Chapter 26 - Trade Chat

When I logged off to take care of RL business and edit my videos for streaming, I found that the game forums were going crazy with the recent events. I logged in with my conflict.net account, the same one I’d been using during the WoD days. I hadn’t really posted much since joining AAO, in no small part because back when I first made my account for WoD, I named my conflict.net account I_am_Torgan. Real creative, I know.

Anyways, it seemed that the ‘adventures of Zayn’ were becoming something of a legend on the forums, if some of the popular topics were any clue.

Lv 10 noclass walked into town with HAREM! – Some level 5s apparently spotted him walking into town with the girls, and saw two of them were slaves. There was a lot of discussion, including a report from one guy who asked the guards about it. Which was how people found out I was traveling with two slaves and a pair of princesses.

Harem slaves in Fathon? – More of the same, people watching me as I paraded my girls about town. Also there was a threat from Z.Void to find me and punish me in the name of righteousness, posted just before she came to find me.

DUDE! Check out Chainbreaker vs. Chainmaker fight! – This was one of my favorites. A Traveler had been in a nearby shop and recorded my fight with Zephara in nice detail. A couple mages talked about how I had to be a Reincarnator, to have that skill level. They didn’t know how to do subtle casting.

Chainmaker streams! Sick footage! – Someone found my streams on the pay site (I used a different username there from when I was Torgan), and put up a link. I checked real quick, and I’d gotten a solid uptick ever since that thread.

Chainbreaker really brothel slave! – This one seemed to be a review of Zephara’s ‘services’ in the brothel. She was apparently quite popular with the other players, as well as the guards.

Aww, Chainbreaker’s gone! – Three men apparently came and bought Zephara, and they left the brothel that day. Then I saw a list of people saying that Zephara had killed them. At the top of the list was the guy who gave her that first ‘review’.

First Guild! – Oh, now this was interesting. After Zephara went on her little killing spree, she got enough people together to form that guild. And while there was a lot of ranting about me, and other ‘evils to be purged’, they did respond to questions about how to form a guild. Apparently, you needed at least twelve people to sign the charter, and a hundred gold pieces. Since that was less than ten gold each, that wasn’t too bad. Just needed to go to the City Hall (or local equivalent) of any starter city or capitol to do it. Good to know when I started getting my own guild together.

Scions UNITE! – Aw, this was precious! The little idiots were actually recruiting people, in the name of ‘light and justice’ to form a crusade against me, in the hopes that news of this would reach Torgan, wherever he was in AAO, and he would come to lead them like he had the Lords of Light. I was tempted, so very tempted to comment in the forum there, but this needed to be something I did face to face.

Finally, I saw something that really interested me. An open chat room focused on the most recent announcement. I entered anonymously, of course.

<Anonymous4 has entered the chat.>

Anonymous, Anonymous2, Anonymous5, DeathCaller, Light_Makes_Right, Clarion, l33tPally, Z.Void, Killjoy, Dragonborn, Ocarina, Bercilac, Raunaeril, Lexichan, CookieCrisp, Darksider are in the chat.

DeathCaller: How did that bastard get a knighthood so quickly?

l33tPally: hax! Hax! Hez haxxor for realz!

Killjoy: He obviously had a quest involving those two Princesses he walked into town with.

Ocarina: Where’d he meet them? They were smoking!

Dragonborn: I got the story from the guard. Zayn rescued them from cultists that were going to sacrifice them. That’s where he got his two slaves, too!

Darksider: How’d he manage that on the first IRL day?

Anonymous4: The tutorial scales to match the skills of the player.

Light_Makes_Right: Wait, you’re saying that he got a badass quest chain straight out of tutorial?

l33tPally: HAX! Gotta be hax! No one’s that good!

Anonymous: Guy’s probably Reincarnated. You give up your WoD toon, you can get OP fast, from what I’ve heard.

Anonymous2: No way, there’s people who actually did that? How could you give up all that work?

Lexichan: Some did. I can confirm that 80% of the Lords of Light have Reincarnated.

Z.Void: Wait, you’re Lexichan, the ranger from LoL, right? Can you get us in touch with Torgan? We need him to lead us in this new world!

Brecilac: The Guild Master isn’t a pet to come when called.

CookieCrisp: He always came when I rang the dinner bell.

Lexichan: GODS came when you rang the dinner bell!

Z.Void: Fine, we’ll find him the hard way, and get him to make us the top guild in AAO, and purge the evil from the land. In the name of Torgan!

<Anonymous4 is now I_am_Torgan>

I_am_Torgan: Thou shalt not take my name in vain.

Raunaeril: And the lord speaks!

Lexichan: Was wondering how long you were going to hide before appearing on the forums again.

Brecilac: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I’ve had to deal with Raunaeril all by myself!

CookieCrisp: Have you been eating well?

Z.Void: Please, Torgan! There is evil in AAO! We must purge it! Starting with Zayn!

I_am_Torgan: Yep, I was busy in game. Lots of craziness.

Clarion: Did you really reincarnate?

I_am_Torgan: Yes. Though I decided to use a different name this time. I had sixteen years of Torgan, and it was time for something new.

Brecilac: I’ve got a feeling…

Lexichan: Oh boy.

CookieCrisp: Hehe!

Z.Void: What is it? Can I send you a friend request?

I_am_Torgan: The name is Zayn Darkmore.

l33tPally: WHAT?

Darksider: LOL!

Light_Makes_Right: HAHAHAHA!

Z.Void: NO! How could the hero of WoD be that villain in AAO? I won’t believe it! Don’t worry Torgan, we’ll save you!

<Z.Void has left the chat.>

<Anonymous is now Tauriel.>

Ocarina: So, you decided to become a villain for this game?

I_am_Torgan: Yep! Been having a ton of fun, too. And Yes, Cookie, I’ve been eating well. I took a cooking-related Quality as one of my qualities when I reincarnated.

CookieCrisp: Oooh! What is it?

I_am_Torgan: How To Serve Women. It gave me the Dolcett Cookbook.

CookieCrisp: *DIES*

Raunaeril: Only you…

Lexichan: Hehe.

I_am_Torgan: Oh, and Yukiko is with me, too. I’m thinking of putting the band back together. But instead of Gospel, we’re going Metal.

Brecilac: Oh-hoh! That’s what I’ve been hanging out here to see!

Lexichan: You’re in the Wyrmwood, right?

I_am_Torgan: Yeah, gonna hang out here, and build up for a while. If any of you guys can make it to Wyrmwood, shout. We get 12, and I’ll start the guild again.

CookieCrisp: So, what about the Scions?

I_am_Torgan: Oh, Z.Void and company have a few things to learn. Level up, gear up, skill up, and then we’ll do them worse than those scrubs in Demonfang!

I_am_Torgan: Now, I’m out! Spread the word to the other Lords: If they’re going darkside, come to me. If they’re staying lightside, well, no hard feelings when we crush you.

<I_am_Torgan has left the chat.>

With that, I left the forum part of the site, and began checking the auction houses. I would be grinding skills for a while, and that included trade skills. If I could sell things through the auction house, that would be awesome. After a bit of description, I was pleased to see that the auction house on the site was linked to the one in the game, and covered all realms. Auction houses were located in each capitol city, but the winnings (either in gold or items) came to you directly, minus the auction fees.

I was also happy to see that they’d decided to leave real-money transfers out of the game, at least for now. Sure, I was OP, but I’d earned that with Torgan. That was sixteen years worth of investment right there! Some prick just starting out but using daddy’s money to buy the equivalent of Zayn really pissed me off.

Before logging off to go get some food IRL, I grinned, and sent a message to Brecy and the others. If we didn’t meet before then in game, we’d meet in September, at DragonCon. That gave people time to adjust schedules, and to find costumes, if they wanted. Mark didn’t have talent as a costumer, but thanks to advancements in technology, he was able to send a render of Zayn to a costume shop and they were able to quote him a price on the costume, makeup, and prosthetics. A quick check of the balance said that the streams had been doing really well, so he hit Buy. This was going to be awesome.

(Elsewhere)

They gathered in a warehouse in the capitol of Ograin, Duskhorn. There were fifty of them. Some Travelers, some freemen. There were even a couple escaped slaves. In the candlelight, they knelt, side by side, dressed in robes of white. Before them was an altar, behind which was a statue of a man, twice living size. This was the being they called to, they prayed to. The one that would save them, save the world. The one that would purge the darkness that had seeped into every corner like a cancer.

Behind the altar, a woman appeared. Once, she had been lovely, with long red hair, and a face that would make men swoon and women green with envy. Now, her hair had been cut close, leaving her with a boyish looking cut. Her face was marred by scars gained during her time in the whorehouse. If one could see under her white robes, more scars would be crossing her back, and there were garish piercings in both nipples and one between her legs. She could have used the magic of travelers to restore themselves after death to remove most of those problems, but she chose to keep them as a sign of her resolve. If one used observe on her, they would see this:

Zephara Void Human Female Level 20 Flame Sorceress Titles: Chainbreaker, Former Slave, Broken One

When she had been freed, her ‘Slave’ title had changed to ‘Former Slave’. During the days of confinement and rape, somewhere around the 100^th customer, she had received the Broken One title. She hated to admit, but even now, it felt odd not having something inside her. She knew the feeling would fade in time, but still, she hated it. She especially hated the fact that the title came with a permanent -25% debuff against Charm spells. She would be weak against one of her greatest enemy’s strengths. She would have to persevere. The light needed her.

Looking over the people, she began speaking. “Listen to me now, people of the light! Through our magics, we have discovered why our lord has not come to join us in cleansing this land of its blight. A portion of his essence has been chained within a Traveler in this world, corrupting him!”

She paused, and said, “We must find the one who has corrupted the Lord’s essence! If we are to succeed in purging the corruption of this world, we must first purge the corruption of this Traveler. We must free the essence of the Lord and purify it, with light and flame. We must cut down the creatures around him, who have helped in corrupting the Lord’s essence!”

“The rot has grown deeper. The Enemy of the Light, this one who has blighted our Lord’s essence, has taken refuge in the elven kingdom of the Wyrmwood, and is corrupting their leaders, turning them against the Light. Already, we have received notice that some amongst us are to be slain on sight by the elves. This is a sign, my brothers and sisters! The Enemy knows us, and is afraid! That is why he hides, and gathers his defenses. BUT IT WILL AVAIL HIM NOT!”

As she spoke, her tone rose, until now she was speaking loudly, almost yelling, and the candlelight shone red in her eyes, or was that some magic at work?

“WE ARE THE SCIONS OF TORGAN! WE ARE THE BEARERS OF LIGHT! TOGETHER WE SHALL PURGE THIS WORLD OF ALL THAT SULLIES IT, AND A PURE WORLD WILL RISE FROM THE ASHES! FROM THE RUIN OF THIS WORLD OF SIN, WE SHALL BUILD A WORLD WITHOUT SIN! IN THE NAME OF THE LIGHT! IN THE NAME OF TORGAN!”

“BY THE FIRE BE PURGED!”

And the crowd answered back, “BY THE FIRE BE PURGED!”

Sub-Class Unlocked! Due to player actions, a Sub-Class has been unlocked, and forcibly chosen. Terror Cultist You seek to summon a being from beyond this world to purge it of corruption. Through great sacrifice, one might push open those doors, if one has the strength of mind and body to do so.

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