It was the fourth anniversary of AAO launching to the
public. Four years I’d been running around through this world, causing havock
and having all kinds of fun. OK, so I’d stayed close to ‘home’ for a while
after the Human-Elf War, because my pets were popping out kids all over the
place. But after some of the kids were born, I’d had to go out into the world
some on diplomatic missions. OK, it was mainly going to the Underdark and trying
to hammer out some peace treaties with the Drow. Since I was one of the few
people serving the Wyrmwood that could walk into drow lands and not get shot on
sight, that made me an excellent choice to help out with such things.
Unfortunately, being a diplomat meant I didn’t get to have
much in the way of epic fights like my first year or so in the game had been
full of. However, that was somewhat mitigated by the fact that I was learning a
LOT about this world, and knowledge was just as powerful as magic (anyone who said
otherwise was lying).
For instance, one of the things I learned was that the
reason I hadn’t been able to complete my quest from way WAY back to return a
hammer to Clan Goldshaper was that Clan Goldshaper was based in the dwarven
kingdom of Throal, which was actually across the sea from the continent I was
on. Well, it might have been like going from Europe to Africa, but I wasn’t
exactly sure on the distances. The only time Goldshapers came to these lands
was as trade envoys, and that didn’t happen often.
The reason I learned that little tidbit is because a typical
greedy dwarf showed up at Lithaes, trying to convince me to give him the hammer
and he would, of course, pass it on to the Goldshapers. Not being an idiot, I
had that dwarf fed to the wolves. Still, it had seemed that the feelers I had
put out were at least getting some attention, so I wasn’t too upset about the
idiot dwarf.
The idiot dwarf’s clan, however, was slightly peeved with
me, it seemed, since the idiot was their clan leader’s son and presumed heir,
or whatever. When I told them that they should be thanking me for removing such
an idiot from their genetic line, they were not exactly receptive. When they
demanded the hammer as recompense, I enslaved them and sold them off at the slave
market in Mylenoris. They promised retribution or something like that, but I didn’t
get the details since I ordered them to remain silent until told to speak.
But I guess that is what led to the situation I was now
faced with. It had started off as a nice, normal day of guild management and
enjoying the bodies of my lovely harem girls. And then a metal clanging that I
swear was loud enough to be heard all the way to Bruca started coming closer.
With a sigh, I had gathered my arms and armor, and gone to the courtyard to see
just what this commotion was about.
Magnus Battleforge
Warforged Dwarf Male
Level 120 Master Ritualist (Wizard) /
Eldritch Knight (Fighter)
Titles: Ritualist, Elf Bane, Troll
Slayer, Orc Bane, Demon Bane
|
A Warforged Dwarf was essentially a sentient construct. Or,
more accurately, the result of some damn fool taking a perfectly good soul and
throwing it into a mechanical body, instead of doing a resurrection or turning
them into undead. Sure, there were some advantages to the ‘living construct’
thting, but you weren’t able to regen HP naturally, and healing magic not designed
for constructs was only half as effective. You had to get yourself repaired,
rather than a cleric simply dropping a heal on you.
That might not sound so bad at first glance. After all,
dwarves loved building and repairing things. But in a battle not being able to
get healing was a big problem. And if there wasn’t the right materials or
facilities to repair you the normal way? Well, there were dwarven ruins from
before the Scourge that had lots of Warforged Dwarves that were still very
alive, but weren’t much of a threat without a couple key limbs. And since they couldn’t
repair themselves… well, eternity as a moving statue helpless to prevent people
from doing what they liked to you just didn’t sound like my idea of fun, honestly.
The warforged coming my way was all kinds of pissed, if I
was any judge of people stomping as loudly as they could while they crossed the
drawbridge to get into the keep. Or it could have been because he probably
weighed four or five hundred pounds, at least. Either way, he was making enough
of a racket clacking and clanging as he walked that I was curious enough to
come out to the courtyard to see what was going on.
When the warforged spotted me, he yelled in a voice that sounded
just a bit fake, like when you hear someone’s voice played over an old tape
recorder, and the speakers give it that bit of distortion that makes the whole
thing sound wrong. “OY! YOU BASTARD! WHERE YOU SEND ME KIN?”
I sighed, and muttered under my breath, “New phone, who dis?”
Yukiko, who was close enough to hear me, started giggling at the words, but I
didn’t have time to play just now. Angry wizard and all that shit.
“Sorry, I don’t recall seeing any metal dwarves come through
Lithaes before. Have you tried Amyaththalas? They tend to get a lot more of the
exotics there, so you could probably find one or two of your kind there.”
“LISTEN HERE, YOU---”
“If you keep yelling, I’m going to get a dragon to melt you
into scrap. I happen to have a couple that I can call on who would be happy to
do this for me.”
The warforged growled, and apparently had lost all patience
with me, because I saw him beginning a spell. Yeah, that wasn’t going to
happen. Springing across the courtyard with a speed that was only possible by
having an effective DEX of over a thousand, I held my twin swords in hand, and
lined them with hellfire, something I had not done in a very long time (hadn’t
had the need, to be honest). Steel met steel, and while Taiyo no Tsubasa did
little damage to the mechanical creature, Munsuraisa’s ability to ignore armor
activated, and did a good deal of damage to the Warforged’s internals. More
importantly, it interrupted the dwarf’s casting as the warforged stumbled back
to lean against the wall.
“Idiot! Do you think I’ve not faced a wizard in so long that
I don’t know how to defeat them? Or perhaps you believed your precious metal
form protected you from the bite of my blades?”
With a growl like grinding gears, the Warforged said, “Ye’ll
not be getting away with this insult, dark one! The whole of the Battleforge
clan will come for ye when they hear of how ye treated their emissaries!”
Lexichan: Zayn, move
to the side, now!
Operating on instinct, I obeyed the command Lexichan sent to
me through the chat interface, stepping to the side just in time for a ballista
bolt to strike the dwarf with a dull metal clang. The impact hit with enough
force that the warforged was completely impaled through the gut (or where the
gut would be in a living dwarf), pinned to the wall like a butterfly in a bug
collector’s display.
The warforged dwarf was NOT in good shape, but it had only
taken about 30% damage or so. Ignoring the dwarf’s bluster for the moment, I
looked at the ballista on the wall overlooking the keep, where one of the
soldiers trained by the Disavowed was standing. I nodded to him, and motioned
for another bolt.
That second shot hit
center mass on the living construct, and clearly hit something vital, as the
dwarf’s hit points fell to just under 25% of their maximum. A truly living
creature, however, would probably be dead, or at least bleeding horribly,
watching their HP continue to fall from the massive wounds, but there seemed to
be another benefit to the whole living construct idea, in that it didn’t bleed.
I snapped my fingers to get the dwarf’s attention, and said,
“Now, I know you come from the Battleforge clan. I also know that the
Battleforge clan has some rather extensive dealings in the black market, and
every source I’ve asked has told me that you lot make the Drow look trustworthy
and honest in comparison. Well, to be honest, those sources had never really
worked with the Drow, so I’m sure they’re overestimating you quite a bit. For
one thing, you don’t appear to have the intelligence to pull off that kind of
treachery.”
The construct’s voice was more like grinding gears this time
than the speaker distortion from before. “Ye fuckin’ bastard. Ye’re already
dead, the lot of ye! The ritual is already complete, just waiting on me to send
the signal to set it off. And if I don’t send the signal to turn it off, it’ll
go boom the moment I stop working.” He coughed, or whatever the mechanical
version of it was, “And don’t be thinking you can use your mental magics on me,
boy. Constructs are immune to that kind of thing.”
“Well, yes and no. Normal constructs are immune to such
things, of course, but your kind, these ‘living constructs’? Ah, you are
susceptible, even if you have some innate resistance.” At the shocked look on
the warforged’s face, I chuckled. “Ah, no one ever told you that? Did you not
research your own condition when you got shoved into that metal body? I guess
even dwarf wizards aren’t too bright at times. Now, lets see about reducing
your resistance.”
I’d extinguished the hellfire on my blades, but now they
both glowed white as I activated an ability that was far more effective for
this kind of negotiation. I lashed out with both blades, Soulbreaker Strike
active. The weapons did not do any HP damage, but they steadily carved away at
the dwarf’s INT, and with it his MP and mental defenses. Oh, the damage would
regen in time (I think it was at a rate of 1 point of INT every 2 seconds), but
I didn’t need to wait.
Once I’d reduced his intellect a good deal, I tried one of
the charm spells I’d learned. It was a simple command-type spell. The victim
would follow one command that could be done instantly, and then the spell was
done. So something like ordering an enemy cleric to heal me was possible but
ordering a warrior to take off all their armor would take too long. For this,
however, I only needed a simple command. “Deactivate the ritual.”
The dwarf, glassy-eyed, complied, and uttered a command
word. I felt the magic flow, and since no magical onslaught descended upon us,
I had a good feeling about it. That feeling got even better when the dwarf
regained his (diminished) wits, and growled, “Ye arsehole! I’ll kill ye for
this!”
I activated Soulbreaker Strike again, and quite calmly slashed
away at the dwarf’s intellect until it had been brought to 0. Reduced to a
mindless husk, the dwarf would serve me, zombie-like, until his INT returned to
normal. I motioned for two of my guards, and they helped to pull the ballista
bolts out of the wall and dwarf.
Darkmore: Lexichan,
tell the shooter that I will be sending a present to his bunk tonight to
entertain him until dawn.
Lexichan: Shall I say
who will be servicing him?
Darkmore: The former
Princess will be happy to service him all night long.
Lexichan: She will,
will she?
Darkmore: Or she’ll
get to entertain her son and her babydaddy. And that will happen anyway if I
get a report that our friend isn’t satisfied with the service.
Lexichan: I’ll let him
know.
Closing the chat window, I turned to look at the warforged
dwarf that was lying motionless on the ground. “Well, let’s get going. There
are preparations I have to make. Stand up, Dwarf, and follow me.”
Mechanically, the dwarf stood, and began clattering after me
as I walked towards the magical research labs.
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X
Into the Black (Sci-Fi GameLit):
Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
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