World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (35 page)

Victoria McCluskey
raises her hand. Seeing a nod from the CEO, the Chief Technology
Officer answers his question. “The consultants believe that the
hacker or hacker group is based in Russia. Since the United States do
not have an extradition treaty with Russia, it would be very
difficult for us to obtain the cooperation of the Russian law
enforcement against their citizenry. My engineers have been busy
patching up holes, and disruption to our company’s services had
been minimal last quarter.”

Charles nods in
satisfaction. VG’s servers were knocked off line by the Digital
Bandit for a few days last year. The hacker even had the nerve to
demand a ransom payment via bitcoins. The CEO chose not to pay, and
instead hired a contractor to stop the Distributed Denial of Service
(“DDoS”) attack. However, a small portion of the subscribers
decided to quit playing VG’s games due to concerns over their
personal data, and this resulted in a five percent drop in revenue
for the quarter. The CEO pushes the history out of his mind, and
focuses on the next topic on the agenda. “What’s the status of
our ongoing efforts to spy on Eternia Development &
Entertainment, Inc. and its new product developments?” he asks.

Peter Raymond
Hutchinson raises his hand. With a nod from the CEO, the security
officer speaks up. "Our newest plant, Deana Naples, has been
compromised," he says.

"Has she spilled?"
Charles inquires with a frown. He is surprised and disappointed that
the new employee in EDE’s product development division couldn’t
last a week. The slow hiring process at EDE makes it difficult to
keep spies in the company in order to keep tabs on his rival, Richard
T. Gibson.

"She was recruited
through a shell company. I made sure that she doesn't know the true
client for her services," Peter grins.

The CEO frowns at the
small, bookish looking man with those annoyingly tiny glasses framing
his tinier looking face. The guy was poached from an online security
provider, and he was promised a free hand to engage in cloak and
dagger operations. Unfortunately, the man resembles a weasel in terms
of appearance and mannerism, and he is thoroughly uncharismatic.

"I'm not sure this
is the wisest use of scarce company resources," the CFO remarks.
Martin has already expressed his reservation privately to both
Charles and Lewis. Charles was almost outright dismissive of the
CFO’s concern. While the chairman was more receptive, Lewis is
willing to let the company founder take the gamble. The response is
frustrating to Martin because the chairman is a major investor in the
company with heavy influence over Charles, but it appears Lewis is
unwilling to use it in this case.

"Actually, I have
a contrarian view on this, Martin. If we manage to cut down our
research and development time, then we would be able to gain a
foothold into the virtual reality market. It's the ultimate irony
that our company name is Virtuous Gaming, and people are disappointed
when they find out that we don't offer any virtual reality
entertainment products. And I fully intend to rectify that oversight,
one way or the other." The CEO stares at Martin Pembrose with
sharp eyes.
Why does the fool
insist on playing a broken record?

The CFO looks
uncomfortably at the Chairman for a moment, and then stares at the
conference table in front of his seat
.
At this rate, I might need to find another job before I hit
retirement
, he sighs.

“I have to give the
CEO of EDE some credit,” Peter continues. “Whoever is advising
him to look for industrial spies is giving the company executive his
money’s worth.”

“Knowing Richard, I
would say that he’s sniffing out spies in his company on his own,
without hiring an outside company to advise him,” Charles replies.

“You know him better
than me,” the spook grins.

“For better or
worse,” the CEO grins back.

“Gentlemen, we are
wasting precious time. Please leave the casual banter for later,”
the chairman reminds them.

"Has Deana
obtained anything useful?" Charles asks.

"Possibly,"
the security man replies. "I looked at her data briefly, and
there were some time tables for various ongoing projects at EDE. The
code names, though, don't provide enough insight into the actual
projects themselves, which is apparently kept in a heavily encrypted
file we haven't been able to crack yet."

"Let me know if
you crack those files," the CEO replies and receives a nod from
the spook. He’s not surprised that the hacker is having difficulty
getting access to those files.
Hopefully
this means the encrypted stuff is important,
he thinks.
"Let's move on to the next topic." He looks over at the VP
of Product Development.

“We have started
player testing out our own MMORPG game through a secret subsidiary of
Virtuous Gaming,” Lisa says. “We have dedicated a separate server
to this product line. But it is still in development and undergoing
player testing.”

“How long do you
think it would take for the game to be ready for release to the
public?” the chairman asks.

“Unless you’re
willing to double the research & development budget, at the
current rate of progress I would say maybe at least a year would be
needed,” the Product Development head replies.

Lewis nods. “I will
talk to some venture capitalists to assess interest in funding the
MMORPG division separately. If there is, then you might be able to
get a major boost in your R & D budget.”

“Should I go with
you?” Charles asks.

The chairman shakes his
head. “This is going to be very preliminary contact, mainly phone
conversations or during a round of golf,” he smiles.

Charles’ eyebrow
twitches slightly at the mention of “golf.” He tried it once, but
his bad knees won’t allow him to drive the tiny ball very far.

Lewis shrugs his
shoulders. He knows exactly what the young man is thinking
.
It's a pity that Charles' knees can't handle more than one round of
golf with his wealthy backers.

"So getting back
on topic, to reiterate VG is seeking to enter two different markets:
virtual reality gaming, and MMORPGs. But we are not ready to release
this information to our investors until we make more progress,"
the CEO says.

Lewis nods in
understanding of the implicit request. "Fair enough. Ask for
funding for the MMORPG, but leave Virtuous Gaming's name out of the
discussion," he summarizes the unspoken request from the CEO.

"Will you be able
to find non-VG investors to fund the MMORPG initiative?" Charles
asks.

The chairman provides a
cautious non-answer. "I'll see what I can do."

“What have you got,
Vergil?” Lucious asks.

The shopkeeper offers a
mysterious smile at the younger man. It’s been only a day since the
mage presented an unusual request to create an artifact level magic
item to conduct divine energy from the Gods of Eternia. This
theoretical device would enable their followers to work miracles in
the heathen lands of We Tang Kingdom, according to multiple sources
in the clergy. “Not me,” the enchanter finally replies. “This
person here would like to speak with you pertaining to your special
request.”

Lucious turns to face
the character sitting at the bench. The individual is wearing a robe
and a cloak with the symbol of the Church of Eternia. The hood is
covering the person’s face, and the thin build makes it hazardous
to guess the newcomer’s gender. “How may I serve the Gods of
Eternia?” he asks politely, to avoid addressing the stranger as
either priest or priestess.

The figure stands up
and pulls the hood back, revealing a feminine face with a very short,
cropped hair of a warrior. The woman is pale looking but her sky blue
eyes are brimmed with divine power. “May the Gods of Eternia bless
you, Brother Lucious,” she says with a deep, husky voice.

Lucious bows politely.
“I am flattered that you know of me.”

“I am Priestess
Kassender, the head of the divine enchanters in the church. Count
Zeensoon, who is an NPC, has made a similar request to the one you
made of Vergil. It appears that he is seeking to invade the We Tang
kingdom,” she reveals. Since Lucious was among the ambassadors
dispatched to the foreign land, the mage is probably aware of this
already.

Lucious nods slowly. He
expected as much even though Wesley had declined to divulge much
regarding his meeting with the Count.

“The problem is the
lack of player access to divine magic in this other world. Without
the healing, protection, and other supportive magic of the divine
sphere, I fear that we will be sending our raiders to a
slaughterhouse,” high priestess continues.

“I agree,” Lucious
replies. “I was among the ambassador group that made initial
contact with the gatekeeper. My impression is that the culture is
warrior based, and the troops are well disciplined. They also have
access to magic, but the gatekeeper was careful not to reveal what
sort of magic they have access to. It is quite possible that the
other world has magic not seen in our world. And it would be foolish
to rely solely on our elemental based magic for this upcoming
invasion.”

“We need to figure
out a way for the Gods of Eternia to maintain a divine presence in
this other world,” the priestess says.

“I may have a
solution,” Vergil offers, drawing the attention of the two powerful
spell casters. “You know how magnets attract and repel one another?
We could create a lodestone that attracts divine energy.”

“I think we could
modify the ‘gravity sphere’ spell and make the phenomenon
permanent,” Lucious suggests. “Gravity sphere is a master level
elementalist spell that creates a miniature black hole. Where ever
the hole appears, it sucks the occupant of the space into the hole.
The spell only lasts an instant though.”

“The item must be
created on Church grounds, as that is the location where divine
energy is most concentrated,” Kassender adds.

"Okay, so we have
the spell and the location. What do we use for material?"
Lucious asks.

"The Count has
suggested that we obtain ore from Mount Zissley," Kassender
replies.

"Why Mount
Zissley?" Lucious raises an eyebrow.

"According to
church lore, there was a fight between two Gods of Eternia above the
area. One god threw a bolt of divine energy that crashed into the
ground and created the mountain. In addition, the energy ripped a
hole in our dimension and allowed demons from the plane of fire to
enter. Thus, the mountain region is inhabited by fire demons,"
the priestess explains.

"That makes the
mission quite difficult," Vergil remarks. Demons are upper tier
level monsters with a lot of health, and some demon kind even has
resistance to magic. Even worse, they travel in packs.

"We will need to
rely on the Church to fight the demons. They are strong against fire
in particular, but weak against cleansing magic from the divine
sphere," Lucious notes while recalling his last encounter with a
demon. “If the Magic Guild is a sponsor, the Council could send a
contingent of water mages as well,” he suggests.

"We also need to
bring miners to dig the ore from the mountain. They will need
protection while they work on the veins," Vergil adds.

"I will need to
consult with Count Zeensoon and other Church officials to obtain
permission to create an expeditionary force. I invite you to join us,
Lucious," Kassender offers.

The elementalist nods
in acceptance. "Please send me the details. Would you mind if my
girlfriend joins the mission if she's available?" he asks.

"Your girlfriend
is a member of the Church, correct?" she inquires and sees the
nod from the mage. "The short answer is yes. I will seek
permission to be put in charge of this mission, and I plan to open
the force to all volunteers beyond a certain minimum character level.
We don't know how many demons we'll come across, and the more players
are involved the more likely the mission will succeed,"
Kassender says.

“Agreed,” Lucious
replies. “Should I ask The Strangers to join the force?”

“Ask only if your
party has the time to participate in this raid. We don’t know how
long it will take, though. The mission will be under the jurisdiction
of the Church, but experienced players like The Strangers are more
than welcome to join,” she says.

“I will check with my
party members then,” the mage replies.

“I will also notify
the Council of Mages of this mission, and see if the Magic Guild
would co-sponsor the event,” Vergil adds.

Kassender nods in
acquiescence. The demons inhabiting Mount Zissley come from the plane
of fire, and involvement of the Magic Guild would help tremendously
in offering fire protection and using water based spells to do extra
damage to these demons.

“Thank you for being
here today on a Saturday morning. I am Priestess Kassender from the
Church of Eternia, and I will be in charge of this mission,” the
player looks at the large group of players gathered at the town
square. There are sixty players in all, with twenty from the Church
of Eternia, fifteen each from the Magic Guild and the Fighter Guild,
and the rest from the Trade Union. The ten miners are split into two
caravans that carry mining equipment, while the rest of the travel
group is on horseback.

As part of this special
mission, the game developers finally released mounts into the game.
However, WoE requires players to be at level forty to use mounts, and
the priestess decided to use that requirement as a cutoff or else the
size of the expeditionary party will swell to unmanageable numbers.
She looks around the square and sees that everyone is attentive to
her.
Good
, she
thinks.