are also gaining a new title outside of the typical rank and file of the House. That is why I had to revoke your current rank.” He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his desk, sealed in wax with the faction emblem pressed to the red blob. “I cannot grant you this title, only Lord Tyrith is capable of this task. Here, take your new charge and then I will explain what needs to be done.” I reached out and took the paper, then watched it vanish to be replaced with a message window.

Congratulations!

You have gained a Title within the faction: House Tyrith

Your rank: Harbinger of War

This is a high-ranking title within House Tyrith that is beholden only to Lord Tyrith himself and Captain Vermund as his second in command. With this rank, you will be able to command every soldier on the field of battle for the faction as well as receiving high end and Unique quests from the Lord of the House. You will also now receive the following bonuses to your character:

1.       +5 Str +5 Dex +5 Agi +5 Fort +5 Int +5 Will

2.       Upon level up, you will receive: +1 Str +1 Fort

3.       Upon level up, you will receive: +1 Skill Point to assign as you wish.

Warning! Leaving the faction will remove the first effect bonus from your character, but the level up rewards will stay with you.

                Not a bad deal, but I was still feeling like there were strings attached. A powerful Lord didn’t just up and give away a weapon that had to be worth thousands of gold and a title at the top of the ranks for nothing. “Right, what’s the catch? I want to hear the reason that I am getting all of these high end things.”

                Vermund nodded his head and leaned against his desk to speak. “You are right. All of this comes with a stipulation. Word has spread through the city and beyond of your feats thus far, Outlander. The common soldiers all look up to you as an omen of great importance due to the timing of your arrival here. Less than a week after you arrived, you have become worthy to take up a weapon made by a goddess after you yourself have been blessed by her.” He paused and motioned to the map in front of him. “War is here. A dragon has woken from his slumber and marches towards our borders with an army and two paladins. I gather and send our troops now to meet the threat at the border before it can do damage to our lands.” He gave me a hard, cold eyed stare. “You are the figurehead. The decorative piece that will unite the common soldiers into a cohesive whole. You probably haven’t noticed it yet, but all of the soldiers look at you with respect, and Lord Tyrith and I aren’t people who will let such an advantage go to waste.” He straightened up and looked me over once again, my paltry level 11 to his still question marks. “I don’t expect you to be able to actually contribute much to the endeavor, you are still weak for now, but in two weeks we will be meeting the dragon’s army and you will be there.”

Quest received!

First Contact

Captain Vermund has tasked you with the duty of joining in the war against the forces arrayed against House Tyrith. You have just under two weeks from the issuance of this quest to prepare as best as you can for the coming struggle, then you and your party members will be teleported to the command tent for the start of the battle.

Time remaining: 324:32:18

Rewards: Experience

Warning! This is a mandatory quest and cannot be failed or dropped.