Dark Fate, Book 22 Prologue

Prologue – Trade Chat

(North American System Information Exchange Forum, formerly Community Building and Civil Defense Chat)

abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, Carion, RadicalEdward, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, RedShift, SevenNationArmy, DarkLord, BagOTrix, White_Queen, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, LinaLuv, Skippy, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.

FusionGal: So, any ideas on what the everloving fuck that thing that killed the monster in Panama was?

Skippy: I’m fairly certain it was a spell, FusionGal.

FusionGal: I hate you so much.

White_Queen: It appeared to be an effect called [Annihilation Amplifier], unleashed into an [Annihilation Beam]. The array is fairly distinctive.

daytrader: So, very big, destructive spell. Got it.

FusionGal: But could one spell really do all that?

White_Queen: [Annihilation Amplifier] is just what it sounds like. Think of the array like a bag. You get a bunch of other mages together, and have them throw their spells into the bag. The bag then combines all that power, and amplifies it based on the user’s abilities and how much MP they have. And then, they unleash it in a few different ways, typically either a beam, or something that causes a massive explosion. Most ‘siege mages’ have something like that.

RedShift: Siege mages?

THE_MERCHANT: Mages can be broadly categorized as falling into one or more of several groups, depending on their focus and abilities. These types are: Support, Utility, Blaster, and Controller.

THE_MERCHANT: Support focuses on what you might call ‘buffs’, enhancing themselves and their allies. Utility focuses on useful abilities, like conjuring food and water, making shelter, or spells to help speed travel, and so on. Blasters focus on, well, blasting things. And Controllers control the battlefield, or do things to weaken and control their enemies.

THE_MERCHANT: Most mages spread themselves out a bit, so that they aren’t completely overwhelmed if something is not directly in their area of expertise. Some, however, focus in, and specialize. An ‘assault mage’ is a general term (though there’s a class named after it) to refer to a mage focused purely on combat, with no more than a token nod to anything outside that sphere. Pure damage dealer. Understand so far?

RedShift: Yeah, I think so. And siege mage is a further focus?

THE_MERCHANT: Correct. If you look at assault mages, some can focus on mixing spells with melee attacks, some focus on continual damage over time, and so on. Siege mages are designed to turn the tide of a siege, one way or the other.

DarkLord: Yes, but there’s usually a price to pay for such specialization and power. Any siege mage requires a great deal of protection on a battlefield, since the moment someone realizes what is happening, they will do everything in their power to stop it.

White_Queen: So, where did you find a siege mage? I would have known if we’d come across one of such power previously.

DarkLord: The System literally plucked her out of thin air and dropped her in front of me.

White_Queen: So, a familiar, then?

DarkLord: Yes. Once I had her tamed, of course.

Carion: Hey, DL! Is it true you’re an Emperor, now?

DarkLord: Indeed. The System just updated my list of titles.

bento: List? Most people only have one or two System titles. What are yours?

Tracker: Oy! You don’t just go and ask someone their titles in a public forum!

DarkLord: Normally, I’d agree with you, Tracker, but since taking the throne I have only hidden my titles when I’m in disguise, so I don’t mind. Knowing some of my titles helps to ensure that people don’t get stupid ideas, after all.

SevenNationArmy: Because they then have an idea of just how outclassed they are?

DarkLord: Exactly. At any rate, my titles are: Executioner, Dungeon Foe 2, Admiral, King, Ant Kills the Elephant, Genocider, Kinbreeder, Emperor

THE_MERCHANT: Oh, you killed a second dungeon? When was this?

DarkLord: Only killed that one dungeon in the Sahara. The other one I bound on the first day, and relocated so it could be a private training ground for my people.

Scholar: Hmm. Admiral, King, and Emperor are all ‘leader’ titles, it seems. From what I can see, they each provide a bonus to the actions of those under your command, while acting on your orders, and you gain XP when they do?

DarkLord: Essentially. I need to be with the fleet for Admiral to take effect, but Emperor and King aren’t like that.

BackpageGal: Uh, do those titles stack? Like, if you’re with the fleet, do you double dip?

DarkLord: Yes, but getting all three to line up is difficult. To get that, I’d need forces of the Kingdom of Ceres to be working alongside the Ceres Royal Navy under Imperial command, while I was in charge of the fleet. So, in most cases I’m only getting one or two of those.

RainyDayze: Uh, what about some of those other titles?

DarkLord: Oh, Genocider is obviously from my actions in the Middle East. Executioner I got on the first day, as I cleaned up after some wild goblins. Ant Kills the Elephant was for killing a Tier 2 individual while I was Tier 1. And Kinbreeder ought to be obvious.

RainyDayze: Your daughter from another timeline?

DarkLord: Yes. And before anyone starts, I will point out that such things aren’t taboo in Incubus/Succubus culture. Part of the whole ‘sex demon’ thing.

BackpageGal: Wow. That’s like something out of a Literotica story.

bento: What did you mean ‘cleaning up’ after some wild goblins?

DarkLord: Little known fact about goblins is that natural born goblins are mostly male. 1 in 50 will be female. To combat this, goblin females often have ‘litters’ of 3-5 at a time. Also, goblins will capture women of other races for breeding. Unfortunately, goblins have what is basically a magical STD when they aren’t bound to a dungeon or similar. Any female a wild goblin breeds with is infected, and transformed into a female goblin.

GringottsGoblin: Oh dear. I think I may need to change my username.

NotACop: Is there any cure?

White_Queen: If you have a sufficiently skilled healer around? Yes. But only if you get to them before the infection has run its course. After that, the poor woman will likely no longer remember being anything more than the breeding sow she’s become.

DarkLord: And even if you can cure them, by the time you get to a captured woman, it is usually a kindness to simply end their suffering. Goblins aren’t known for being gentle lovers, or caring about consent, after all.

abby_gail: But sex demons are?

DarkLord: Actually, yes. Assuming you aren’t fighting one, of course. The rules are different for combatants, or those who are enslaved in some way, naturally. But within a family, for instance, consent is paramount, and outside the family, an incubus or succubus may be heavy-handed on the seduction, especially with all the gifts they have to entice or entrance, but if someone can actually summon the will to say no? Like actually say no, instead of something like “oh, we shouldn’t”? Then they typically respect that.

THE_MERCHANT: Though most take it as a challenge for a long-term project.

DarkLord: True. There’s a difference between ‘not ever’ and ‘not yet’.

BagOTrix: Skipping right the hell past that, what about the sea monster? They’re saying that was a Tier 3 creature. Are we going to be seeing more of those?

DarkLord: The sea monster, as you put it, was a Tier 2 Kraken that was artificially raised into a Tier 3 Giant Kraken.

White_Queen: Which idiot started playing around with the [Mystic Monster Maker] bullshit?

DarkLord: The purchase came from a System Shop in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka Krai, Russia, on September 14, 2019, in a lot of 24.

White_Queen: All right, I’m just glad it isn’t anyone where I would have to deal with it. I’m not about to let someone start being an idiot and disrupting my plans more than they already have been.

FullServiceMassage: Does this mean you’re going to be blowing up Russia, next?

DarkLord: Please. As if I’d allow myself to be so predictable. But I will be sure to express my… displeasure with them, you can be certain.

DoritoMan: Right, I’m making popcorn. This is going to be good.