Dark Omega: Shadow Puppets, page 34
By the time Carn’s marked foe and rally cry ended, the beast only had a couple of tentacles left, so Carn analyzed it.
Elite Noh Abomination
Level 125
HP 84,119/298,000
“Keep it up, everyone. It’s almost down to quarter health.”
As the attacks piled on, the creature grew more sluggish until it emitted a powerful roar that pushed the frontline attackers back. The abomination gave off an ethereal shimmer before ghostly appendages sprouted from its stumps. It renewed its attacks with vigor.
“These tentacles are immune to physical damage,” someone called out at the front.
“Focus all physical attacks on the main body. Defensive magic users, block those tentacles,” Carn ordered.
“Cast any magical buffs if they are off cooldown,” Lina added.
The guild’s lines adjusted, and the battle continued. Carn placed a gravity bubble over the portal. This slowed incoming attackers so he could target them with his projectiles. The rest of the battle lasted less than a minute. The abomination twitched and jerked, then fell silent.
“Wolf Pack and Glam focus on the creatures coming through. Everyone else, attack the portal pillars,” Carn yelled.
The guild chipped away at the pillars until the portal finally closed. A cheer erupted from the players, especially when they realized everyone participating had received a new title.
New title gained for being the first group to defeat a creature over level 100. Champion Slayer. +2,000 fame, 40 endurance, 20 luck, and 20 willpower.
Willpower Boon 1 - For reaching 100 raw willpower, your willpower modifier is 50% more effective when calculating whether a spell or metal compulsion can be nullified by the target. You are 25% more resistant to mental manipulation.
War leader has increased to level 7. Your maximum war party is now 175. You have three war party points to spend.
Knowledge sharing III (3 points) – Increases experience gain for each war party member by 15%
Conditioning II (2 points) – Increases defense for each war party member by 10%
Siege – Increases attack against a fortified enemy by 10%
Mobility – Increases traveling speed by 10%
Carn selected knowledge sharing III and watched as the rest of the portal was deconstructed. He gained another level. Now that he had wisdom covered, he placed his new points into endurance. They tried to preserve parts of it for study, but Carn was determined to ensure it was never activated again. Carn didn’t want to see what else was on the other side. He supervised the effort, then had the pieces transported to Gnosticarium for study. Inside, Carn chastised himself for not destroying the portal sooner. He worried about what else he may have forgotten. Which mistake would come to haunt him later?
***
Carn was back in the workshop, building more turbines with a team of crafters, when Sparky announced, Good news! Elder Junca, leader of the city of Oglu, and the Heek tribe from the city of Grembar, have joined the Fey Consortium. We are just waiting on the last two cities, Yenkol and Wongu.
Did they accept all the conditions?
Yes. They are sending two-thirds of their army to join ours as Kalug did.
We will have to get them equipped. I believe we depleted the armory in the tunnels. The city armory still has some equipment remaining, but we will need to recruit more smiths and crafters to outfit more soldiers in the coming weeks.
I’ll put it on your list, Sparky said with a laugh. We also need to travel to Oglu to set up a fairy ring. By the way, corruption is down to eight percent now.
I’ll send the Harbinger to the cities so Blossom can set up the fairy rings.
With the addition of the goblin cities, we now have enough professionals to complete the next chain quest.
Chain Quest: Building an Empire (6) completed
Recruit or train professional crafters.
Difficulty: Moderate
Success Condition: Recruit or train citizens who are level 30 or above in the following skills: smithing, engineering, construction, alchemy, leatherworking, weaving, carpentry, and runecrafting.
Fail Condition: None
Reward: Gain 2 guild perks
New Chain Quest: Building an Empire (7)
Your capital is in a stable state. Now it is time to reach out to others and enter the world stage.
Difficulty: Difficult
Success Condition: Complete the diplomatic wing of your palace and establish your first embassy.
Fail Condition: None
Reward: Gain 3 guild perks
While Carn liked the training 1 and hybridization 2 options, he didn’t want to be a despot, so he sent the leadership a message about the guild perks to let them make a decision. The only thing he did was remind them that the marketing option was off the table.
Two guild perks available:
Mentorship 1 – Experience gain by all members increases by 2%.
Training 1 – Skills increase 4% faster for all members.
Hybridization 2 – Allows up to 20 NPCs to participate in the guild chat. The role cannot be reassigned unless the NPC perishes.
Marketing – The guild treasury can be used to purchase marketing services, such as sticky world chat guild posts, sponsored ads, and more.
Allies 1 – Allows for the creation of an alliance between up to 3 guilds.
Carn spent the rest of the day on the turbines. The repairs to the other airships were well underway, so the pressure was on to maintain a steady supply of the powerful gravity engines. By the end of the day, he’d raised his engineering skill four more levels to 15 and mana sense one level to 14. Happy with his progress, he gave Sparky free reign to do whatever he wanted.
Chapter 39 – Captured Attention
Wayne woke up and did his stretches. He posted the video of their fight with the abomination and linked to it on their recruiting thread.
He caught Brad and Todd at breakfast, so they finally got to catch up on things.
“Our contact let the king know that you wanted to visit. Despite your level of fame, the king has not granted you permission to enter the city yet. I imagine this is just a political move.”
“Understandable. We are still building up our fleet and waiting for the goblin cities to join us, so it will be a few more days at least.”
“Gotcha,” Brad said. “I still have much to learn at the academy. I want to finish up my current courses before visiting Grovehaven.”
“You can easily transport back and forth while the Harbinger is in the city, using our fairy rings.”
“Do the rings make you feel queasy like the portals do?”
“I haven’t experienced anything. I am a fey creature, but none of the others related any difficulty.”
“Interesting. I’d like to study these fairy rings.”
“Study them all you want, but don’t publish your research. Keep it for the guild only. I consider the magic of the rings one of our most important strategic resources and a state secret.”
Brad shook his head. “No worries. I get it. You don’t want anyone discovering a way to hack your ring permissions, do you?”
“Exactly. Some rings leading to sensitive areas are locked down. Even the most basic rings require you to be a member of the Fey Consortium to use them.”
“So,” Todd said. “I heard the news that the Wyrm Knight's presence in Stotford suddenly decreased. They were raiding towns and villages around the area. The king there set a large bounty on Ruepathian’s head, but yesterday, the attacks stopped, and no one has seen their guild members around there.”
“Do you think he’s pulled out of Stotford to put more pressure on us?”
“Exactly. We should prepare for a big attack.”
“I’d like to know how he’s getting people on our continent. Did any of your sources say if he has an airship?”
“No. Airships are pretty rare. Most travel by portal and few use them in combat because it's easy for high-level mages to take them down.”
“Ours aren’t. We’ve eliminated some of their weaknesses. So, you think they are traveling by portal?”
“That would be the most logical. Maybe they found one in abandoned ruins somewhere.”
Brad snorted. “Portals require a mage on both sides to coordinate the mana flows and establish the connection. If they are using a portal, there’s someone on the other side working with them. You’ve seen their players with the goblin attacks, so it is probably in one of the cities.”
“The goblins I’ve talked to say that there aren’t any portals in the cities.”
“Maybe they built it recently,” Todd suggested.
“I’ll talk to Uglov, the intelligence commander, to get more spies into the remaining cities. We’ll see if we can find their players.”
***
Carn talked with Sparky when he logged in. Sparky spent the evening trying out new spell combinations. He didn’t learn any new spells, but he increased his mana sense by two levels. A third goblin city, Grembar, had joined them. Blossom set up a fairy ring, so Carn traveled there to promote their elder to a Fey Consortium baron. After that, he returned to Grovehaven to meet with Senwick.
“We have finished the repairs to the housing districts. Much of this work was done by those living in the buildings once the materials were made available,” Senwick explained.
“The work teams are busy building out the food factory. We had a full moon last night, so I used the fey building flute to speed our progress. We’ve had a significant influx of goblins from the coastal towns, so we are still struggling to keep up with housing demand.”
“Are any of these immigrants builders?”
“Yes. We have pulled them into existing teams to help with further construction.”
“I see you have it well in hand. Thank you for the update.”
“My pleasure, Sire.”
***
Sevelle loosed the final rope attaching her to the wall. She couldn’t sense anything because of the sack over her head, so she had no idea if anyone was watching her. Acting quickly, she ripped the sack off and tacked the first elf she saw.
Her two guards were playing cards when their captive slammed into them. Sevelle stole their knives and got a few cuts before she had to back away as the other guard swung at her. She danced around their attacks, slowly wearing them down with a stab here or a slash there.
The first guard fell as Sevelle stabbed her knife underneath his chin, up into his brain. She kicked the other guard’s leg, snapping it at the knee. His cry of pain was turned to a gurgle of blood as Sevelle slashed through his neck.
She quickly released Arametha’s bonds. They found their weapons stashed in a chest. After looting the rest of the place, the two left to scout the rest of the city. They might as well bring back some intelligence.
***
Carn was meeting with Uglov at the command center when a messenger came in.
“Your majesty, commander, I bring news from Kalug. Elder Hubbek just informed me that the goblin cities of Wongu and Yenkol have refused to join us. They have taken several gnolls and fairies prisoner and demand that you relinquish your rights to the coastal region around them and vow never to raise arms against them in return for the prisoners.”
Carn didn’t want to risk the prisoners, but he couldn’t allow enemies to remain within their territory. “Bring Vect and the commanders here. We have a city to capture.”
The messenger ran out to follow his orders and Carn sent a message to Gilvester to join them.
“Based on my intelligence, Wongu should be our main target. Yenkol has long followed in Wongu’s shadow. If we defeat Wongu, Yenkol will likely surrender,” Commander Uglov said.
“That makes sense. We need to understand its defenses. When can we expect to hear from your spies?”
“There is a scheduled pickup of information at a dead drop outside the city tonight.”
“Very good,” Carn said.
Carn sent updates to the guild chat, letting them know the situation and that they were planning an attack. Soon Gilvester arrived, taking his seat at the table.
Last to arrive was Vect and the commanders.
Carn stood at the head of the table, eyes roaming across everyone gathered there. “We gave them the carrot. Now its time for the stick.”
Chapter 40 – Counter Offer
Players gathered around the palace, chatting about the upcoming battle. Spirits were high after the battle with the abomination. Many were eager for another big event. Carn and Gilvester talked with individuals and groups, gaining a better understanding of their capabilities and soliciting ideas.
Lina placed a hand on his arm and he met her eyes. “Sevelle sent me a message. She and Arametha are free. They are in Wongu and she has important information to share.”
Carn smiled. “I’ll message her a location fifty miles outside Wongu. I was planning to send the Harbinger there any way to stage our forces. Now we can pick her up too and debrief.”
“Excuse me for a moment,” he said to the other players. “Lina and I need to coordinate our airship for the assault.”
Carn and Lina transported from the palace to the Harbinger and flew to the bridge. Captain Yentel was reviewing a report when Carn stepped in.
“I assume Vect informed you of our assault plans, Captain?”
“Yes. I have been briefed. Also, its admiral now, sire.”
“Oh, yes. My apologies, Admiral Yentel. How many ships are staffed and ready?”
“Six ships had been repaired so far, one battlecruiser, the Odyssey, two cruisers, Voyager and Phoenix, and three destroyers, Ironsky, Skylark, and Celestial.”
“Excellent. We have someone two people who will be meeting us outside the city. They have vital information for our attack. Please set a course for these coordinates at maximum speed.”
Carn share his map marker with the captain. “How fast can we get there?”
“It will take a little over three hours, but we will need to let the grav turbines rest for at least twenty minutes in Oglu before traveling again. It will take longer if we bring the entire fleet.”
“Head out now, but have the rest of the fleet follow. Message me when you reach the coordinates, but stay high above the clouds. I will fly down and pick up our spies.
“Right away, your majesty.”
“Where to next?” Lina asked.
“We have another informant to meet,” Carn said mischievously.
***
Carn and Lina paused outside the prison fairy ring. There now was a wall and a solid metal door between the ring and the rest of the complex. A goblin and a gnoll sat behind an enchanted crystal window, watching them.
“Who should we try this time?” Lina asked.
“Pandemonium was a bust. What about the rogue, Nemesis. He is the lowest level of the bunch.”
“Got it.”
Carn waved to the guards. Shortly thereafter, there was a click and grinding noise before the doors opened. A hobgoblin met him at the door. Carn scanned him to learn his name was Zak.
“We’re here to see the prisoner, Nemesis.”
“Right this way, sire.”
Carn observed the changes as they walked through multiple enchanted gates. The walls had been smoothed out and crystal lights installed.
“You’ve made quite a few changes here, Zak,” he commented, noting that Zak was level 32.
“Each prisoner is now in their own room, branching off from this main section. That keeps them from chatting with each other. The rooms are walled in with enchantments installed behind the stone that set their bind point to the cell and restrict access to messaging functions, movement and teleportation skills.”
Zak gestured at a large crystal set in the center of the space. Steel bars and a layer of enchanted crystal mesh surrounded it. Lines of color dashed up and down the crystal as they watched. “This crystal is coded for each prisoner. It affects only them, suppressing their mana and stamina. They had each of us guards go through the experience to know how it feels, and, believe me, it was very uncomfortable. My energy was completely tapped. I remember collapsing in a haze. Once you get used to it, you can function, but not very well.”
“I appreciate your service.”
“It’s a good job. I worked in the police force at Kalug, but the pay is better here and I get to join the leveling trips through the caves.”
“Glad to hear that, but I feel a little bad for poaching you from the Kalug police.”
“There were no hard feelings when I left. Here is the cell,” he said, gesturing to a solid wood door, unlocking it for them. “I’ll be just outside, your majesty.”
“Thank you,” Carn said, entering the cell with Lina. Zak closed the door behind him.
Nemesis sat on a cot. It was clear that he was mentally and physically drained. Steel bars separated them from the prisoner. Nemesis’s eyes were full of hate and sadness. He looked pitiful dressed in starter clothes.
Lina raised her wand and cast charm on him. A few seconds later, Nemesis’s look of hatred disappeared, replaced by awe.
“You don’t need to keep me locked up in here. I would never harm you. I would do anything for you. Please let me out of here so that I can serve you,” Nemesis pleaded.
“You can serve me best right where you are,” Lina said coldly, without emotion. “Tell me why you are here and how you got here.”
“We were initially sent here to kill the Fey Consortium leadership, destroy the tree, and take the city. When we failed at that, reinforcements were sent, but it was still not enough. Our orders then changed to do as much damage as we could to your infrastructure and people.
“How did you get here?”
“We arrived in Wongu through a portal.”
