Stephen had done the research for Leah’s quest, uncovering most of the information on Derrick Bender’s potential money laundering scheme, so Allison had been tasked with deciphering Tami’s predicament. Gregory was already looking at the next folder. “What do we have here? Pirates?”
“Yes, sir,” Allison said. “Allow me to explain. As I'm sure you know, the Iranians have been working for quite some time developing tactical EMPs.”
“Yes,” the CIA executive chuckled. “They’ve gone through hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fried electrical equipment. No one on our side is that worried about it. It isn’t difficult to shield circuits from electromagnetic pulses, and all modern equipment is pretty much immune to it.”
“Yes,” the young woman agreed, “but they are still selling the weapons, and not everyone has the resources or technology of the US military.”
Gregory was scanning the dossier before him. “You’re talking about the Somalian Pirates. Yes, I heard they had used one or two of the devices. It didn’t go well for them.”
“No,” Allison agreed. “They fried their own ship as well as the merchant vessel they were attacking. Their target recovered first, radioed to a nearby military vessel, and the pirates were all apprehended.”
“So, what are we worried about?” Gregory looked around the table and through the viewscreen to Jason, Gracie, and Conor sitting 600 miles away. He had enough confidence in this group to know there was something more at stake.
“Jason thought of it,” Ross said, hitting a few keys on his keyboard to pull up a split image on their monitor. Back in Chicago, the trio saw the same picture: a satellite photo off the coast of northeast Africa.
“What are we looking at?” Gregory asked, squinting at the coastline.
Ross manipulated the mouse to zoom in many times until they saw a large boat tied off on a dock that looked an awful lot like a . . .
“A pirate ship?” Gregory asked.
“It’s what I would have done in their situation,” Jason said.
“Well, obviously, it won’t be affected by an EMP,” Gregory stated, “but there is no way that incompetent group will ever figure out how to sail it. You’re talking about pirates who routinely ground their vessels on sand bars, run out of fuel in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and are shipwrecked by the smallest storms. You’re telling me they are going to figure out how to navigate a vessel from the 1700s effectively enough to pull off tactical incursions?”
“With practice, they will,” Allison confirmed.
“If they practice with that ship, they will sink it.”
“That’s why they are using the game,” Allison said.
The rest of the group watched as the senior CIA agent worked through what he was meant to believe. They gave him thirty seconds to review the folder and look again at the ship on the screen. “The simulation is that good?”
Allison nodded. “From what I’ve found, the Somalis have a pirate stronghold that includes a shipyard. It can support one full-size, triple-masted galleon. If they destroy it, which, according to my research, they’ve done three times in the past two months, they need to provide their fort with the right resources, and it spawns another ship. They’ve had their current vessel for over three weeks, and I think they are starting to feel confident with it.”
“So they can sail,” Gregory said, his tone revealing his lack of confidence in the assertion. “Boarding a ship at sea is a completely different animal. Plus, if they are using an EMP in real life, they will have to find targets in the game that will be just as listless. Isn’t ROI filled with wizards, fireballs, and cannons?”
“No gunpowder yet,” Allison corrected. “It’s been promised for several updates, but we haven’t seen it. However, there are plenty of fireballs, ballistae bolts, and catapults. A successful pirate attack isn’t easy to pull off. You usually need three ships. Two to get close, draw fire, and disable their archers and spell casters, while the third stays back until it is safe to approach. The pirates don’t want to sink their prey, but the merchant couldn’t care less about the attacking ships, so the buccaneers often lose one or two ships in the fight. As a result, the game gives a pretty substantial reward for a successful attack. The Somalis don’t have those kinds of resources. That is why they’ve acquired an EMP in the game.”
Gregory looked confused. “An electromagnetic pulse spell? To do what? Knock out their target’s compass?”
“No,” Allison chuckled. “They have Tamar Tzedek. Affectionately known as Tami, the mermaid.”
Gregory didn’t bother asking what she meant as a full-color picture of Tami stared back at him from one of the pages in his folder. Instead, he waited for an explanation. Allison didn’t make him wait long.
“Most merfolk have the Siren Song ability. This is already very powerful and can usually Stun characters several levels above the caster, especially at sea. Tami is also a bard, so she has several added feats that improve her song skill. Adding on to that is this unique quirk that affects all the former lieutenants of the Gilded Swan, where she gets credit for everything she did in all the numerous iterations of her character back when Portsmouth used to be a MIM.”
The confused look on the senior agent’s face let Allison know she would need to elaborate. “Before Jace freed Esther, she and the other women we are trying to save were part of a shared world where every player could have a copy of them active in their game, and most PCs did. When Jace broke that, these women retained all that knowledge and experience as if they had lived all those events chronologically instead of simultaneously. This turned Esther into a level 37 Escort, Leah into a level 20+ artist, and we have no idea how many levels Tami has in Performer, but assuming she chose most of her extra feats to boost her Siren Song, she could knock out a level 30 character from 500 feet. She would become a very effective in-game EMP. Even forgetting about the valuable experience the Somalis would gain from raiding ships in the game, Tami is a cheat code that would get them untold wealth from the pirate attacks, which they could transfer into real-world dollars, Somali Shillings, or whatever currency they wanted. Several terrorist organizations already fund their IRL operations through the game. The Somalis could do likewise.”
“You have my attention,” Gregory said, trying to put aside the talk of mermaids, fireballs, and experience levels and getting serious about what this could mean in the real world. “How do you plan to stop them?”
“We need to steal Tami back by completing her quest correctly.”
“Why not just kill her?” Gregory asked. “Your archer . . .” he flipped through the papers in front of him, “what’s his name . . . ah, Psycho. He could put an arrow through her from 500 feet, problem solved. We do it all the time. It’s called a drone strike. If we knew of someone a tenth as valuable as this mermaid to our enemies, she’d be gone before the ink was dry on the authorization form.”
The agent was greeted with silence from the group.
“Please don’t tell me you are going to push back on this. We are talking about killing a character in a video game. We kill people in real life for far fewer reasons than what you’ve given me. Do you all seriously have a problem with this?”
“That’s not how it works.” Gracie was the first one to find her voice. “That’s not how the game is played.”
“We aren’t playing a game,” Gregory said. “If everything you said is true, and, in a couple of weeks, Somali pirates start executing effective attacks against merchant and private vessels along the eastern coast of Africa, and we could have stopped it but didn’t because some mermaid looked too cute and innocent in a seashell bikini, this department will get shut down faster than you can blink.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“We must attempt it by the book first,” Gracie said.
“Why?”
“Because Esther isn’t my most valuable asset,” Jason spoke up. “It isn’t Psycho, Draya, Gromphy, or anything else you will find in that folder. My god, Dexmachi, is why I am successful in the game.” He paused, wondering if he would be interrupted, but everyone waited to hear what he would say. “Gandhi, the game’s AI, gave me a god that could break the game rules. I have come up with some crazy plans that have no business working, but I know Dexmachi massages the dice rolls and affects the NPC decisions. No matter how difficult of a task I’m facing, there is always a sliver of hope because I know Dexmachi will ensure our success. If I kill Tami, not only will Esther leave me, Dexmachi will too, and you might as well shut down this department anyway.”
Gregory smiled. “Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. So, how are you going to do it? Is this another Bible story? I don’t remember mermaids in church.”
“No,” Jason laughed as a wave of relief passed through him. “They usually skip this story in Sunday School. Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, Er. He was evil and died before having any children, so based on the custom of the time, his next oldest brother, Onan, married her. He was supposed to produce a son in his older brother’s name, but he didn’t want to. He slept with Tamar, but . . . he, uh . . . well, he masturbated on the ground rather than impregnating her.”
Gregory sat up. “That’s in the Bible?”
“Like I said,” Jason replied. “They usually skip this story. Anyway, this was evil, so God killed him. The third son was still a child, so Tamar had to wait. However, Judah viewed Tamar as a liability, and he didn’t want to lose another son, so even once Shelah, the youngest, was old enough to marry, Judah didn’t give him to the widow. Tamar realized what was going on, so she disguised herself as a prostitute, seduced Judah, and got pregnant.”
“This woman really wanted a son,” Gregory said.
“All the Israelites did,” Jason said. “It is a central theme in the Old Testament, and there are plenty of crazy things people did to have children. God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of Satan and end the curse of sin. Every Israelite woman wanted children so this prophecy could be fulfilled.”
“Was it?”
Jason nodded. “Tamar is in the direct line of Christ. The son she bore to Judah became an ancestor to Jesus.”
Gregory nodded. “And our mermaid version of Tamar wants a son to end a curse too?”
“Sort of,” Jason replied. “I don’t suppose you know how merfolk mate?”
Gregory shook his head. “I believe that briefing is scheduled for next week’s directors meeting. This morning, we only talked about chemical weapons and gain of function research.”
Jason ignored the sarcasm. He deserved it. “One of the long-standing jokes within mermaid lore is that they seduce men with their beauty but can never get past second base. From the waist down, they are a fish. Not too many men are turned on by that. In the Realms of Infamy, merfolk can change forms as easily as a shape-shifting druid and only mate in human form. After sex, the female transforms back into a half-fish and lays her eggs in a nest prepared in her kingdom.
“Every mer-kingdom is different. They are magical underwater homes that produce a lot of mana to sustain the buildings and ecosystem and support the dome that keeps out predators. The mana generation in the center requires resources, just like any stronghold. Some require the souls of sentient beings. Merfolk seduce sailors and coastal inhabitants to their death and then feed their life energy to their kingdom. Others work off wealth, so the merfolk operate as merchants or pirates and feed gems and gold to their city. Some require the blood of undersea predators, and those merfolk are excellent hunters. Or they can run off of volcanic vents or the biodiversity of a nearby coral reef. Tami’s kingdom is called Timnah and gains its strength by having a nest filled with eggs.”
“So she does need children,” Gregory said. “Not to end a curse, but to keep her people alive.”
“Exactly,” Jason said. “Most mermaids lay a few dozen eggs. Maybe a hundred. Males can visit the nest, fertilize an egg, and it will eventually hatch into another merfolk. The eggs stay good for as long as needed. From what we can tell, princesses from Timnah lay close to a thousand eggs once they mate. Tami is the only princess left for her people, and she has to find a prince to do it with.”
Jason took a drink of water before continuing. “Tami’s people made a deal with another kingdom. They would provide a prince in exchange for a fortune in gold and gems. This other kingdom is ruled by a king named Neptudah, and their mana core is fueled by wealth. Tami decided she didn’t want to marry this prince. If she did, he would become king of her people. After meeting him, she didn’t think it would be a good fit. She was right. As in the Bible, the prince was named Er, and he refused to mate with Tami, insisting that she marry him and pay the gold. The mana core of Timnah, Tami’s kingdom, sensed he was a hostile presence and killed him.”
“Enter the second son–what was his name–Onan?” Gregory asked.
“Correct,” Jason confirmed. “Only he was a bit savvier. Onan wanted the same thing as his brother, to be king of Timnah, but he also had his eyes on his father’s kingdom. Though merfolk have a long natural life, they are often hunted and can die by various means. Neptudah earned wealth for his kingdom honestly by all accounts and didn’t have many enemies. If Onan wanted to rule, he would need to challenge his father by proving to be a better provider for their kingdom. To do this, he joined a group of NPC pirates to amass his own fortune. Once he has enough, he can challenge his father for rule, and if he waits long enough with Tamar, she will eventually cave and be forced to marry him or watch her kingdom lose its power and eventually fall.”
“I think I see where this is going,” Gregory said.
“You’re probably right,” Jason said. “Now that Onan lived on the surface, sailing with pirates, he fancied himself as a lady's man. He visited many brothels whenever his ship went to port, so Tami decided to disguise herself as a prostitute, move into the Gilded Swan, and wait for him to show up.”
“But you screwed that up when you broke the module,” Gregory said.
“Sort of,” Jason replied. “But I’ll get to that. After I freed the women, Tami bounced around the realms until the Somalis got her. The NPC pirates Onan joined are led by a level 25 NPC who calls himself Captain Cloudspark. He’s a storm mage and very powerful. A popular pirate hunting module has him as the final boss, and no one has passed it yet. The Somalis lost one of their practice ships to him and need him out of their waters to practice attacking ships safely. They plan to make a deal with King Neptudah. They will reveal to him that Onan has thrown in with pirates and plans to usurp the throne from him. They will also explain what he is doing with Tami and hope the honorable merman will also despise that. Lastly, they will offer up Tami. If Neptudah sleeps with her since he is already a king, he will have some authority over the kingdom of Timnah, and instead of asking for gold, he can raise an army of merfolk to attack the pirates.”
“Clever,” Gregory said. “They kill two birds with one stone. They get rid of Cloudspark and satisfy Tami’s quest. It sounds like that is what they are supposed to do, right? I mean, that is how it played out in the Bible? Tamar slept with Judah, who is obviously Neptudah in this case.”
Jason smiled. “Yes and no. Yes, that is how it played out in the Bible, but what Tamar did was wrong. And what Judah did, sleeping with a prostitute, was wrong. I think the game wants us to ‘fix’ what happened in the Bible, not repeat it.”
“But that would mean . . .”
“The third son,” Jason said. “That is who Tamar was supposed to marry.”
“Is there a third son?” Gregory asked.
“In all my research,” Allison said, pulling Gregory from the screen and Jason’s report, “I haven’t found one. Players have encountered Cloudspark’s ship numerous times and describe a first mate that fits Onan’s description, but nobody has mentioned a second merman on board.”
“But we have information no one else has,” Jason said. “We have Esther. Earlier, you said that I screwed up Tami’s plan by breaking her module before Onan had a chance to visit. According to Esther, that isn’t true. Cloudspark, Onan, and the rest of the pirates made a stop at the Gilded Swan, and Tami was ready to trick Onan, but that is when she saw his younger brother. The two older brothers were brash and arrogant, but the youngest favored his father’s temperament and was kind and noble. Merfolk have a sixth sense to know when they are around each other in human form, and Tami knew Shelah, the younger brother, was who she really wanted.
“Onan could sense Tami was a mermaid but had no idea who she was. Why would a princess be working in a brothel? He wanted her, and she wanted Shelah. Onan insisted Shelah was too young. There was a fight, tables were broken, Shelah was sent back to the ship, and Onan ended up with Deli, whom we will discuss in a moment. According to Esther, Cloudspark never returned.”
Gregory frowned. “If Shelah is so noble and like his father, why is he sailing with pirates?”
“My guess is it is against his will,” Jason said. “Shelah could destroy everything. If he went to Tami, they would sleep together, and either the kingdom of Timnah would send Neptudah a fortune or Shelah, and Tami would get married. Either way, Onan would lose his chance to rule Timnah, and if his father got a ton of gold or gained a mighty kingdom as an ally, Onan wouldn’t be able to overthrow him either. No, the older brother has Shelah locked in the hold of Cloudspark’s pirate ship to ensure he doesn’t ruin everything.”
“And your plan to fix all this is . . .”
“Easy,” Jason replied with a grin. “We defeat Cloudspark and rescue Shelah. Then we invade the Somali’s stronghold to interrupt the meeting to woo Neptudah and present the younger son instead.”
“So, you only need to pass a module that has never been completed and infiltrate a heavily guarded pirate stronghold while they are hosting a king,” Gregory repeated in more dire terms.
“For Jason,” Stephen said, “that is easy.”
Gregory chuckled. “Okay, I approve.” He closed that folder and opened the next one. “Now talk to me about Deli.”