Paragon of Weaponmasters

Another group awaits our arrival, a coalition of elves, dwarfs, halfings, and few humans. Two figures stand out, the king of the dwarves, and the queen of the elves.

"Nice of you to show up!" King Flintmane jokes as I walk right past him.

"Talinda, you're here?" I ask her. "Is it safe?"

She is flustered by my attention and concern, her cheeks flush, and she reaches out to hold my hands.

"Yes Paragon, I am safe. You needn't worry for me, I am a capable sorceress, surrounded by my people's finest." she tells me.

I look up to see the elf equivalent of royal guard, watching me with curiosity, surprise, and… what would one call that expression? Voyeuristic lust?

Talinda's blush only deepens as my attention returns to her.

"Usually, I am the one seeing to others' well-being, as the prime nurturer." she informs me.

"Let me take care of you." I insist. She has to look away, lest she melt on the spot.

I hear Peter clear his throat very enthusiastically behind me. He stands alongside the dwarven king, Helga, and the other hundred counted among our courses. The king looks even less patient than Peter, but Helga is biting her lip watching the show.

"Sorry." I tell them, turning back to Talindra. "When I finally have enough gold to stop the clock, even for another thirty days, I'd like to see you again." I tell her.

"I'd like that, Paragon." She smiles. Her freckles twinkle, leading my eyes to her lips. I lean down and give her a too-short kiss, then release her hands and join my companions.

"Ooh. So romantic." Halanaestra gushes. Some nod, others roll their eyes.

"As I was telling your goat…" Flintmane begins saying

"He's not my goat, his name is Peter." I correct him.

"Yes, sorry, I forget how you orcs do things. Are they not your property?" We all just give him a look. "Anyways, the king posted his troops throughout the city to quell the rebellion. Somehow he got warning that we were coming. We need to fan out, and move towards the castle section by section."

"You're the group leader, on your command, Earl." Peter informs me.

"Alright, let's get to it." at my word, the arranged species of humanity take their leave.

"There's three sections of the city, then the castle. We can clear them in any order, and just like the last dungeon at the end of the expansion, it's been dumbed down." Peter informs us.

"So it should be easy?" Oorrcca asks.

We three players all look at him like he just shot us in the feet.

"Don't tempt fate. It should be easy. But things tend to get a little bumpy around Earl." Peter sighs.

"Yeah they do!" Helga goes for a high-five. Peter leaves her hanging, but I fill in for him.

"We really should have gotten you new armor before we got started. It's a cakewalk, but it doesn't hurt to come prepared." Peter laments.

"It's not too late." Helga says. She summons a mount that resembles an old covered wagon, like we're all about to die of dysentery.

Peter whistles.

"What?" I ask him.

"That's the Trade Wagon, a limited-time mount that cost one hundred dollars USD." he tells me.

"You paid a hundred bucks for a game item?" I ask Helga.

"Not just any game item." she spins it in place, somehow it has motion with horses or an engine. "This puppy's got a repair vendor, a courier, a bank teller, and an auctioneer in the back."

Just as she said, four npcs are seated on benches under the cover.

"You should probably get your kids some gear too." Helga tells me, standing in the wagon.

"How much will that cost?" I ask.

"Miser." she comments, smirking at me playfully.

"Hey, I need to pay for my subscription. I've gotta save as much as I can." I defend myself.

"I'm just fucking with you. I'll pay for it." she says, sitting next to the auctioneer.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah. I've got loads of gold. More than Thunderspank, but don't tell him that." she winks. "Peter go ask the kids what they want from the store. No budget."

Peter whips out his mysterious clipboard and does just that.

"What do you need, Earl?" She asks.

"Uhh…" I open my character menu. My belt and gloves scale with my level, but everything else has fallen behind. "Everything except belt, gloves, and weapons. Unless they sell Sentient, Flying weapons on the auction house."

"Unfortunately not." she says. "What stat do you want? Peter mentioned you could use any of the three."

"Actually, I'm using a new stat now. Will." I inform her.

Her eyebrow knit.

"No, seriously, what stat do you want?" she asks again.

"I'm being serious." I link Kingmaker to chat so she can see.

"Do wonders ever cease around you?" she asks.

"You know they don't." I waggle my eyebrows. She laughs.

"Well, there's absolutely nothing on the auction house with your new stat, wonder boy. So pick a different one." she tells me.

"Hmm.. intellect." I tell her.

"Ok. sec." She interacts with the auctioneer, then the courier, then trades me a nearly full set of intellect equipment. When I put it on, I look more like a wizard than a knight.

"This sin;t going to work for me." I say, buying glamour from the repair vendor. I change all of my armor back to the bright-orange dragon armor.

"Earl, I didn't want to say anything, and I do think it's cute that you and peter match, but…" she looks me up and down. "You look ridiculous."

"Really?" I ask, inspecting myself. I do resemble a scaled traffic cone.

"Yes, really. Do you have anything else?" She asks.

I change my armor to the Forgotten Hero set. The black surface gleams, like it's trying to convince me not to leave again.

"Much better." Helga says.

"Here it is." Peter hops into the wagon and hands Helga a shopping list. "What happened to your orange armor?"

Helga and I exchange a look.

"Decided to go with my old style." I say.

"Oh." he sounds disappointed. "Might as well change mine too."

I feel bad until this armor changes into the coolest duds I've ever seen. He's wearing a black hood that makes his eyes glow green, with a wide cloak over his shoulders. His clothes have straps intertwined with knives and vials of poison hanging from them. It screams 'rogue'

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Dude, you had that the whole time?" I ask.

"Yeah. I got it from the game store. Twenty bucks." he says, showing off his armor.

"You too? Spending money for cosmetics seems so.. Frivolous." I shrug.

"I have tens of millions of dollars. What else would I spend it on?" Helga asks.

"You what?" I nearly fall over.

"Paragons are rolling in it dude. If you ever get the chance to stream, do it." Peter crosses his arms.

"I don't know, donate to charity? Pay off student lunch debt?" I offer.

"If I wanted to go to prison, maybe." Helga rolls her eyes.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"They made philanthropy illegal in 2028. 'It is the government's responsibility to care for its citizens, and the rich only use it for tax breaks.' they said." Peter informs me.

"So the government started taking care of everything donations used to?" I wonder.

"Fuck no." Peter responds.

"Oh." I sigh.

"Alright kids, come get your new duds!" Helga stands and exits the wagon. It disappeared out from under us, Peter and I fall flat on our asses.

Helga has to hand each kid their new equipment, as they don't have access to the trade menu. Some of them find a secluded spot to change, the more brash among them just change out in the open. I watch the clouds, and make sure Peter is doing the same.

"Ready." Helga tells me, blocking the sun.

I sit up and look around. All of my children look like real adventurers, wizards, warriors, and rogues. I couldn't be more proud.

"Sick armor dad!" Faraine shouts. The others nod in approval.

"Is everyone ready?" I ask. More nods. I stand, and turn to Peter.

"Let's go." Peter says, taking the lead. He guides us to a district that seems… segregated, if i had to describe it in one word. All of the non-human species are represented, it's like a cramped ghetto.

He halflings and humans on our side have travelled here, ready to do whatever is necessary.

"Once we move into the center of the district, they will come in waves out of the building until the boss shows up." Peter says, walking towards the middle.

We stand in a uneven circle, weapons drawn. The doors to several buildings burst open, downtrodden and filthy elves and dwarves charge out, wielding rusty knives and broken bottles. Our ranged attacker deal with them before they comes within spitting distance of our frontline. Another wave, and another, end the same way. Destitute corpses pile up right outside their doors.

"We should be grateful!" a husky voice calls from the only remaining doorway. A dwarf reveals himself, well dressed and clean.

Baridgrun the Rat. Level 71

"He…" Peter attempts to explain the boss fight.

"You'll regret… biting the hand… that feeds…" the boss croaks as sun, moon, water, sand, and arrows pepper his body.

"Huh." I say, and nothing else.

"That was easy!" Oorrcca finishes the thought.

"God damnit orca" I say, shaking my head.

Peter leads us to the next section, an open training ground where the soldiers in reserve wait. Our rangers don't even give us a chance to think about getting involved before they send a wave of projectiles into the gathered army.

Talindra and the elves jump into the assault when we arrive, I try my best not to get distracted, but… by god. It's like watching flowing water, the way she's moving. The darkness that envelops her foes is a little disquieting, but you take the good with the bad, right?

"Show me what you've got!" a large human calls out after the soldiers have all been slain.

Sentinel Teidberd. Level 71

"Every ten percent He'll pull someone out to have a one-versus-one duel!" Peter warns us.

His health burns away in an instant to ninety percent, he and Darthoridan teleport to a small arena.

"What have you learned?" the boss yells, as my bear son smacks the absolute shit out of him.

"What have you learned?" the boss yells again, as Adorellan punches him into next week.

"What have you learned?" again again, Hagdiun takes his hammer to the boss's knees.

Five more times the boss calls up one of our group and gets subsequently thrashed. When he reaches the last ten percent, he summons Talindra. She summons up a pitch-black void in his hand, ready to launch it at the boss.

His head turns, unnaturally far, to look at me.

"What have you learned?" he asks, eyes glowing red.

My heart stops, and I run to the arena.

Talindra fires, doing nothing to slow the boss's approach. He walks towards her, sword in hand.

"No!" I scream and he gets within striking distance.

She backs away, one step at a time, sending void bolt after void bolt into him, with no results. She trips and falls onto her backside, and the boss places the tip of his blade under her chin.

"No!" I scream even louder as I reach the invisible barrier keeping me out of the arena. I pound on it with my fists, and use my weapons to try and get through, around, over, anything.

The boss draws his blade back to the opposite shoulder, ready to deal the final blow. Talindra does not close her eyes, she does not cower away, she looks at me. There's a fondness there that I recognize. Lagakh looked at me the same way in her memories.

"Kill yourself!" I howl at the boss.

Instead of swinging, the boss draws his blade across his own neck. His body collapses to the ground, blood gushing from the wound.

My breathing doesn't slow, and my heart does not stop racing, as I run to Talindra's side.

"Are you hurt?" I ask her, looking for injuries myself.

"Paragon.. Your eyes…" she stares at me in… I hope that's not horror.

I see my reflection in a polished shield behind her. They're glowing the same red the boss's were moments ago.I close them and take several deep breaths, focusing on them. When I open my eyes again, they're back to normal.

"I'm sorry." I tell her, handing my head. She places one hand one each cheek, tenderly forcing me to look at her.

She kisses me like I've never been kissed before.

Our families clap and cheer as we share our first kiss as a married couple.

"Can we go?" I whisper to Trinee as I pull away.

"Not yet. We have to stay for the reception." she tells me.

"Fine." I grit my teeth.

Her maid of honor corrals everyone back to the venue, an attached auditorium to the church where we did our 'i do's. I make a beeline for the open bar. Just as I get my first shot down, a familiar voice distracts me from inebriating myself to oblivion.

"Your mother would probably have something to say if she was still around." my father mentions, ordering something for himself.

"Like what?" I challenge, another shot searing down my throat.

"Well, something about you and a black girl. You really had to marry her?" he asks.

"Yes, dad, I really did." I grind my teeth.

"And her maid of honor is a fag? Was that necessary too?" he asks.

"Yes, father." I say. The third one doesn't even hurt.

"I hope your baby gets your genes. It would be a shame for her to come out looking like her."

I punch him. It's not gentle, or restrained, or considerate. It's nothing like how I've dealt with his or my mother's bullshit my whole life. I fall on top of him and start slamming my closed fists down.

"Luke!" my wife screams. I look up into her horrified face, then down at my bloody hands. Two of my biggest uncles pull me up by the armpits and hold me back as my aunts check on dad. He's breathing, but some of his teeth are on the floor next to him.

"What the hell happened?" The priest asks as he arrives. I didn't know he could swear.

My lips are sealed as the whole wedding party looks at me like some kind of monster. Maybe I am a monster, the one that the bloody, broken man on the floor made me to be.

My eyes are closed as Talindra holds my face to hers. Things are different here, it's a world of violence and bloodshed, the powerful subjugate the weak with might or money, but they're honest about it. Reacting with violence is not just acceptable, but expected.

Hot tears sting my eyes as I kiss her back. A darkness envelopes us from her hands.

"They can't see or hear us, Earl. Let it out." she whispers on my lips.

I follow her command. Every moment I've spent in this world, terrified, pushed to my limits, forced to do terrible things to innocent people, every time I've lost myself to rage, lost parts of myself that I never knew I could all come flooding out in wracking sobs.

She rubs my back as I cry on her shoulder, almost screaming in her ear.

My life before this wasn't any better or worse. I was 'winning' the rat race by a hair's breadth. I had a wife, a kid, a house… I had it all, compared to almost everyone else. Trinne didn't accept me for who I was, not really. We got married because she was eight months along, and if we waited any longer, her parents would disown her.

A casual fuck turned into a lifetime of responsibility. A lifetime of trying to explain myself, my feelings, to someone who would never understand. Trying to be a good father without an example to learn from, without another shoulder to lean on. Frankie was both of our best friend, but I saw the glances… the subtle movements. Trinee was with me because she had to be, and Frankie was around to get closer to her.

I wonder, not for the first time, if they were all better off without me. And that thought makes me cry even harder.

Talindra holds me tight as I soak her dress in tears.

I'm sorry. So sorry. For everything." I choke out. "Please don't be afraid of me. Please don't hate me." I beg.

She pushes me away and makes me look her in the eyes.

"Earl, you saved my home, my people. You ensured that my daughter's second chance at a wedding went smoothly. You made love to me, worshiped my body, and helped me bring a second, beautiful girl into this world. To hate you would to hate all of the gifts you have freely given." she says, and places a kiss on my cheek.

I sigh with shaky breath.

"You saved my life once again. I am indebted to you tenfold." She reminds me.

"You don't owe me anything, Talindra." I tell her, somehow without choking.

She smiles, and runs her hand from my temple to the back on my head.

"Someday, when you sheath your sword for the last time, I'll be there to repay your generosity." She kisses my lips. "But today, we have to free my people from human rule."

I nod, wiping my face with my old cape.

"Okay." I tell her. We both stand, and the darkness dissipates, revealing us, hands clasped together, to the world.

Our group eagerly waits for our return, staring down from the edge of the arena.

Helga catches my attention, with one eyebrow raised, she pushes a finger through the circle of her other hand. I shake my head at her, and she shrugs.

"Are you ok to move on?" Peter asks me.

"Yep." I say, pulling Talindra's hand to my lips. "Where will you go now?"

"We'll reconvene at the castle when the holy district has been dealt with." She tells me.

"Okay. See you there." I kiss her hand again before letting it go.