Conviction, page 12
“I already know what you offered Fire Oath and I am fine with that.”
“Mittie, they negotiated in good faith before they were expelled,” retorted Kate. “You are in a completely different situation and so if you want that deal, you need to give us a reason to be so generous with you.”
“I will make Dragon Legion feel the same amount of discomfort you and I are right now, as payback for making me play the role I did.”
“Just what was that deal anyways?” asked Xeal, hopeful that she would slip up.
“Sorry, but contracts are in place. All I can say is I owed them one favor and they called it in.”
“Xeal, if I had to bet, their main goal was likely to drive a wedge between FAE and Salty Dogs, as they still remain hostile to us for the most part,” commented Kate. “Since that is the case, you are in luck, Mittie.”
“Oh, joy. What, you’re not going to take us to the cleaners after I beg you for a few hours?”
“No, it means that after you show me what you showed Xeal, I will give you a deal that makes it seem as if our relationship is strained from others’ point of view, but is actually much better than it seems for you. Now, please show me what you did.”
Mittie sighed as she finally relented as she shifted her body to the form that she used to tease Xeal, as Kate almost laughed before she spoke.
“I see. Alright, that is definitely a rather accurate portrayal of what most men would find attractive, but you seemed to have missed the mark on what Xeal is attracted to by a few miles. So, I will assume that you haven’t been looking into ways to actually be successful in seducing him. Therefore, I will only require that you hand over every single detail of that ability, including how you got it and anything that you discover later on. After doing that, FAE will offer you the same deal as Fire Oath, so long as you agree to make no attacks on ships flying FAE’s or Nium’s banner in the open sea, unless fired upon first. There will be an exception if you verify that the ship is not ours or Nium’s and is just flying our flag, or if you are defending waters on a nation’s orders…”
Xeal almost wanted to groan as Kate went into full negotiation mode, as Mittie pushed back on areas that she couldn’t agree with before consulting others in her guild and workshop. While Mittie was close to having full control of everything, there were still areas that she knew better than to assume anything on. Like it was with real-life pirates, if the guild decided to replace her and she didn’t have enough strength and support behind her, she could be pushed completely out. Such things were even written into the legal documents of their workshop in reality. This allowed them to avoid breaking up over the early years of their guild, as its founding members had been big on ‘members first’ guild policies. Especially as they were originally a guild that was full pirate in any game they played, before somehow becoming largely legitimate.
Even so, raiding other players on the seas was still a large part of what their guild did and by far one of the most profitable parts of their operations. It was because of this fact that Mittie kept refusing to accept anything that would protect any player ship on the open sea. Put simply, she didn’t see her guild members being fine with that and therefore she couldn’t agree to it before bringing it before them. Finally, a simple compromise was found where FAE could buy back any captured ships at a massive discount and require them to return any NPCs that happened to be working on the ship when it was captured. With that a deal was finally struck and while Kate refused to keep Mittie’s abilities a secret, she did promise to keep it to a vice guild leader and up piece of knowledge.
So it was that Xeal’s suspicion of her having a slime body was confirmed, but it seemed that she could change just what her body was made of by consuming enough of any given material. That said, she also had to keep consuming the material to a lesser extent, or lose access to that form. Thus, it would be prohibitively expensive for any of her forms to be something like mithril, or other high-quality metals. There were other details that Kate was more interested in than Xeal, as he stopped reading the sheet he was handed and left it to her to figure out how useful the information was. That said, it was time to return to the quest world and take care of integrating his new territory into his current one. Which, from what Mittie said, would include several islands that were rather profitable and had been untouched by the demonic aura that had consumed the land.
This bit of information made Xeal smile, as it meant that there was at least part of the world that hadn’t been ruined. He even thought that there might be a smaller continent, or larger island, that was completely untouched. Though as Mittie described the demons that were encountered at sea, Xeal knew that it was unlikely that no demons had arrived at those shores yet. The only saving grace was that the salt water seemed to naturally repel the corruption that so easily devoured the land, even if it didn’t weaken any of the demonic creatures. Still, in the end Xeal knew that Mittie’s guild members would remain as the main seafaring group and all he did was add an exploration member of his guild to each crew. With the consequence of losing all access should her guild refuse to accommodate any reasonable request, Xeal didn’t expect any issues. Even so, he had reduced enough of their slots so that he could start developing his own group of sailors there, to remove even more possible bargaining power if issues occurred in the future.
With all of that handled, Xeal had Mittie get the members of her guild who needed to return to the quest world and return to FAE’s headquarters in an hour. During this time, Xeal made his own preparations as he had Taya join them, as she would be spending a few weeks addressing areas that were responsible for the production of food over the next few weeks. Xeal also took this time to address a few other post-battle needs and check over things with Kate. Finally, after they all arrived, Xeal transported them all back to the quest world and used most of the 40 slots he had to bring over part of Mittie’s group as well. The rest of the slots went to Austru, Kate, Taya, an admin player that Kate was assigning to the new continent and Mittie. For her own part, Mittie had seemed to come to a realization when Austru kissed Xeal and it became clear that she was yet another of his wives.
Thankfully, the powers to be were quick to accept their new position under Xeal’s care, once Mittie and a few other members of Salty Dogs had spoken with them. After that, it was just a process of reestablishing the player-only teleportation points and sending members of Salty Dogs out to inform the other larger settlements of the changes. With Xeal gaining a teleportation point for each shard he gained, he knew it would be simple to reconnect all of the prior areas that had them, but he also was thinking about using a few for other spots. This included a few of the better islands and possibly even holding one in reserve for any untouched continents that he could find. Though, he feared that any such location would be a dangerous venture for him, if they decided that they didn’t like the idea of being incorporated into the network he was building.
By the time all of that was handled, it was once more time for Xeal to call it a day and after giving Austru a kiss, he returned to the main ED world with Kate. Once there he took a moment to just sit down and let some of the tension that was in his body out. At the same time, Kate smiled as she started to speak to him.
“Things will get better soon enough and believe it or not, your actions today have actually made your path to transitioning responsibility and power easier.”
“Really? Because I feel like I just lost the ability to name Takeshi as having officially secured one of the slots as the ten senior vice guild leaders. I really don’t know what I am going to do if he decides that his time with FAE has come to an end and leaves to pursue his goals elsewhere.”
“You let me worry about that detail and if he agrees to take one of those slots, he is going to have to accept losing that option and a few others.”
“You’re not going to get him to give up on his single death here equaling him quitting.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean that he has to leave the workshop, as he will still have value as a real-world instructor and administrator. I am sure he will need some time with you to clear the air after the day, but he is a man and will get over things once he has time to consider everything.”
“What if he doesn’t?” asked Xeal, worry evident in his voice.
“Then he was never a fit for a leadership role and should have been placed in a position where he was in charge of a section like Amser was.”
“Are you ever going to help me learn just who she is?”
“That is something she can offer up if she so chooses, but she is obviously someone that I wouldn’t piss off if I were you.”
“Never planned on it. Just curious and thankful that you know and would like to bring her into management in reality as well. If you have anything that you think would entice her, feel free to use it to that end.”
“Not likely, but I will try something. Now, it’s time for us to join the others in reality ourselves.”
Xeal just sighed as he made sure his office was secure and logged out while sitting in his chair as Kate took the one across from him.
(*****)
Evening May 12 to Evening May 21, 2269 & ED Year 9 Days 170-198.
It was only ten minutes after Alex had logged out, as he was sitting down to eat, when Gido arrived with Kate, who was looking annoyed as Gido handed Alex a letter. It only took Alex a second to see that it was from the legal offices that Abysses End used and as he opened it, what he was presented with made him almost laugh. They had actually had the gall to send him a cease-and-desist letter after his actions of the day, as they cited the ongoing litigation as justification. In it they demanded that Alex not only not use any of the massively destructive attacks that he had access to, but to stay away from any battlefield altogether. In it they warned that failure to comply would have them ask for a motion to bar him from playing ED and Alex looked at Kate before handing her the letter. One thing was clear, it was time to bury Abysses End as he thought over the options before him.
Though before he could decide on what course of action was best, Kate ripped the letter in half and left after saying that she had a call to make. As she left, Gido looked unsure what to do, and Ava and Mia who were sitting next to him started to giggle. Alex didn’t get a chance to ask what was so funny as Kate’s mother, Catherine, spoke from across the dinner table.
“So, who is about to feel the wrath of my pregnant daughter and just what did they do?”
Alex paused as he was still careful about just what he let Catherine know, as he wasn’t sure if she was passing information to Jasper, or another. However, this was something that would be public knowledge soon enough, so, with a smile he turned to her and spoke.
“Abysses End seems to think that they can restrain my actions in Eternal Dominion through legal means here in reality. I think it is time that I stretch my muscles and perhaps even engage in tactics that I would normally label as cruel.”
“Interesting. It seems that the powers that be are about to learn that they are the powers that were.”
“Oh, stop it,” cut in Ava.
“Yeah, don’t stoop to their level,” added Mia as she and Ava gave Alex a serious look.
“Abysses End is trash.”
“Don’t go digging in the dumpster just to light them on fire.”
“Instead, light the whole dumpster on fire.”
“Then, if anything remains toss in some nitric acid for good measure.”
“What happened to not stooping to their level?” asked Alex.
“They are looking to profit from their actions.”
“You just want them gone.”
“So, get rid of them.”
“And move on.”
“How I wish it was so simple, but sadly I still lack the ability to remove them completely.”
At Alex’s response to their words, both Ava and Mia frowned as they thought for a second before Ava responded.
“We need to reach tier-8, don’t we?”
“How much longer do you think that will take?”
“That is hard to answer, but my hope is that we can all work towards it as a group and reach it in the next year and a half, if we are speaking about time in reality,” answered Alex.
“18 months.”
“That feels so long.”
“Yet it really isn’t.”
“Especially for how long they have been around.”
“Alright, Alex, don’t do anything for the next few weeks, but this issue is about to be handled,” stated Kate, as she returned, sounding like she was satisfied with whatever had just been decided over her call. Still, Alex pressed for details.
“Define anything?”
“You can plan your actions for when you can move again, but for now, if they somehow launch an attack like the last one when our forces are staying put, well, you should let our members handle it.”
“What about laying groundwork that will ensure that my next move is as devastating as possible?”
Kate thought over Alex’s words before nodding and he knew just what he was going to do.
The rest of that week and the next were spent with Alex enjoying the extended time that not responding to any issues in the war brought him, as it became clear that Kate was due any day. Though she was busier than usual, at least as of late as she was constantly making calls and it was soon clear what she was up to. Each of the calls she was making was to a senator or congressman, as she pushed a bill that declared all those who participated in a war in ED as having accepted any risks involved by doing so. With this, the civil case that Abysses End was behind had been cited as the reasoning. While many debated if the law was even needed, or if it was right for the government to step in before a ruling was passed, others cheered it on. This was largely due to the fact that Alex and FAE had made it very public on every single case that Abysses End was hitting them with, besides the one a judge had finally allowed to proceed to a hearing.
With over half of the world playing ED and the things FAE was being targeted for being part of many MMOs, it was seen as Abysses End being a sore loser. The fact that many had their own experiences with Abysses End acting high-handed with them, didn’t help them in the court of public opinion. Kate was also going out of her way to have a team start searching out the most flagrant actions that Abysses End had ever taken and exposed them. This included having charges filed for anything that wasn’t past the statute of limitations. She had even gotten her hands on a copy of the NDAs that their members signed, and started the process of getting it rendered null and void towards any illegal activities, or reporting of crimes. Alex knew she was pushing to expose the incidence of women being paid off after sexual misconduct. Though she was being careful as only claims that had substantial evidence would have any litigation costs covered by FAE.
Like that, by the time Friday the 21st ended, she’d gotten a bill signed that would soon become law that solved Alex’s problems. In it, it not only made it clear that any wars between countries were to be seen the same as ones in reality, but it authorized any means that a player used, if the country they fought for approved of it, would not be a war crime in reality. The only drawback was that while it made any guild wars similarly sanctioned, it highlighted that collateral damage to those not involved in the conflict was still ambiguous. Kate had lamented that this was left as an unanswered question and the nuclear bomb argument, of saving more lives through its use to end World War II, had failed. As such, Alex would have to take care in any plans to attack Abysses End as while any inside their guild halls could be considered as being involved, any non-affiliated players or NPCs not in their guild buildings, couldn’t. This put concerns over repeating the tactic of lighting their buildings on fire, as it could spread and affect others and possibly come back at Alex and FAE.
Even so, the results of everything that was going on had caused Abysses End to go radio silent, as they hoped for everything to blow over. Regardless, it was clear that they would need to focus on repairing their image, once the scandals that Kate was working to expose were done running their course. The problem was that as much as she wanted to draw those out, the nature of most of them meant that they would need to happen all at once and would likely run their course in under a year. Especially as many of them involved settlements that had avoided court battles before and would at best be used as evidence that Abysses End failed to remove executives after multiple violations.
When Xeal returned to ED on day 170, he was under the restrictions of not getting involved with the war effort and he let the leadership of FAE know the situation. Though, it was easy to use the recent fights as the sudden cause for a new wave of player reinforcements to be sent out, while the current forces waited at the captured forts. Now that both were under Nium’s control, NPCs couldn’t attempt to retake them for at least two weeks and the max NPC rules were applied in reverse as Habia could only field the same amount as Nium there. So, there was a bit of a time crunch at play, as there wasn’t much time before the NPC portion of the force needed to be out of the way. However, there was an easy solution that Xeal was happy to use, as he pulled the NPC portion of Nium’s forces back to a defensible position, that would force Habia’s army to break through other positions that were heavily guarded at this point.
Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly what the player forces of Habia were trying to do, as every single frontline position found itself being tested on that first day. This made it clear that there would be a major push at some point in the near future and Xeal just sighed, as he left what would come next to others as he relaxed his control. Though he felt bad for the monsters that he vented on while exploring the subterranean realm, as they readied for a hard push into their first major dark elf cavern-city. However, that was planned for day 173 and before that, Xeal had a few other things he needed to do.
First on this list came in the morning of day 171, as he was able to set up a meeting with Ellayina Walsh, with the system’s main AI there as well. It was there that Xeal caught her up on the situation in reality with Abysses End and just smiled as she clearly became upset. While she didn’t say anything, Xeal still gave her a moment to calm down and collect her thoughts after he finished relaying things to her. Finally, she let out a breath and started to speak with an even tone.
