She smiled. “After seeing how well you two fight, you needn’t worry about that. If you promise to help me with my assault, I will tell you the full story.”
“We will come back tomorrow night,” I said. “But if you don’t mind, we’ll meet up after you’ve already summoned your squad.”
She smiled at that. She tapped the ground with her foot. “I’ll meet you right here an hour after sundown tomorrow night.”
“What’s the point of having me as a manager if you two suicidal idiots don’t listen to my advice?” Mordecai raged after we arrived back at the Belly-Rubbed Pug saferoom.
We’d had to dodge a single mob on our way to the inn. It was a spider thing, but its body was an eyeball the size of a beach ball. It’d woven a web across the street, and we’d had to take the long way to the room.
The recap episode was about to air when we arrived. We approached the room, and I sent a quick message to Mordecai that we were going in as a courtesy. If I’d known he was going to be such an ass, I wouldn’t have warned him.
“Within minutes of us going out there, we got that quest,” I said. “I asked you if it was important or if we should ignore it. Well guess what? You didn’t answer because you were shitfaced.”
Mordecai took a deep breath. “I apologize. I have not had the pleasure of drinking in an Over City pub in a very long time, and I took advantage of the opportunity. I did not take into account the Incubus’s weakness, which is alcohol. But if I had been of sound mind, I would have told you that quests are great for experience and loot, but only if you are comfortably ahead of the difficulty curve for the level. Since we only have eight days, and you are currently playing catch-up, I would’ve said to skip it and do what I originally told you to do.”
“And we probably would’ve taken that advice had you actually given it,” I said.
“Furthermore,” Mordecai continued. “After I was cogent of my surroundings, I told you to stay away from the goddamned elite, but did you listen? No. You made a date with her for tomorrow night. A date, should you decide to attend, that will surely result in all of the blood seeping from your veins and into her minions.”
“I don’t like that lady,” Donut said as she munched a freshly-prepared tuna steak. Mongo devoured a plate of something that looked like raw hamburger meat on the floor next to her. He looked up and squeaked agreement.
“She’s an elite,” Mordecai said. “Never trust an elite.”
“So what, exactly, are elites? How are they different than other NPCs? Is it just because they’re more powerful?”
Mordecai sighed. “Okay, so elites. There are thousands of them spread throughout the urban levels of the dungeon. Unlike most mobs and dungeon NPCs, they can—and do—freely travel between the urban floors. In addition to the crawl, there is also a more scripted aspect to the dungeon. Think of it as a soap opera or a serial. All of these stories activated with the opening of the third floor. Every season they have multiple storylines pop up at once, like in September when all the new shows come out on television. There are also a few running stories that have been spanning multiple seasons, but that’s all on the ninth floor. That’s too complicated to explain right now.”
“Wait,” I said. “So, they’re like actors?”
He shook his head. “Do you remember what we discussed earlier about how Borant owns and alters the minds of some mobs and NPCs? Elites are never naturals. They are designed, printed, and then imprinted with the memories needed for them to act out their drama. As far as they’re concerned, this is their real world.”
“But that’s how it is with most of the other mobs,” I said.
Mordecai shook his head again, this time more adamantly. “No. Regular mobs are autonomous. Once they’re set loose in the dungeon, what they do is up to chance. Here is the thing with elites, and this is extremely important, so pay careful attention. Your quest with this circus and this Signet woman is a storyline, a drama created for the viewers by a team of writers. It will play itself out whether or not you get involved. It will have its own show and team of people working on that show who have been working on it for a very long time and who will be very protective of it. Some of these dramas and storylines become quite popular in their own right. While elites aren’t directly controlled by the AI and the writers, they are constantly being nudged and manipulated. If the writers don’t like where a storyline is going, they will hot patch new instructions right into the elite’s minds. There are AI-controlled rules to keep the dungeon ‘fair’ for the crawlers, but those rules are much looser when it comes to elites. If it comes down to saving the life of a single crawler or blowing an entire drama that’s been building for weeks, what do you think is going to happen? I’ve seen it a dozen times. A hot shit crawler comes across an elite, and instead of trying to solve the quest, he decides to go all murder hobo and kill the NPC. Something always happens. Something bad. Most of these elites have very thick plot armor, and in those stories, you’re the extra. The red shirt. The guest star. Not every quest will involve elites, but if it does, then I will always suggest that you stay the hell away. Especially when that storyline just launched, because there’s a whole team of writers and producers out there who don’t want their precious little series to get canceled after the first day. And if they can write in the death of a popular crawler, all the better. It will guarantee their show gets more viewers.”
“So when we talk to that Signet woman, we’re on another show?” Donut asked.
Mordecai just looked at the cat. “Out of all of what I just said, that’s what you take away?”
“Wait,” I said. A notion came at me. Something Signet had said. “But if this level is only eight days, what happens when the floor collapses?”
“The important elites will go down to the sixth floor, and the story will continue. While you crawlers are dicking around on the fourth and fifth floors, these dramas will continue to play out. That is until you guys get there to mess it all up. That’s part of the fun for the viewers, seeing how crawlers crap all over the producer’s hard work. It’s like taking Jason from a Friday the Thirteenth movie and tossing him into a late-season episode of Jane the Virgin just to see what happens. But, like I said, the producers and writers aren’t going to allow you to just come and do it this early. They will fight back.”
“But only if we’re going against their planned storyline,” I said. “If we’re aiding the narrative, they might actually do the opposite. They might help us.”
Mordecai scoffed. “You can also just sit here in this pub and play with yourselves for the next seven days. It might be fun, but it’s also a one-way ticket to getting left behind. Forget this quest and go to the city.”
The center television screen snapped on, and the opening music for the recap episode played.
“Special Edition! See what your favorite crawlers chose as their race!” the announcer cried.
I sat back and thought about everything that had happened today while we watched a shortened version of the bloody first part of the show. Some large group of crawlers fought against a demon-like city boss with crab pincers. The boss ripped through them in seconds, killing about forty crawlers with horrifying alacrity. The demon cackled with glee as it killed them all.
The first crawler they showed getting her upgrade was Hekla of Brynhild’s Daughters, the woman from Iceland who’d gathered a large group of female crawlers around her. It showed her entering the saferoom alone.
“Where’s the rest of her group?” I asked.
“They didn’t get together until later,” Mordecai said, “So they had different game guides. They’ll come out scattered to the wind.”