Chapter 21

Paladin

The morning had arrived, I awoke refreshed and renewed. After having a quick breakfast at the cabin I said my goodbyes to Komhether and Sebastian. I was not expecting to return before I left the city, and it was with a sad smile as I left. I hoped the guys would do well in the upcoming conflict I believed was on its way. War was coming to the game, and I was not sure how it would impact NPC or players.

I metamorphosed and flew off towards the city, the fog was still thick on the ground and hid everything under a grey cover. Landing on the beach near the docks I called Krusty forth and watched as he rushed over to me and began to dance back and forth, I could feel his happiness at seeing me. Reaching down I scratched at the base of his eye stalks and was rewarded with what sounded almost like a cat’s purr.

“Well my friend today is the start of a few busy days, and then we travel, seeing new sights and experiencing new things, I hope we are ready for this,” I spoke softly my voice fading into the mists. “You go play in the ocean I will call you when I need you.” Giving the 4-foot crab another scratch I stood and watched as he skittered into the ocean. Once he was gone from the view I turned and practicing my stealth technique I slowly made my way to the docks and from there to Mecha’s orphanage.

Arriving through the mist I knocked and waited for a couple of minutes. My patience was rewarded by the door being opened by a young lad, who stared at me for a minute. He finally spoke, “Master Torn, if you would follow me Master Mecha is waiting for you.”

Walking behind the young boy I was led deeper into the building finally stopping behind a door that led to a lower level. The boy I had followed had already turned around and was leaving, clearly, he had no interest in what was happening. Shrugging I opened the doorway and descended the stairs, going through a small passageway I entered a long room and observed Mecha and Kamasut standing near the far end.

As I Walked towards the two of them Kamasut spoke, “Welcome Torn.” Turning to Mecha, she said, “Old man I told you he would come, you owe me five gold.” Reaching out her hand towards Mecha she waited as he fumbled trying to dig for coins from his belt bag.

“What the hell.” Mecha grumbled, “I know I had some coins here,” then stopping he looked at Kamasut and shook his head. “I see you have already paid yourself on winning the bet.” With a sigh, Mecha looked at me and said, “This is what happens when you train your best student and give her all the skills of a master thief. She comes back and robs you blind.”

Seeing Kamasut giggle I smiled and reflected that it was not that long ago I had rescued her, it was good to see her happy. Looking at Mecha I allowed a frown to appear and said, “Old man you have put me into a difficult position. I have goals to accomplish and now I won’t be able to achieve them.” Seeing Mecha about to speak I held up my hand and stopped him, then speaking slowly I said, “Listen, I am serious, this is really going to interfere with my plans, and while it may benefit you and the King I could give a rat’s ass about the Kings problems. In short old man you have screwed me and now I am going to return the favor, what’s in this for me?”

I watched as Mecha glared at me, I glared back, my glare won, my eyes were glowing with the Dragon fire behind them. “No bullshit old man, if I do this it won’t be for free.” Mecha continued to glare at me and then with a sigh glared at Kamasut and then glared back at me. I glanced at Kamasut noting that she was trying to hide a smile and not succeeding very will. I gave her a quick smile of my own and then looked back at Mecha as he began to speak.

“Alright, we will come to an accommodation with you, what do you want for your troubles?” Mecha asked with a grimace. “I will open up the thieves’ treasury and will ask the King to do the same, but be warned, once we are agreed on this it will be a binding oath for you, Torn. You will serve the King as his Eyes and Ears till I say you are done.”

“Not a chance, you old reprobate, I will give the King one year of my time and for that commitment, I will take one item from your vault and one from the King’s vault. If this is not acceptable then we are done, and I will be leaving.” Having spoken, I sat back and waited as Mecha began to turn red and stutter and then start to pace back and forth. Glancing at Kamasut I winked and watched her smile at me, she was remarkable attractive when she smiled.

When Mecha spoke I could almost hear his teeth grind together as the words came out. “Fine you thieving bastard, truly you belong with us, come we have much to do and not a lot of time.” Kamasut and I followed Mecha out of the room and down a passageway and then through three sets of locked doors that were also spell warded. We finally entered the vault and I stared at all the items in wonder, treasures from all over the world was displayed on shelves and on tables. The back half of the vault was an armory and I made a beeline there, I needed weapons and armor more than treasure.

I stood back in amazement as I inspected weapon after weapon, all the items were blue or purple grade the only problem was that they all required a higher level than I had. “Damn,” I swore, “Mecha I want a scalable epic weapon with great stats that will level with me. What do you have?”

Mecha looked at me and sighed, “Come.” He said and then going off to the side he approached a small table that held a set of vambraces and a chest piece along with gauntlets and leggings. I quickly inspected the gear and saw that it was epic and scalable but was locked to Ranger class. Mecha meanwhile ignored the gear on the table and opened up the second door, reaching in he pulled out two maces, both epic and scalable. Inspecting the weapons, I saw that they were tied to the Paladin class. Glancing up at Mecha I stated the obvious, “These are Pally weapons, I am not sure that elves can become a Paladin, I thought it was restricted to Humans and Dwarves?”

Nodding his head Mecha agreed with me but then said, “All classes can be adopted by any race, the difficult part is getting a class trainer to teach you. However, with the assistance of the King, I am sure that we can begin your training. These are the only weapons that fit your requirements, now what say you, do you accept?”

I thought for a moment the idea of being a Pally had never really crossed my mind, but it was a good fit for what I was hoping to do. I took a moment and reviewed what I knew about the Paladin class, they were considered a Holy warrior, that was blessed with a couple of healing spells. They could also off-tank a raid or tank a dungeon, and they had excellent sustainable damage per second. I recalled reading somewhere that every game that had Paladins in it had to constantly reset the values for the class, they were to over powered or were too weak. It was not a difficult class to play but it was a difficult class to play well. I glance up at Mecha and nodded, “It well do where do I get the class training started? “I asked.

“We are leaving right now to see the King, once we see him we will meet the Paladin trainer and then off to the Kings treasury. When We see the King Let me do the speaking, as I am too old to have you piss him off and then throw us both into the Royal dungeons.” Mecha’s voice did sound old for a minute and as we began to walk up the passageway I asked him why he was involved in this?

Entering the street, we began to walk up the road leading to the first gate in the city, Mecha silent as he thought of my question. Finally, he spoke up and said, “I am the leader of the Thieves’ guild in the city, and as such, I have a relationship with the King that few know of. I am a member of his Privy council and one of the few he trusts. The Thieves’ guild has supplied the Kings Eyes and Ears for far longer than I have been alive, and will continue to do so after Kamasut has become the leader of the guild.”

Mecha continued, “These are perilous times, we are living in a Godless time, literally. Things are changing and while most people are not aware of it, I believe we are heading into a dark age, and if I can do something to help stop the spread of the darkness I will.” I nodded, I agreed with what he was saying, seeing people like those belonging to the House of Pain who were inflicting misery on this world, I had a funny feeling it was only the beginning. It would seem that with the advent of players into the game world, lawlessness and evil had followed. Sin had entered the world. But thinking of the Gods of this world I had to remind myself that sin had been in this world for a long time, it was just taking on a new aspect.

Kamasut had disappeared by the time we reached the fourth tier of the city and Mecha and I continued up to the Temple Mount each holding his own counsel. As we approached the Gate Mecha whispered to me, “The King will explain the traveling arrangements from the city to the kingdom of the Dwarves, but you should be aware he is sending his Viceroy, Reona with you as ambassador, you will be reporting to her once at Tar-Kanarg the capital of the Dwarves. They say she is an undead, a monster, but by the Gods, she looks like a lively girl, one that most men would want to bed. Be warned you are not here to have a nighttime tussle with the Kings ambassador. You understand me, Torn?”

Shaking my head yes, I kept my features still but the shock of it was still with me. Reona, my onetime friend, and lover, who had betrayed me to her father the Eldest, she had stolen my daughter Twink and had been present when the Eldest had killed both Gaiatoci and myself. Now I would be traveling with and working closely with her. All good things come with time I thought, as I grimly smiled to myself, this was going to work out in my favor. At some point, Reona and I would be sitting down to discuss some history.

We finally arrived at the palace and the King and Mecha disappeared while I was left under the watchful eye of two burly Palace guards. It all became boring fast so I sat down and began to look at my interface wondering what spells and buffs I would learn as a Paladin. I decided to place the singing icon on the interface and then thought what the hell, let's try it, the guards won’t complain.

I hit the button and much to my surprise my PIM interface opened and all the music loaded up was displayed. I hit random play and suddenly I just knew how to sing New York Minute by the Eagles. Slowly the opening piano and then the other instruments began to sound out. I started to sing and was amazed to discover that I sounded just like the cd. I was not sure where the music or the background singing was coming from but I just let it go and sang. It was sad and clean and magical, once it was finished I was startled to hear clapping, turning around I saw I had an audience.

Mecha, Reona, and the King were standing there and had been listening for a while, I gently waved my hand at them and asked if they had enjoyed the song. The King came forward and told me that it was remarkable, Mecha nodding his head in agreement. Standing there looking at me Reona smiled, and said, “Torn is it, that was an amazing performance, I look forward to hearing you sing again.”

The King started to get a thoughtful look on his face and asked me, “Do you know other songs, other styles of music.” I suddenly realized where this might be going, it would be a good way to enter the higher society of the Dwarves as a talented amateur Bard.

Nodding my head at the king I mentioned that I could perform several different styles of music. Giving me a speculative look Reona asked me to sing another song, something with more life. I smiled at her and had a quick look at my PIM, then selecting ACDC I began to sing the classic She shook me all night long. As I sang it I could see both the King and Mecha looking shocked but Reona, she was looking at me licking her lips and twisting her hips. I knew then that I had her as I belted out the refrain “You shook me all night long.”

Once the song ended there was silence for as moment broken by the King who looked at me and said, “I think that the Dwarves are more introspective in the music they love, they enjoy stories and sadness, and music they can dance to, do you have any of that within you?”

I nodded my head and was about to find a song when Mecha gestured at me, “Come along,” he called. I followed him down the passageway, and listened as he spoke up, “Torn I am surprised at your music ability it is amazing clearly you received training from a master.” I nodded, the Siren boss was a master of the music, and the fact that I had gained several things from defeating her was very rewarding.

We eventually ended up in front of a steel door guarded by two of the largest men I have ever seen. They must have some giant blood in them I thought. Mecha greeted them and handed over a small scroll, once the men had finished reading it they allowed us to pass.

The door opened as we neared it and stepping through the entrance way I was once again shocked at the riches I saw in the vault. I followed Mecha through the room past treasures that were worth a fortune and finally came to a door set in the wall. Passing through we entered into the armory and with Mecha leading we went to the far corner where there were several cabinets full of mail and plate armor set.

Mecha grunted and looked at me and then asked, “Same thing here, you want scalable gear useful to you now and as you level?” Seeing me nod he began to cast an expert eye on the gear, finally pointing at two sets of armor. The first set was called Light Bringer’s Dawn and had impressive stats for a level one, I knew those stats would increase to match my level once I put the armor on.

The main thing seemed to be an increase in spell power, and I surmised that this was a healing set.

The second armor set was called Shadow Born and it was geared to strength and DPS, it was made of a dark smoky red metal that seemed to melt into itself. There was one line that caught me attention in the item description it stated, this armor has not been God blessed and is not fully functional, once it has been blessed all the armors modifiers will become active.

Well, that was interesting, I turned to Mecha and asked him about it but he claimed that he had no knowledge of it. I nodded. Not surprised at his lack of knowledge, it was probably an armor set made for a one-time quest chain that was not active yet. I grabbed the armor and put it in my bag and then we left, I glanced around as we walked out, I doubted I would ever stand amongst such riches again.

Mecha led me up and out of the palace and towards the temple area, I felt an itch between my shoulders as we entered one of the larger temples but continued to follow Mecha until we came to the office of the administrator. He gave me a sour look and frowned at Mecha but agreed to accept me as a Paladin at the Kings suggestion. He spoke some mumble jumble about the light and the mercy of the Gods in fighting off the darkness then put his hand upon me and blessed me as a Paladin. The world seemed to turn sideways and I felt a shock throughout my body, and suddenly fell to my knees almost overcome with the sensation of Holy Power that tapped right into my very core and modified who I am.

I looked around and saw the both the administrator and Mecha were on their knees, and looking up I realised that the plate window of a Paladin smiting the darkness and the monster hidden within it was glowing. I slowly stood not sure what had happened. Opening up my interface I was aware that my three beginning spells were know modified into Holy Health as the healing spell. My physical DPS spell was know called Wrath of the Light and my magic spell was know called Holy Fire. Both Mecha and the administrator were standing at this point so I looked at the administrator and asked, “Is this normal?”

His reply did not surprise me as he said, “No my son, this has never happened before, clearly the Light has blessed you.”

I could not disagree with him, something had happened but I suspected it had more to do with my recent elevation to demigod than being blessed by the Light. Glancing over at Mecha I asked, Are you alright old man?” Seeing him nod at me I turned and thanked the administrator.

I was surprised when he interrupted my and said, “Before you leave I have your first quest. You must travel the city and destroy at least 20 beings who are touched by the Darkness.”

After he spoke a quest window opened up on my interface and I read,

A Paladins first quest

You are a warrior of the light and have been tasked with destroying the darkness, destroy 20 dark ones

Reward XP and reputation with the order of Paladins

Do you accept

Yes, or NO

Hitting accept I smiled at the administrator and then turned to follow Mecha as he was already leaving. Catching up to him I asked, “What is the rush?” Mecha continued to stride forward and I followed, finally, once we were outside and across the wall near the Kings palace he turned and looked at me.

“The plans have changed, originally we were going to send you out on a caravan in two days’ time but the King has received word that the roads are being watched. The plan now is to have you take a ship to Goodstown in a week’s time which will save you two weeks in the saddle. From there you will join a caravan as a guard and travel to you reach the Dwarven Lands. Once there you will make your way to Tar-Kanarg with Reona and establish yourself, you will receive further instructions at that point.” It was the most I had heard Mecha say in the last few days and it reminded me that this was serious to him.

Nodding my head, I said, “That will give us more time for training, however, I want tomorrow off, I am planning on leveling my paladin skills, and completing the quest I received.” Mecha snorted and looking at me he nodded.

“Don’t be getting into any trouble you can’t handle, and stay close to the city. I will meet you at the orphanage in a couple of days.” With that, Mecha turned around and left making his way back into the palace.

I, in turn, made my way out of the Temple Mount and began to descend into the city. I was heading for my park; I had decided it was time to do some exploring in the abandoned area on the third tier. It was supposedly full of dark creatures and should allow me to complete my Paladin quest.