“I swear it upon my honor, your majesty,” said a very sweaty high mage on his knees before the king of Belchor, the largest and most powerful monarchy on this continent.

“So, you have said, but how much honor can I ascribe to a man who fled from battle as his comrades died,” the king demanded. His voice never rose, but there was just a certain quality to it that demanded an answer.

“If I may, your majesty?” Another robed man, standing a few paces from the throne, asked.

“Yes, yes. Let’s hear from you. I believe that you personally appointed this sniveling bag of bones for a mission that you knew was critical. Aren’t you supposed to be wise? Last time I checked; you were the royal mage of Albrecha. I am supposed to be able to trust you. Yet, Tolson, you and Knight-General Milbar have failed spectacularly,” the king replied.

“King Dauvson, there is no way that we could have foreseen that the ogres would adopt an entirely new strategy or that they would have multiple spell casters with them. The army patrols in that region have always reported no casters with the ogres,” General Milbar protested.

“I don’t want excuses. I want the very expensive gift that I prepared for my son’s fiancée to be on its way to Elvante, not being torn up by a bunch of brutes. You both assured me that the guard would make sure it got there safely.”

“We had seven crossbowmen, an experienced ranger, eleven knights, and a high mage. Even the drivers had some military experience. There is no way that a roving band of ogres should have been any threat. In the past…” the general began before being cut off.

“I don’t need a rendition of what precautions should have been enough. Nor do I need to know what ogres have done in the past. What I do need to know is how you intend to regain the precious gifts now that they have been sullied,” King Dauvson said.

“Again, begging our grace, my king, but there is a larger question. Certainly, the gift was expensive, but beyond that evolution crystal, it can all be replaced. The more concerning issue is that I have never known High Mage Sambin to ever lie. If he says the ogres prepared an ambush and had numerous casters with them, then that may become a larger issue of security. The brutes are strong enough as is. If someone is teaching them tactics and magic, that is a concern,” the royal mage said.

The king stood and paced as he fumed. He had reached a point of stability in his kingdom where he was used to everything going his way. Albrecha had no enemies. The neighboring elven and dwarven nations were peaceful trading partners for the most part. The orcs were far to the north and had not attacked in more than a generation. Between his army, the high mages, and the adventurers who were always eager for quests, all the notable monsters within his kingdom had been slain.

That was how Benjamin Dauvson liked it. He wanted time with his wife and children. He was even going to let one of his sons marry an elven princess just to further stabilize relations. “At least she was pretty,” he thought to himself with a snort. The idea of making his son marry a dwarven girl was humorous, but not worth it. He wanted to like his grandchildren, after all.

“Fine, I want you to send a full company of knights with supporting archers and a squad of high mages. Let’s put an end to this ogre menace,” the king declared.

“It shall be as you say, my king,” the royal mage began.

“But? I hear a ‘but’ in your words.

“But, may I also post a quest for adventurers with a reward for any of them that can bring back a magic using ogre? It would be good to learn more about this situation.”

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“You and your constant curiosity.” The king sighed. “Fine, but you and General Milbar are going to be responsible for making sure that all the treasures that were sent are recovered or replaced.”

The general and royal mage looked at one another. They were both nobles with a fair amount of wealth themselves, but neither wanted to spend it on such things. There was nothing to be done for it now. They would just have to hope they could recover the expensive portions. The human food, the cloth, and even the armor would be easy enough to replace. It was the gems and the evolution stone that would be expensive. Either way, they both bowed to the king and set out to accomplish his orders.

____________________________________

Elgar sat at the back table in his favorite bar. There were no good bars in the real world. Not anymore. The AI overlords didn’t think they were very good for the human sheep they tended. At least here in Legends of Selmia, he could get a good drink. The realism of the game was so high that he swore he could feel a good buzz even after he climbed out of his immersion rig.

Now, though, Tauri had that mischievous look on her face. A part of him wondered if she was really a ‘she’ but either way she was a damn fine rogue. So he put up with her childish ways. She had just entered the bar, followed by Robert. Robert was their tank, and he had it bad for the little rogue. He didn’t even bother changing his name in the game, but he once again was good at his job.

Elgar wouldn’t really work with anyone who wasn’t. Too many nights of pick up groups had got him forming his own group. They still didn’t have a consistent healer, but honestly, that was typically the hardest slot to fill. The three of them were consistent. Wizard, rogue, and paladin. Between them, they had enough skills to function even if they were often forced to fill their other three party slots with pick up players.

Lately, they had taken to handling lesser challenges so that they didn’t have to play with losers. This was supposed to be fun, an escape from real life. Elgar had plenty of jerks to deal with in the real world. Here, he just wanted fun with people he enjoyed being around.

Still, Tauri had that look. “What is it this time?”

She practically bubbled over as she said, “I found a quest that will be perfect for us. I even managed to get the posting before anyone else saw it.”

Elgar waved for the two of them to sit at the table. Tauri was short enough as a half-elf that it wasn’t a problem, but he didn’t like having to crane his neck up to look at Robert. “Show it to me.”

They were perpetually in a party anytime the three of them were online, so it was a simple matter for her to share the quest with them.

Capture an Oddity- Wanted: A magic using ogre. Must be brought alive and in a condition that enables it to still speak. No addled wits or wounds too serious to allow it to speak. Reward: 1000 gold XP: 800 Elgar couldn’t deny it. That was a good quest. All they had to do was capture one creature. His mind was already racing. Their average party level was sixteen, with Tauri at fifteen and him at seventeen. Ogres normally were level ten or less. The bigger problem was that he had never heard of any magic casting ogres. But enough XP to almost gain a level and a sizable chunk of gold would make it work digging into.

The wizard smiled. “Looks like we are going ogre hunting.”