Edwin P. Uts
The loss of Ragnar was like no pain Eddie had ever felt, it was a gaping wound, deep inside his psyche, a part of him that had been torn away. Around him, the walls, covered in tapestry, moved. Miniature principles moved, displaying their basic move set, on the walls that surrounded him. He looked without seeing, his eyes welled up and he was unable to see anything. Soon the surface tension broke and the tears fell.
His sorrow consumed him, soon the distinction between him and his sorrow fell away. For an unknown time, he sat on the cold marble floor and sobbed.
This grew old, fast, and he began to pick himself up, Pushing himself to his feet he looked down and saw his reflection in the marble floor. It was the first time in he didn’t know how long that when he looked Ragnar wasn’t looking back. The face that looked up from the floor was full of sadness, it’s eye's red-rimmed, and runny.
The flame of rage burst to life inside him. The face he saw in the floor, his face, filled him with rage. True Ragnar was gone, and though the face crying in the floor was pathetic, it also represented the only face that would seek out revenge for Ragnar.
The thought was like a lightning rod, revenge for Ragnar. Revenge for Ragnar! So it was with this thought running through his core like pure energy, that Eddie looked to the tapestries, to the myriad of principles that ran around on them. He initially looked to the melee principles, but the pain from his recent loss kept him from focusing on any of the principles on that tapestry.
He looked at the other tapestries, then closed his eyes, he needed a plan. He knew what he wanted, revenge. Ninjas were legendary assassins, in almost every piece of media that he could think of they were always setting out of quests for revenge. With that he had a plan, build the meanest revenge ninja principle he could.
He opened his eyes and in a few moments, he had selected the ninja principle template. This choice made, Eddie was now confronted with the next; what race? His first thought was to just go with the default, which was human. But he stopped at thought of how boring a generic ninja was. He had no good idea of how long he would be this principle, he certainly didn’t want to be stuck in a generic principle.
A ninja was right he felt as he shifted through the tapestry with all the races. He started looking, limiting his choice to races which would work well with his choice of class. With this in mind, he looked at elves and fae. Fae held his interest, their extreme agility and the possibility of adding magic to his tool box. The Half-man caught his imagination.and when he found the snake man his mind was made up.
Snakemen-Born into the world with eighty brothers and sisters, fighting for everything becomes a way of life. Scales harden with maturity. Providing a basic suit of armor, as well as a passive armor bonus.
When he saw that he knew he had made up his mind, he didn't need to look further. Once he had selected the principle, he was confronted with a few more decisions. Most of these choices were purely cosmetic, he chooses to use the ‘western diamondback rattler’ as his model, liking its diamond shaped head and spiked eyebrows. The next question; Legs, to have them or not, would have gameplay consequence. Having had legs his whole life he chooses the tail option, He clothed the torso in a black kimono. Almost done Eddie moved quickly through the next few steps of arming and clothing this new principle.
He armed his scaled ninja with throwing knives, pleased at their effectiveness at both close and ranged attacks. With theses choices made, he was once again faced with the task of coming up with a name. Again he needed to pause and take a deep breath. His first choice was Revenge, which he knew it was a little passe. Also, it turned out that name wasn’t available if he wanted he could use Revenge10424, he didn’t.
Feeling a little daunted by his task, Eddie gave the image of the principle a spin, then accessed the weapon menu and began moving through blades, settling on thin throwing knives. He also noted that dressed all in black and with a cowl, there was very little worth noting, in fact, it was a little boring. Initially, he didn’t think this was a problem, choosing to rely on his name to stand out. Though of course, this made picking the right name much more important.
As he had done so long ago, he did again, he took to the internet for some ideas. He started with a search for “human torso with snake body,” This turned up little, only that this race was called the naga. While searching, bouncing from one site to another he came across a list of famous hybrid creatures in mythology. He was almost ready to close the site when his eye was caught by the Medusa, there was something there and after playing a little, he had M3Dussa.
Not quite ready to be done tweaking his new principle, Eddie returned to the outfit page and started by removing the excess cloth covering G01ph4uck’s head. Eddie also adjusted the color of G01ph4uck’s fur, highlighting the oranges and reds, Eddie liked the effect, thinking that it kind of looked like a flaming fox so he minimized the clothing, and enhanced the fur that created the flame illusion. Eddie, content, and ready to enter AntruA with this build, flipped through the menus quickly, finding the Go On button and pressing it.
The principle, using his knives, was quickly through the tapestry and M3Dussa was watching Eddie’s still body down on the floor, three blades in his chest.When Eddie twitched then began to rise, Coil, who based on past experience was expecting this, put the Zombie Eddie down with a blade thrust into Zombie Eddie’s forehead.
Again drawing on his past experience, M3Dussa turned and entered the tunnel behind the tapestry as soon as his knife was free. He paused a moment upon entering the open green space and read the sign.
Everyone for Themselves Battle
Level One Only
A part of him wanted to go in and try and kill everyone, another part just wanted to run. He took a deep breath then slowly let it out, now all that remained inside him was the rage, he held onto it and looked at the next sign.
AntruA
Nearest town
Upon reading that M3Dussa immediately started down that path and soon found himself in the familiar setting of the Bank. This branch looked the same as every other he had ever been in, the door, open to his left and a desk to his right. Behind the desk AsLionsMain stood, leading G01ph4uck to the assumption that he had spawned in Norca, a peak out the door confirmed.
“Hello? Hi, welcome.” AsLionsMain said, breaking the silence.
“Uh oh. Hi, thanks.” M3Dussa replied when he realized that he was being addressed.
“Welcome to AntruA!” AsLionsMain exclaimed, “Is this your first time here, or are you…uh, returning?”
“Um, I’m returning.”
“I’m truly sorry. But I have good some good news,” AsLionsMain shrugged, “you still have your accounts and It’s surprisingly easy to find them as well as connect them to your new principle. Would you like help in getting that set up?”
“I actually work for the Bank, too, so if you could just pass me one of the menus, I should be able to take care of it. Thank you.”
“Sure, there are some things you should know, I mean I don’t know when you got Tokened, er, but a lot has happened, I mean you may already know.”
“I think I know some, but I would really like to hear what is being said. So please, start at the beginning.”
“You knew of, or were probably a part, of Red Army and the Band of the Golden Hand?”
“Knew of,” M3Dussa mumbled under his breath.
“I don’t know any of the details, but something happened and the leadership of both clans imploded, what came out, like some diseased butterfly was a single clan, they’re calling it the Band of the Black Hand. they’re extorting new principles.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean extorting principles?”
“Of course they’re not calling it that, no they’re calling it protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“Getting Tokened.”
“And principles are doing it?”
“Some not all.”
“Those who are not, what are they doing?”
“Some are joining together. Many are not leveling up so the threat is an insignificant one.”
“What!? Are they just not fighting?”
“If they do fight they leave their Token some place safe.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It really is. “
“Well, thanks for the heads up.” M3Dussa placed the brochure on the desk then turned to leave.
“Wait,” AsLionsMain called out. M3Dussa turned back with a questioning look. “Sorry, it seemed that you were thinking about not paying the Black Hand? If that’s true I can tell you of a few groups who could help you? I could tell you about them if you would like?”
M3Dussa walked back to the desk, “ sure that would be great.”
“Do you remember the Blue Army?”
“They were in a war with the Red Army, right?”
“Yeah, and they were joined by the Green Army, both seem pretty dead set against the Black Hand. I think both would offer some form of protection, you would most likely need to join the army to get any protection I don’t know how you feel about that. Another place I heard principles are going to get away from the threat of the Black Hand, is the city of Sourka, in the south. Though I don’t know how much protection you’ll get there I here the place is like the wild west, anything goes. I have also heard tales of a city called Ral’ya or something like that. I have met a handful, maybe eight, principles who said they were heading there for protection. I’ve heard there is a clan or army there that controls everything in the city, they really despise Tokening so they should protect you, I have no idea of what that might cost thou.”
“That’s it? That represents the sum total of the resistance?”
“That’s what I ‘ve heard You have to remember this just happened, I’m still trying to understand what it all means. I’m sure there are other principles who are fighting back, I just haven’t heard of them yet.”
“Sure, that makes sense. I’m going to head out there, see what’s what. Thank you very much for all the information, this way I’m not walking out there blind.”
“One last thing before you head out.”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure you’re ready, they are going to come at you are soon walk out of here.”
“Who?”
“The Black Hand, they always have a principle or two watching that door, waiting for noobs like you.”
“Thanks for the heads up, maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Maybe,” AsLionsMain shrugged then looked up, “good luck out there.
M3Dussa smiled and waved, turned and exited the bank. A step out the door and he needed to stop and take in the moment, the blue sky and the bright sun, the fresh breeze playing upon his scales. It was beautiful. The city alive as always, under a sky that was placid unaffected by the goings on under it. M3Dussa took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and with a contented grin spreading, he slithered off the deck onto the road, then turned and faced the south.
He had barely begun to ambulate when a voice stopped him. “Hey! Hello, hi there!” It wasn’t the words that stopped him, it was something deeper, some quality in the voice that seemed to wrest control from his mind stopping him in mid-slither. The principle approaching was a silver fox, dressed in black and gray. “Hello friend! Welcome!”
“Hi,” M3Dussa started south again.
“Oh come now. Please wait, I promise I won't take much of your time.”
Again M3Dussa felt compelled to stop and turn to face the fox. He used the opportunity to focus it.
$1lvert0ngdF0x
Level 3
Wallet-5Au
“Hey, thanks for stopping, I’ll be quick, is this your first time in AntruA or were you Tokened? Look I’m sorry to be blunt, but it really helps out to know what your experience is. I’m here to great new principles and offer any help I can.”
“Wow, that is so nice of you. But I think I’m good.” M3Dussa started moving again.
$1lvert0ngdF0x started walking, keeping pace. “I’m sorry but I don’t agree, I don’t think you are good. See you were heading out of the city. You have no idea what it’s like out there. I can help prepare you, I can offer you protection.”
M3Dussa smiled, “Tell me about the protection.”
“Now we’re talking. See I belong to the Band of the Black Hand. We have hunters who have cleared most of the Tokeners, these hunters now actively monitor for any new Tokeners so if you sign up you can level up with no risk of Tokening. Basically, if they are within our area of control and over level two, they either are a member, or they pay for protection. There are no principles level two or higher not connected with the Black Hand, anywhere nearby. It’s 7 gold a month or 60 gold annually, a great deal in my opinion. Look you get this brooch to wear.” Here he pointed to his chest, or to a small pin on it. “See you wear it and any principle who sees it will know you’re under the protection of the Black Hand.”
“What happens if I say no?”
$1lvert0ngdF0x shrugged, “nothing. Till you level up, then it’s open season, and generally, everyone who is level two and above will come at you.”
“But you said all the level two or above principles around here are affiliated with the Black Hand, right?”
$1lvert0ngdF0x shrugged again, and said, “it’s dangerous world, anything can happen.”
M3Dussa thought about it, the fox’s word had a strong pull. In fact, while M3Dussa waited his left hand started to work its way into his wallet. He grabbed his left wrist with his right hand and said, “I don’t like extortion, I decline your offer.” While it had looked like he was holding his left wrist to control it, actually it was one of the places he had his knives stashed. So when M3Dussa's right hand came away from his left wrist it was holding a knife.
$1lvert0ngdF0x started back and began to call out, M3Dussa, who was anticipating this moved quickly, wrapping his left hand around $1lvert0ngd4F0x’s snout preventing him from raising the alarm. Then holding the Foxes head out an arm's length he activated his special skill, Stone Stare. Being such a low level it barely stunned $1lvert0ngd4Fox, merely holding him still, and stiff, for a moment. M3Dussa watched a rain of sand and gravel falling as the effects of the spell wore off. He was prepared for this, intently watching for the stone to fall away from the space under $1lvert0ngdF0x’s chin. Once it was clear, revealing silver fur, M3Dussa slid his blade in. 1 kill +1 xp. >Lvl +1 xp.
M3Dussa laid the body down behind the last building. Before leaving, he looked around, making sure he was unobserved, once he was fairly sure he was he slithered quickly down the path to the south with a grin on his face. By shedding blood his mission to get his revenge had started.
