The Guild
August 25th, 2075, 16:23:
“And here I was thinking you’d need my help,” said the PK assassin as they seemed to materialize between the two larger PKers.
“For what? The added difficulty of protecting your flabby ass?” said the dual axe wielder.
“Oh ha ha funny guy,” said the assassin as he walked over to the pit trap and dropped two green glass potion bottles into it. A moment later there was the crash of broken glass followed by shouts of surprise as green flames began to lick up the sides of the pit. “That’s four for me.”
“Those don’t count,” said the axe wielder.
“Why not? I killed them.”
“They couldn’t fight back. It’s like counting your meat ration as a kill.”
“I agree with Shady on this one,” said the heavily armored PKer, motioning at the axe wielder.
“Of COURSE you would,” said the assassin with a sad shake of his head. “You warrior types are all the same.”
“Hate to interrupt,” said the false mage as he stood over the last remaining member for the raid party. “But would you all be so kind as to zip it and come over here.”
The three other PKers walked back around the pit to join their comrade, surrounding the lone assassin as his eyes frantically darted around in search of a way to escape. Seeing none he instead began inspecting his attackers. Their names hovered slightly above their heads, each with the same clan tag. The assassin (PK) Dominator, the dual axe wielder PK Shady, the heavily armored PK Lord, and the man standing over him PK Slayer.
“Hi there,” Slayer said crouching down in front of the assassin.
“Go fuck yourself,” spat the assassin.
(PK) Lord stepped forward, raising his massive greatsword above his head, only stopping when Slayer raised a hand. “Easy Lord,” he said calmly. “No need for violence. I’d be aggravated too in his position.”
Lord froze in his tracks, then took a step back “… As you say sir.”
“Sorry about him,” Slayer said to the lone survivor. “He can be a little prickly.”
He just glared up at Slayer from his back, holding his remaining dagger with a white knuckled grip.
“Anyways,” said Slayer in a casual tone. “Would you like to make a deal mister Trenco? Am I saying that right?”
Trenco let out a short, unamused laugh. “A deal? With the PK Clan? You must think I’m an idiot.”
“On the contrary,” Slayer said sheathing his shortsword. “I think you’re smart enough to at least hear me out before you resign yourself to death.”
“… I’m listening,” Trenco said untrustingly.
“Well the deal is quite simple. While killing you would be better for XP, it would also mean that we would only get a third of your loot. We had honestly been hoping for a few more of you to make it out and with that new update its important we make this raid count. So, if you drop half your loot, you can be on your merry way without having to wait for the respawn timer or losing all of your loot.”
“Don’t try anything stupid,” growled Shady. “We know how much there should be.”
Trenco looked nervously between the four men, realizing that any of them could easily kill him before he even got to his feet. “… How did you use my dagger like that?” he asked. “You shouldn’t have been able to deal damage with it until you equipped it.”
“A good question,” Slayer said, with an almost excited smile. “You see, you remember those starting skills you get to choose when you first make your character? You chose Step of the Wind tight? The one that lets you run without auto breaking stealth?”
Trenco nodded.
“Good choice. The thing is a LOT of assassins choose it because it’s great against monsters, so you learn to expect it in the PK business. Anyway back to your question, I chose Quick Equip. It allows me to equip weapons by picking them up instead of having to equip them in the menu.”
He did not remember seeing that ability, but why would he? The game already allowed players to equip four weapons at a time. It seemed like a waste when there were things like Step of the Wind, Quick Charge, or Shadow Step.
“So, do we have a deal?” asked Slayer holding out his hand.
Trenco pondered his position before letting out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Deal.” The two shook hands and Slayer helped pull the man up to his feet.
“A good choice,” Slayer said, giving the man a pat on the shoulder.
With a wave of his hand, Trenco opened up the game menu and began scrolling his inventory to find the necessary items and a moment later three burlap sacks materialized and plopped onto the ground.
“There.”
(PK) Dominator walked up and rifled through the bags before giving Slayer a thumbs up and taking the bags into his inventory.
“A pleasure doing business with you mister Trenco,” Slayer said stepping to the side so that Trenco leave. “May our next meet be better terms.”
“May we never meet again at all,” Trenco said only just above a whisper as he walked passed Slayer and between Shady and Lord.
“Alright,” Slayer said clapping his hands together. “Time to get-”
He was interrupted by the distinct sound of a greatsword slashing into someone and a body slumping to the ground. Slayer looked over his shoulder to see Lord standing over a freshly spawned burlap sack.
“Lord…” Slayer said in the same disappointed tone as an exasperated parent.
“What?” Lord said defensively. “He insulted you, insulted all of us. He did not deserve to walk away from this and make a profit.”
“Lord, I gave him my word, we had a deal.” Slayer crossed his arms as he looked up at the much taller man. “If word gets around that I break my word at the slightest provocation then my word will end up becoming worth less that spit.”
“If word gets out about this then I will take the blame.”
“And how will you convince people you’re not acting on my orders.”
“Because you wouldn’t order me to, and I wouldn’t if you had.”
“Yes but how would they know that?”
“They… ummm.”
“Do even know why my word is important Lord?”
Lord thought for a moment then shrugged.
“The peace between us and the other PK guilds is still shaky. It only works because they trust me as the PK Clan Guild Master. We might be the strongest PKer guild, but things are a whole lot better now than back when we were all at each other’s throats. Think about how much time and resources we saved thanks to the info the PKChu guild gave us for this raid.”
“They only told us because they weren’t strong enough to do it themselves.”
“You weren’t around before the guilds started talking,” Dominator said as Shady lowered him by rope into the pit. “Back then they would have just let this opportunity slip by or tried it with too few people.”
“Or they would have tried to hide the raid so no one else tried it,” added Shady.
“Either way, they still wouldn’t have bothered now if they thought we were a bunch of ass holes?”
“… Perhaps not.”
“Good enough. Next time just like lunge at him to scare him.”
“Yes sir.”
“And why do I have to tell you every day not to call me sir.”
“Force of habit.”
“You two mind hurrying up?” called Shady. “I ain’t doing all the work alone.”
“What am I? Chopped liver?” called up Dominator.
“On it,” Slayer said looking up at the digital clock in the upper right corner of his vision. He winced as he saw how late it was getting. “Okay, we’ve got about an hour before the update, we can make it back to town in about fifteen if we gallop on road. After the update I gotta log off, I promised my siblings I’d join them for dinner.”
August 25th, 2075, 16:58
The sight of the PK Clan castle always brought a smile to Slayer’s face. Like many other guild halls it had started as an unassuming shack, theirs positioned at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Now, after a year and a half after its creation, it was a super-sized castle with a forty-foot-tall outer wall with two guard bastions to either side of the massive solitary entry archway equipped with an iron portcullis.
As their horses trotted up to the castle a bell began to ring, announcing the raising of the portcullis. New recruits patrolling up on the ramparts looked down at them, some of whom waved as they approached. Slayer and Dominator waved back, but Shady and Lord remained stoic, a look easily achieved by Lord, whose face was impossible to see behind his helmet.
As soon as they were within the castle walls a half dozen voices called out to them.
“Welcome back sirs.”
“How was the hunt?”
“Did they drop any good loot?”
Before long they were surrounded by almost twenty people shouting questions and complements up to them. This was a relatively common occurrence with Slayer being the Guild Master, and Dominator, Shady, and Lord being the top players in their ever-growing guild.
“Alright out of ma fuckin way ya wee cunts,” shouted a gruff voice from behind the crowd which immediately disbursed to let a heavy-set man through. He had long wispy hair which at this point only grew from the sides of his head while the top was completely bald. “Ah, I see ya brought back all of ‘em ’is time.”
“Good afternoon Alastor,” Slayer said as he dismounted, and handed him the reins to his horse. “And yes, I still have my perfect record with your beautiful horses.”
“Aye yoo,” he said and pointed a finger at Lord. “E’s lost more eh tha beasts then tha rest eh yous combined.”
Lord shrugged. “People get scared when they see me charging in and they shoot them out from under me.”
“Ye know what ye should do then? Maybe stop riden’ ‘em directly at yer foe and carry a fooking shield.”
“There not real horses Alastor,” said Lord crossing his arms.
“Nawt real horses?!?” Alastor threw his hands up in indignation. “Ya know if yer just gon view tha world like that, then fuckin nothing ere is real and we should care about all o nothing shouldn’t we?”
Lord was quiet for a long moment before he shrugged. “I have no idea what you just said.”
“Just give me the horses ya cunts and go inside.”
“Aww you don’t want some company?” said Dominator, handing over his reins.
“No.”
“Fair enough.”
The four men made their way through the twenty-foot-tall dark oak double doors into the inner keep. The stone halls of the keep were warmly light and spacious with long ornate carpets of all varieties of colors and designs stretching across their lengths. The walls were decorated with numerous pieces of artwork, tapestries, and decorative weapons.
While beautiful, the halls were not easily navigated. Some of them came to abrupt dead ends while others wove together creating a maze-like interior which could easily confuse someone should they enter without a map or someone who knows the path.
As they walked through the halls Slayer noted that the normally bustling halls were eerily silent.
“Bunch of people must have gone to town for the patch note announcement,” Dominator said either noticing the same thing or the way Slayer was looking around.
Slayer nodded. “Yea probably.” The nearby town of Madegburg had more than its fair share of bars, all of which would be livestreaming the update. “Let’s just hope they don’t get thrown out again. Have we heard any word from the other raid groups?”
“I haven’t heard anything,” Dom said with a shrug.
“I’m sure Jixnin will have a report for you in the dining room,” added Lord.
“Of course, he will,” said Shady. “He’s a reliable little nerd.”
“The best,” said Lord with a hint of pride.
“I just hope they all get back in time,” Slayer said as they came upon the double doors to the dining hall. He pushed the doors open but froze as soon as they opened a crack as he saw the large, normally well light room was pitch black. Before he could question anything the three men behind him pushed him through the slightly opened door as it flashed to life, blinding him as he heard a dozen loud pops throughout the hall.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” cried a chorus of voices in unison.
When his eyes adjusted, he saw that the room was absolutely packed with at least a hundred people in the large dining area, and another fifty or so up in the balcony while a large banner hung on the far wall which read Happy Birthday Guild Master Slayer. In the center of the room, on the raised platform where the guild leader’s round table sat, four of the five guild lieutenants stood with drinks in hand raised in welcome to them.
“To Guild Master Slayer!” shouted Jixnin, his voice echoing around the room. He was a tall but almost looked emaciated with how skinny he was, with short black hair and sky-blue eyes. “Without whose tireless work and dedication, many of us would be barely scraping by, and many more of us would be stuck in the monotony of normality.”
There were shouts, cheers, and the clinking of glasses as everyone in sight took a large drink from their glass.
“Speech!” someone shouted from within the crowd. A shout that began to echo from a dozen different voices as it worked its way through the crowd.
Slayer smiled and waved at everyone as he walked towards the central table. “I could have sworn I told you not to tell anyone,” Slayer said to Dom out of the side of his mouth.
“I didn’t,” he said with a mischievous smile.
Shady gave Slayer a pat on the back so hard it nearly knocked him off his feet. “I did,” the large man said joyfully.
As they reached the table Jixnin handed him a tall glass filled with a dark ale.
Cauldron was a marvel of modern sciences. By interrupting most of the brain’s neuro output to the body it allowed the user to move their virtual body as though it was their own. Not only that but the system could send signals directly to the brain to allow the user to experience the world around them. You could taste the food, feel the wind rustle your clothes, even get drunk.
The Guild leader’s roundtable, along with every other table in the hall, was covered in a veritable feast of food and drink stretching from end to end. Still instead of speaking from beside the table, Slayer jumped up onto the table as he always did when it was time to address the room.
“My fellow PKers, if you will indulge me for a moment,” he said before bringing his glass to his lips and chugging the entirety of its contents. “I’ll make this quick because I know you all are just here for the food. When Shady, Dominator and myself started this guild a year and a half ago I never would have imagined I would be standing here today before such a wonderful assortment of ass holes and brigands. I hate to contradict him, but Jixnin has it backwards. It is because of you all, not me, that we stand here atop the mountain of guilds, PK and standard alike. Let us not spend tonight celebrating me but celebrating what we have made together. So, eat, drink, and be merry or I swear on my sword, I’ll kill you.”
The room erupted in applause and shouting once again as the everyone found themselves a seat at one of the many tables. Dom handed Slayer another glass as he hopped down.
“Good speech,” Dom said as he took his seat to Slayer’s right.
“What can I say, I’m a master orator,” Slayer said taking another large sip.
“Wasn’t that the same speech you gave last year?” asked Shady who sat to Slayer’s left and had already began digging into a whole roast chicken.
“Not exactly…” Slayer said fidgeting slightly as he sat.
“Oh yea how could I forget that you didn’t use the word brigand or call out Jixnin.”
“…”
“The amount of time since we started the guild changed too how could I forget that.”
“…”
“Last year you also couldn’t down the glass in one go.”
“ALRIGHT I GET IT! I’ll have some new material next year.”
August 25th, 2075, 17:25
Slayer had made three rounds of the room talking and joking with the partygoers as they came and went. Now the vast majority of those who remained were so inebriated walking in straight lines had become an impossibility, and songs of merriment rang through the hall. Slayer, Jixnin, and Dom were a few of only a handful of people who were not among those completely wasted. A fact which greatly upset Shady, since it was after all Slayer’s birthday.
That is until two of the more braggadocious recruits decided to draw a chalk circle and issue an open bare-knuckle challenge. Since then most of the room had been focusing their attention on Shady, Lord, and one of the Lieutenants Hardra taking control of the circle, drunkenly throwing around anyone foolish enough to challenge them.
Hardra was a massive man, easily the tallest and widest of the entire guild, though him, Shady, and Lord had the same strength stat. He had a tangle of long red hair which coupled with his long unkempt red beard gave him look like the Viking version of Cousin It.
“So,” Slayer said turning to Jixnin. “How did the other’s do in their raids?”
“Mmhm,” said Jixnin, clearly so distracted that missed the fact that Slayer had even asked him a question.
“Hey, Jixnin,” Slayer said nudging his shoulder.
“Hmm? OH! Sorry!” he said his cheeks turning crimson. “What did you say?”
Slayer turned his head and followed Jixnin’s line of sight to a table just off of the raised platform. At that table sat a solitary woman in shining plate armor with shoulder length curly brown hair sharpening a long arming sword with her finely polished helmet sitting on the table next to her.
A devious smile came across Slayer’s face, and he turned back to Jixnin, who turned his head to avoid the gaze. “You know staring at her from a distance is kind of creepy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
Dominator looked over and chuckled. “Look, buddy, Jix, my man, just tell me this, do you like her?”
“Artimeter is a wonderful Lieutenant and our most effective leader under you two, Shady, and Lord,” he said not turning back to meet their gaze.
Dominator leaned forward and shook his head. “You know that’s not what I meant Jix.”
Slayer leaned back in his chair and smiled. They were both right. Of the five Lieutenants, Artimeter was the one he personally trusted most. She was smart, organized, and efficient. If there was ever anything of import that he or his three Generals could not handle, she was the first one he went to. Jixnin had also head over heels since the moment they met.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Jixnin said playing ignorant.
“Then let me put it a different way, do you care for this girl? Want to be around this girl all the time? Does she give you the warm fuzzies? Do you trip over your words when she looks at you with those pretty green eyes?”
Jixnin remained turned away, but his cheeks reddened even further. “What does it matter?”
“Because if so, you need to put on your big boy pants and go talk to her!” Dominator said hitting his fist against the table.
Jixnin took a long sip of his drink. “Look it’s not that simple…”
“It couldn’t be simpler!” he said with an encouraging smile. “Just be yourself.”
“… What if she says no?”
“You can’t let the fear of rejection stop you Jix. We’re in a video game after all. Just go over there, tell her how you feel, and if she says no, which she won’t, then we will drink until you can’t stand.”
“So, about three drinks,” added Slayer.
“You know,” Jixnin said completely ignoring Slayer’s comment. “You’re right. I can do this. It’s fine. What’s the worst that could happen?”
As he was about to stand up, they all looked over to see that while they were talking one of the many drunken party goers had found his way over to her table. They could not hear what he was saying over the noise of the party, but it was clear the man was flirting with her.
Artimeter did not seem to be paying much attention to him though as she inspected her blade and sheathed it before standing up. She seemed to be about to leave when the man said something that gave her pause.
“Uh oh,” said Slayer.
From their angle they could just see the corner of Artimeter’s mouth turn up in a friendly smile and she leaned over the table getting very close to the man’s now triumphantly smiling face. Then in a flash of movement she scooped up a steak knife from the table and jammed it through the man’s hand to the hilt, pinning it to the table.
The man cried out in pain and tried fruitlessly to pull the knife from his hand as she scooped up her helmet and moved to join them up at their table.
Slayer and Dominator both looked at Jixnin who had gone slightly pale after watching the whole exchange.
“… I’m sure it will go better for you,” Dominator said encouragingly.
Slayer and Jixnin both turned and looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“What,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve got a good feeling about it.”
“… So,” Slayer said turning back to Jixnin as Artimeter joined them, taking the seat next to Jixnin. “How did everyone else’s raids go today?”
“Mine went fine,” said Artimeter as she propped her armored boots up on the table.
“Yes, Artimeter suffered zero casualties and was able to collect twenty-percent extra loot than projected.”
“That’s great, and the rest of them?”
Jixnin paused. “Want the bad first or last?”
“Let’s go with last.”
“Alright, then Black-Sword lost ten-percent of his forces and managed to collect approximately four-percent more loot than projected.”
“Where is he?”
“He had to return to town to finish selling everything before the patch. Hardra unfortunately suffered forty-five-percent losses but also collected all of the projected loot.”
“What happened with his team?” asked Dominator in concern.
“We had predicted the raid team would make it out with far fewer members than they did. That was my fault sirs.”
“Oh wow, you miscalculated one of five encounters,” said Artimeter sarcastically. “Guess you’re fired.”
“Not until he gets at least two wrong at once,” said Slayer patting Jixnin on the shoulder.
“According to the teams report Hardra does deserve some recognition. When they saw the enemy numbers, he charged into them and caused mass chaos with his usual antics.”
“I think you might be giving him a bit too much credit,” said Artimeter. “He probably only charged in to hog the XP instead of properly leading his troops.”
“Perhaps,” Slayer said rubbing his chin. “He is very skilled though. If I had been in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t have been able to salvage the situation with might alone.”
“Good thing that’s not what we pay you for,” said Dominator. He poked the side of Slayer’s head. “We pay you to use this little noggin right here.”
“Anyway,” said Slayer. “I think it would be best for Hardra to be paired with Lord for the next raid. Hardra respects him, and Lord needs to work on his troop coordination.”
Jixnin pulled out a notebook and took a note. “You got it sir.”
“And stop calling me that. What about Needreve?”
Jixnin stopped writing suddenly and fidgeted in his chair slightly like a teenager who had just been asked where they were last night. Needreve had been the one lieutenant missing at the beginning of the party and was yet to show himself.
“Listen you already said you would end with the bad, I just need to know how bad.”
Jixnin took a deep breath. “He suffered ninety percent casualties in the battle… and one lost due to friendly fire.”
“To what?” Slayer asked, his tone sharp.
Dominator winced. He knew how Slayer felt about in party fighting, and it was obvious from Jixnin’s discomfort he knew as well.
“Apparently during the battle Needreve missed a shot aimed at one of the enemy frontliners and hit one of his own.”
“Needreve doesn’t miss like that,” Slayer said leaning forward in his chair. “Who was it?”
Jixnin flipped open the menu and scrolled through his inventory until he found the report. He scanned the document for a moment and winced. “… GingerGreen.”
“Of course,” Slayer said throwing his hands up in exasperation. “That was no missed shot. Do me a favor, when you log in tomorrow schedule him to come see me around 11.”
“Will do si-Slayer.”
“Nice recovery,” teased Artimeter.
“Did he at least get all the loot?”
“We know a few of the enemy raid teams escaped, so it will likely be below projected numbers… However, I don’t have the full report yet. Needreve left the remains of his party to do the looting and selling. They should be back within the hour.”
Slayer closed his eyes and put his face in his hand. “Do we know if GingerGreen is here?”
Jixnin flipped through the game menus again and shook his head. “He respawned but he apparently went out to help the party with selling items.”
“Good lad,” Slayer said standing up. “I’ll have to talk to him tomorrow as well. For now, I should make another round of the party, then I should be going.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Dominator, standing from his chair.
“Thanks Dom.”
As they were about to set out, the sound of a church bell rang through the halls, cutting through the cacophony of noise, bringing the room to complete silence. A bell icon appeared at the top of Slayer’s vision, which he reached out and touched before dragging it across his vision until it was in front of the far wall. When he released the bell, the far wall came alight as though the wall itself had become a massive TV screen.
A man in his late forties appeared, dressed from the waist up in a tailored black suit and black tie. On his lapel was a pin of the Cauldron game logo, a sword crossed with a double headed axe and a cauldron with bubbling liquid in the background. The man had blond hair with hints of grey slicked back like an old timey greaser, and a well-groomed beard which framed his perfect smile of shining white teeth.
“Good evening, Knights, Lords, Ladies, and Others of Cauldron,” the man said in a smooth deep voice.
It was time for the patch notes announcement.
WAMM 