Chapter 3
An: Pardon, this chapter is a splurge but any long time reader of mine would know of my three chapter curse. Anyways, I consider this an improvement over the last fic I did. Also, does anyoner find the recent FanFic app update for iOS confusing?
There was an unmentioned expansion released during the twilight years of the game. One that garnered as much ire as it did exhilaration when it first came.
It was here that one of the last power guilds were formed. Despite being manned by a mere four players, it was safe to say that there was exceptional reason for the guild's survival and even blatant strategic value.
To understand the nature of the guild, it would be best to begin with its four founding, and only members.
Osma Alexander. The name christened for a human avatar in the world of YGGDRASIL. Originally, it was just Alexander; after the famous Macedonian king that conquered a large portion of the known world. The player behind the avatar, at the time, was but a mere boy just into his adolescent years and yearning for some form of escape from the distressing reality of his life.
Over the years, he'd build up a decent reputation in the game as a reliable fighter for hire. He'd take quests like any player, but the catch was the rewards of said quests would go to someone else in exchange for other items or, better yet, knowledge on the game.
Knowledge was power, so guard it wisely.
That was the exact term coined by a vet sometime into the games 5th year. It was part of a guide put together for newbies after the game's community saw a steady decline of active participants due to the steep learning curve and brutal PvP player base. The guide, along with a community funded recruitment drive, was successful in saving the game from dying out prematurely in what would become one of the longest living MMORPG's of the modern era.
Anyways, information was akin to ambrosia in YGGDRASIL. It was taboo to share too much knowledge lest it was turned against them, yet it was almost demanded that people hand over what they knew. This, in return, sparked countless wars on game forums as players traded crass wording and empty threats at one another for even a sliver of information.
It was admittedly a major downside in his opinion. Granted, not even he was stupid enough not to keep a few trump cards under his sleeve but he was more than willing to part with whatever tid bits of advice whenever possible. It helped that he was often found helping low-levelled players regardless of race.
Time passed, and eventually he reached the peak of his character's performance. However, depending how one looked at it, his character's build was an absolute waste in the eyes of the gaming elites.
It-a human originating from Midgard- consisted of various Job Classes that were almost randomly earned without extensive thought put into them. Most of them were never fully developed, having been chosen to fill in the gap of whatever problem needed solving, and also for pure practicality of the situation in the case of magic. This resulted with someone being at Level 100, but fighting like a Level 80; meaning he was considered the bare minimum of what max level players could do.
Yet, despite this, he didn't waver. Not even when the number of defeats he'd suffered began piling up. Or whenever he found himself dying to blows his peers are more than capable of shrugging regardless of their roles.
Instead, it was around this time he underwent his own 'personal' quest. With the help of a long time acquaintance, he travelled all the Nine Realms of The World Tree in search of the materials to craft a unique World Item unlike no other.
It was also during this time, he met the Minotaur player who would later go by the name of Gugalanna; the divine bull of Mesopotamian mythos. During this time, he merely went by the name Bighorns and was regarded as a well-known bully in-game whom loved exploiting Player Killing to its fullest. The number of dark activities he was accused of doing nearly got him banned permanently from the game many times, but the lack of action on the Devs part became a major source of controversy.
Despite the number of enemies he had made, the Taurus didn't relent even in the face of threats to his real life. It became wildly speculated the reason for his callous disregard for his safety was because he practiced the same actions in-game in real life as a thug for hire. A theory that was unknowingly spot on.
However, like all things, there was a time when karma came to strike him when he least expected it. In this case, it was when his private data got leaked out to the public by a former hacker that had grown sick of his tormenting. A month later, he was confronted by a group of players led by a well-known, and dangerous underworld leader whom had been looking for Bighorns for a while.
The leader threatened his safety and for one of the rare moments in his life, the player felt fear grip him in an icy bind. Their plan was to PK him using a special admin tool stolen from the game files. Said tool had been modified to unleash a virus that would worm its way into his Personal Dive Platform and reprogram it to sent a lethal shockwave to fry his brain.
Of course, when faced with such a situation, it would make sense that Gugalanna quickly attempt to log out, but his assailants were one step ahead and had temporarily bugged the game to disable the player log out. What followed was the longest twenty minutes of his life as he was forced to defend himself against twenty or so players, each of which had their characters specifically oriented to killing his chosen race.
The battle ended when they were able to paralyse him using a combination of spells and poisons. He'd managed to kill half his opponents which was a testament to the lethality of his character and his own desperation. Yet, there he found himself laying flat on his chest, and a boot on his snout.
Time seemed to slow as he remembered the knife with three blades come down on him, only to come to a halt when an icy halberd came out of nowhere and nearly impaled the man's chest. His saviour then battled the remaining hostiles in a clean ambush that saw one running and the rest dead.
Shocked at how fate once again threw another curve ball at him, he didn't think of moving until much, much later and by then the stranger had left. However, he wouldn't forget the player's deed and how he unknowingly stole him from death's embrace. Hence, he proceeded to spend around two months out of the game cleaning up his mess and putting down the people who wanted him put down.
It proved to be a much more complicated process, even for a veteran thug like him whom had his fair share of connections and ways around the criminal world. He would lie when asked, but the 'adventure' he had made him realize just how far down the rabbit hole he'd fallen which was why he retired from the thug life for good and moved a state over before logging in once more.
His disappearance over the two months had been met with a fair amount of joy in the Mid-Level playerbase. The now former thug had been tempted to ruin their fun with a surprise but decided against it when he realized how it'll drag him down under once more. So obviously, he changed his name instead to HornBig; a clever deceit that worked amazingly enough.
The hunt for his saviour proved to be a difficult one for sure. The player, a human, was mentioned to always be on the move and how he was on a quest to find what he was told was a 'non-existent World Item whose specs defined its bullshitter-y'.
That through him into a loop. For one, it made sense a high level player would be looking to gain a World Item to further augment his already monstrous strength, but to go looking for something whose existence is questionable at best and nil at worst was a cause of question of ones priorities.
Still, he opted to take this as a challenge and soon enough he was able to corner the object of his search in the fiery realms of Muspelheim. The human player had been scared out of his wits at his sudden appearance, having spent the better part of an hour fighting of an NPC ambush he'd triggered by accident. From the get go, it was clear to the brute that the human player was one of those types that couldn't hold his own when faced with the unexpected but nonetheless did admirably enough against four High Tier enemies. The incident served to elevate his saviour into the top ten of likeable people. Even more so when it was clear from his less than friendly attitude that he was still willing to fight if not simply out of spite for a no good day.
Naturally, as a person who regularly got into fights, he also knew how to defuse one as well. That being, through the offering of a wide selection of items he'd procured in his hey days. One of which was a High Tier Scroll that proved very important to the Human Fighter for enhancing his current gear further.
The player introduced himself as Alexander and the two eventually got along well. It was also not long after that the Taurus was given a simple explanation behind the logic of his newly acquired 'friend' and he had to agree with where he was heading.
The item, as a matter of fact, was several Rare items combined into a single mantle. The items in question were the Ten Rings of Solomon, a Divine-Tier Scripture of Power and a kilograms worth of Purified Bark of YGGDRASIL. The first two alone were next to impossible for the former required one to beat the boss with the same namesake either solo or- more realistically- be the last man standing, whereas the latter was something rarely found in some of the worst public PvE areas in the game.
Then, the bark of the World Tree, proper, could only have its tainted version harvested once every year, at the same spot located at the farthest corners of the game in a place actually thought of by the community as a myth.
These were but a mere third of the materials required in the making of the item. What felt like an eternity but what was in reality a solid three years worth of grinding, relentless dogma and sheer will power finally paid off despite the cost. The stress of said venture became evident as Alex had his hair greyed considerably the day after the World Item was forged.
Now, and forever more, the place of that item lays on his backside; hung over like the mantle it was and secretly covered by the much larger capes he always wore at all times.
The Mantle of Might.
The name of the name horrendously downplayed what it was capable of. The reason for this was how the item behaved which was to say it provided both passive and active boons at all times and for almost any situation respectively. Yes, it was an item so broken one might say, that he once had a thought of just how much such an item could sell if lesser versions were manufactured en masse.
Least to say, he didn't have to worry about the fights he engaged in for the rest of his days.
Except for that one time, a year later, when the last expansion for the game was released. Most probably out of desperation, the Developers had released a large portion of their unfinished in-game projects and junk that never made it into the game which included quests, NPC's of varying types and behaviour as well as other things.
Needless to say, it worked just about as well as a yard sale except all the items were all beyond obsolete and ranging from unimplemented ideas to unfinished models.
However, out of all the useless junk that came out in the expansion, there was one that truly caught the eye of the player base. This being, a city that appeared in Midgard.
There were many cities scattered all throughout YGGDRASIL. From the grand golden towers of New Asgard to the foreboding, Gothic buildings of Niflheim, these cities were for the most part neutral in standing and cannot be controlled by any player faction to avoid further complicating the already overtly difficult gameplay. Dungeons turned Guild Bases were an entirely different thing as the they were numerous and all of which had varied from one way to another, ensuring that everyone had equal chance so long as they planned carefully which one they wanted.
As this had been the norm, it became a surprise to many when the newly appeared Lumnos Iova was announced to be a Dungeon-Type area. It was admitted to be intended by design for conquest back during the Alpha Version but the game testers then criticised the sheer unfair advantage one would have outside of combat alone when owning a city which led to the plan being scrapped and replaced with additional dungeons.
The week after the city appeared, a large force of players were assembled to explore the newly appeared 'City Dungeon' as it was called. Theirs wasn't so much as a blind run to the boss room as much as it was figuring out the layout first.
They came prepared, but apparently it wasn't enough.
The first area they entered was a large open space with 70 metre walls blocking all line of sight. Almost immediately, they were beset by undead and dark beasts of the mid-tier type. While easy, the concern amongst the veterans was how much more tenacious the AI was. Many noted how the undead fighters utilized effective dodges and switches in-between strikes to great result. When voiced, many of the younger members merely brushed off their concern and continued pressing on, laughing all the way.
But by the end of that month, no one was laughing, especially after the fight with the city's version of a Floor Guardian called a Quarter Ruler. The full day long fight saw players coming in and out as the group fought to take away every sliver of health from the boss.
After that, it was unanimously decided to call-in for more support. This proved to be a rightful choice as the other three quarters each proved worse than the last. It would seem that as part of this one, last attempt at garnering attention, the Developers had pulled out all the stop signs and went ham on the difficulty scale with smarter AI's, higher NPC stats and worse of all terrain hazards.
This campaign lasted close to half a year. It proved successful, somewhat, as figures in the community thought to be long gone suddenly reappeared after hearing the commotion from old friends and comrades and opting to see what the fuss was about. Chief among these celebrities was the legendary Ulbert Alain Odle. The brief appearance of the World Disaster was a sight for sore eyes for the raiding -now campaign- group as they were on the verge of loosing against the final Quarter Ruler. Had the defeat been allowed to happen, then the resulting fallout would've been disastrous.
Admittedly, most would wonder how a prominent heteromorph player could simply waltz into what was effectively a small, well-coordinated army without once being a victim of Player Killing. The answer was, shockingly, that those part of the campaign were coerced into accepting a number of rules, one of which prohibited PK'ing as the risk of jeopardizing oneself and the overall campaign was far too great.
It was during these times that Alex and HornBig-now going by Gugalanna- would meet with the third and fourth members of their little guild. These two in a sense completed the dysfunctional relationship they had as well as solidify their social standing in the game as somewhere between tryhards and lore freaks.
The first was an Elven Sage by the name of Zaltarish. He was considered extremely eccentric even by the standard of other lore enthusiasts. His character is what he describes as a 'mysteriously dynamic leader of the chosen ones'. Any further explanation than that would only result in a headache for the listener.
Another thing he claimed was that he was trying to create attain a brand new Job Class that had never before been seen by anyone, not even the Developers. His reasoning behind this was that he believed the game's systems actively created new things based on the habits or actions of the users which was why there were so many Jobs and Skills to learn.
Obviously, this was met with varying responses from an uproar of laughter to a questioning of the elf's own sanity. Of which, it would seem the player was hardly deterred.
However, it couldn't be denied that the man was VERY creative with the assets at his disposal. Rather than learning all of the best spells his build could offer, he instead focused on discovering as many spells as he could cast and then separating them into various groups each of which provided a multitude of different outcomes depending on the situation.
There were the obvious ones such as creating a tornado and infusing it with lightning, and then there were the really creative ones such as using a silencing effect from a stasis spell to mask Explosive Detonation Magic for a brief period of time long enough to allow a buff spell to take effect and multiply the damage.
What's better was that Zaltarish wasn't stingy on the knowledge either. Anyone could use the spell sets so long as they had the means to do so. Even Alexander wasn't left out, as he had his fair share of spells he learned to categorise following some explanation from the elf.
They encountered the player by chance from taking a request from the player notice board in camp. He had been asking for extra muscle to explore the first area where his intel suggested good loot had been behind by the campaigns initial sweep. The search was fraught with trouble in the form of NPC's, the traps that seemed to be placed in every nook and cranny, the lack of safe zones which required the group to actively trek for long hours and finally the occasional wandering mini-boss as part of the Halloween occasion that they had to avoid at all cost lest they be slaughtered.
When they DID reach the area of interest, proper, they were in fact jaded enough to not be surprised when a mini-boss did appeared from within the tree. Their only saving grace was that the opponent had been hinted for a very long while in the form of the NPC's which the elf proactively pointed out. The boss was eventually defeated in a combination of two spellcasters and their DPS main, that being Alexander and their employer using debuff spells to keep the boss' movements slow enough so that their Taurus friend could pummel away at his health.
To summarise the incident after, the boss was fell and good lot was obtained for the elf. The human and his heteromorph companion were given collateral for their efforts in the form of the surrounding graveyard which served as the boss arena. From digging, they found plenty of gold and jewellery along with a few weapons to be either dismantled or sold. The profit of which, would serve as a capital for their guild's growth.
Afterwards, the party would split off as Zaltarish had other projects to attend to, but he admitted that he was so amused by their little group that he promised to appear for when they were ready to take the final boss. A statement that was met with indifference from Alexander and some annoyance from Gugalanna.
The fall of the final Quarter Ruler a month later would be met with much excitement and vigour. The Primordial Golem had been a nigh unstoppable foe, and only through numerous long-ranged probing attacks did they eventually find weaknesses that allowed them to sneak in a few players within the monstrosity and destroy it from the inside out.
But it was what was left behind by the boss that mattered. That being, a special teleportation item. It was a modified version of a common yet high-tier teleportation item. One that allowed players to teleport into the heart of the Megaregion. Such items had been dropped from all the previous bosses, and were essential in the logistics and transportation capacity but if it was one thing that bothered most players at the time was how they couldn't teleport to the inner circle that
All in all, many would attribute what became to be known as the Last Adventure as a final hurrah in an old game's twilight years. Inevitably, with the campaign's end, many players once more retired. As a matter of fact, in a twist of irony, there seemed to be even more players leaving the game, most of which felt content for having that final journey and fulfilled wish to play with their close friends over the years.
The memories of that night outside the tower had proven to unforgettable. An army from all walks of life and beyond, from human to fawn and angel to demon, they all gathered at the base of an apparently gargantuan tower that widened the further one went up, as if the whole place had been built upside down. Connecting the tower, was an equally impressive spiral that served as a path leading to the top.
It was here where their final challenge lay, and he was named appropriately even if it was stolen from an older work.
Hastur, the King in Yellow
Nothing, and nothing at all prepared them for the fight of their lives. The eldritch monstrosity went through four forms and each offered a near different set of challenges. Starting from a robed humanoid sitting on a throne and ending with a form barely resembling anything other than a black mass of thorned tendrils with a passive Mad debuff that Alexander wasn't sure himself wether it was ONLY affecting the player avatars.
The campaign at the very beginning had a number of 1500 players present at any one point of time. The number that had participated in the assault was around 1200 players. 300 less than the invasion of Nazarick but that didn't it wasn't any less intimidating as the army consisted of mixed races whose Racial Traits and builds would complement the other in eclectic fashion.
Accounts from the few ex-military players present mentioned how the whole thing had felt like an actual combat operation. As not only were they fighting to win, but the fact was each of the players present were working with a limited time of four hours for the average player, against a boss that was noted to embody aspects from all four quadrants. Once killed, players would have absolutely no chance of rejoining the fight as the entrance had been sealed and guarded by high level NPC's requiring at least party level coordination and function. Admittedly, in real life, the developers would be in for the PR of their lives as messages would constantly barrage their report logs from player demands. Hence, it was a fight where people were pitted against extraordinary odds and with no support aside from those present.
And in spectacular human fashion, the instinct of fight was ingrained into every soul present. By the end of the second phase, everyone had gotten into gear and the commanders were able to bring their troops to bear.
It was upon the third hour did the boss perish. Piles upon piles of broken equipment and a few bodies lay scattered all around the platform. It was hard to say even amongst those present just who exactly landed the killing blow as at the time, the only ones present were Alexander who threw his last steel spear, Gugalanna who was charging horns first right through a shaft of light, Zaltarish casting a lightning spell whose damage had been bloated to the extreme using buffs and last but not least, the dwarven craftsman whom had only a high tier crossbow he picked up at the last moment from the ground.
Four players out of an army four times their number. Four warriors whose sole reason for survival was because they were lucky enough to not succumb to madness or killed by one of the many ways the boss had to throw at them.
Four upstart lords whose existence would be owed to the first king whose rule they would never question.
What happened next was jarring. The moment their attacks connected, the king died with nary a sound, but before the anti-climatic situation could be felt, the tower came crumbling down right below them. The players gathered at the base were all killed with the collapse, and the only reason for the four's survival was because of an in-game script.
In the months that followed the campaign's end, there was much talk about what had happened. Streamers present at the event were able to record the whole engagement, and for a brief while people actively analysed the outcome of the battle with detailed breakdowns on how it may have turned out better. However, the real questioned remained.
What was the reward for clearing the city?
Their first clue should've been when travel to the city was made impossible due to a barrier that was erected from the moment the tower crumbled. Any player not killed in the structure's collapse was teleported outside the walls.
The second, and more obvious clue, was about a week later when a new guild emerged. It surprised a number of old players that someone was still willing put in effort of making their own name somewhere in the Nine Realms, especially this late into the game's life cycle. It didn't register to most just where the guild was founded until about half a day later.
That being, inside the city that many of them had tried so hard to conquer.
The next day, the weight of the whole situation finally settled, especially with the city being renamed into Lumnos Iova; meaning Bright Pledge. The situation achieved a mixed bag of responses. Some were in celebrations that their efforts on that day weren't in vain. Others were furious as their untimely demise meant they were left out of the spoils of war. Then, there were those who merely observed and awaited for the oncoming opportunities to exploit.
It was agreed upon that weekend that all the players that had participated in the raid would gather to search for a way of entering the now encased city. They would attempt to establish contact with the guild within and get answers as of what happened after the boss was defeated.
However, this was not meant to be. For one, old grudges resurfaced amongst the larger factions that had spared manpower and resources for the campaign, and each claimed that they were owed a larger portion of the city's resources. At some point, the free players got involved as the guild leaders started throwing money their way for support to their cause. Eventually, the moderators and former campaign leaders lost complete control of the situation and a full on PvP war began for who had the right to proceed.
It would be on the third day of the war when the barrier that isolated the city from the outside world finally collapsed, like a bubble bursting in slow motion. The few survivors of the conflict stared in fascination as the object of their reasoning for violence was finally unveiled.
….Their confusion was apparent when it was revealed the place had undergone drastic changing.
Back then, the walls that surrounded the city were dark and foreboding, with vine-like tendril growth accumulating at the base and creeping upwards like veins near the protruding on a skin. The interior had fared worse as it was filled with ruins that had been swallowed by more of the vines and the streets and pathways still apparent were difficult to make out even in daytime. Each of the four quarters, repeated the same design but varied according to their respective bosses.
In comparison, the current architecture was vastly different. Each quarter had a different design to them. One looked very human-esque with the addition of overlapping extensions on the walls to provide extra defences. Another appeared to be made of enchanted steel and had been said to have runes glowing brightly as noted by specialists on the topic. The other two appeared to be the same stone walls present from the original but had massive plant growths in the form of a giant tree and overgrown bramble respectively.
It made for an interesting site, but what was more exciting for the time was the opening of the first quarter's main gate.
From within, emerged four figures. A knight, a dwarf, an elf and a Taurus. Each of the four were of notable status in the community so it was surprising to see the four here and coming out of the formerly inaccessible city.
The talks that followed was even more interesting. The four players explained that with the death of the city's ruler, the tower that had once stood tall and malevolent at its centre collapsed into the earth below. They had only survived due to the event being scripted hence their avatars suffered practically no damage from the sheer drop.
It was there did they also uncover their main reward for completing the Unfinished City. A power source of awesome potential; potential that was deemed to have been wasted.
The Hearthstone as it was called supplied everyone-both player and NPC alike- with passive buffs in the form of slightly higher than average stats such as increased toxin resistance and equally larger vitality. However, this value was indirectly proportional to the number of both player and NPC present, and even then the buffs gained from there only being a single player was calculated to be laughable in comparison to World Items and Divine Tier equipment.
Aside from that, there was the mana source that the Hearthstone provided, which was considered to be far too simplistic and ineffective unless one invested heavily into runes like the city's resident dwarf player did.
To summarise, the reactions of the player base was by no means avoidable, much less repairable. Many of the remaining players left the game in bulk after that, their determination over the last year or so spent and whatever sense of accomplishment they had wasted.
In the end , the Lost Legacy Expansion-as it was officially called- was a disappointment. One that led to the game's inevitable shutdown a year and a half later as the average player population per day plummeted to only a few hundred hardcore players.
Nonetheless, this proved to be fortunate for the members of the guild-simply called the Confederacy-that held ownership over the city. The limited time they had was spent in customising each of the four quarters to their most niche taste. No longer did the interiors house foreboding ruins with dark groves surrounding and even at times overlapping the remnants in certain cases. Now, they were home to the races that resided in each quarter and held the necessary infrastructure and complimentary logistics and economy to sustain their day to day lives.
And the reason that such expansion was possible was in no small part due to the legendary craftsman present amongst the four players that ran the guild.
Ptavastarsis was a name derived from three different deities of smithing and crafting. Unfortunately for the player, however, the name was truly difficult to enunciate hence the much shorter but more approachable nickname 'Vas' or 'Vastar'. The dwarven player had earned his reputation as a respectable figure head in the crafting and smithing subsection of the community, especially after winning the title of World Maker in the Tournaments.
As part of the winning prize, he was given the World Class kit called the Ebony Forges. The information on these forges was kept zealously hidden from prying eyes and whispers from the rumour mill suggested that the forges could craft any number of items and materials even those pertaining to World Class items. Knowing this, it was understandable just why one would go through extreme lengths to hide such game breaking artifact. This was supported by the fact that Vastar had never unpacked the kit until, of course, he joined the Confederacy albeit it wasn't like he had a choice considering that the way the Devs had implemented the endgame mechanic which more or less roped him into the merry band that was him and his 'fellow' Confederates.
Within the two weeks they spent confined within the walls, the four players pooled together their resources into building their newly acquired lands. The construction progress of which was exponentially accelerated thanks to the aforementioned forges that the dwarf was begrudgingly coerced into using for their use.
In time, news of the 'foreign city' soon spread across the player base. Many attempted to visit the place in hopes of answering their curiosity or furthering their private agenda, but were soon dissuaded. Mainly, because the area surrounding the city was an active battleground for almost three months.
Other powerful guilds coveted the unknown strategic value of the city. They each sent their own agents to try and appraise the full potential it offered, yet they would only find a sense of emptiness from what they found. The place lacked any particular economic boon that would've been expected from a major commercial centre in no part thanks to the aforementioned battle zones taking place. Aside from the obvious self-sustaining nature, the lack of manpower coming from a guild consisting of four players meant that there was very little in the way of colour and aesthetic as well as unique resources brought in.
In the end, everyone involved would simply choose to give. The Unfinished City indirectly winning from having done nothing but observed the chaos that unfolded beyond its walls. All parties that had thrown their lot in came back with less than they had start with, and more than a few shouting matches had occurred in numerous guilds behind closed doors.
It would be on the first day of the fourth month, that the emblem of the guild be raised and banners lowered from atop the city's walls. A quite declaration was made to all that despite the bizarre incidents that led to its founding, the city of Lumnos Iova is held under the ownership of the Confederacy, and that no external parties-with intent of harming the dwellers within-were allowed to enter its gates. This declaration would hold until the end of the game; lost amongst the many other things in YGGDRASIL's shutdown, which became one of the greatest controversies in the dystopian future of humanity.