“Nice work,” Sang replied as she dropped down from the trees. “You get any useful information?”
“Yeah, big time. Every year, there’s a big event where every kingdom has to go to war, and it looks like it’s starting this week. So, it’s gonna be purse chaos, which is going to make it easier for us to move around without detection,” Van said.
“That is good news,” Sang replied as she opened her satchel, allowing Jet to crawl out. He began to puff little bursts of flame at the falling leaves around him. Van watched in amusement as the dragon explored the world. It moved like a real creature, not like an AI. He still wasn’t sure what this thing was, but the more he watched it, the more he hoped that it really was an alien of some kind.
“Yeah, tell me about it. So, we’re alive and kicking, no one murdered you, and we’re smack dab in the middle of absolutely nowhere,” Van said. “What’s the plan, El Capitan?”
“Well, I just got word from the team that a CIA raid on Draco headquarters in Venezuela went well. They managed to get in, breach the building, and examine the facility.”
“Awesome! What’d they find?”
“Not a damn thing. A few accountants, some financial records, but nothing else. No computers, no leadership, nada.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, it does. Draco used their base in Venezuela as a cover, a place to appear legit. They had a few people working inside, just providing basic customer support and answering questions when the occasional reporter would break in, but that’s all they needed there. They put a lot of effort into making the base look like it was real, so no one would be suspicious of a company with no home address. They hid in Venezuela because that country doesn’t traditionally have a great record when it comes to working with the CIA.”
“I see. So, the whole thing was a waste of time?”
Sang shook her head. “On the contrary. It was incredibly useful for us. I’ve gotten a couple of orders. Originally, we were just supposed to investigate and keep our heads low, but now we need information. Those accountants who were, uh, detained, indicated that they were required to meet with certain key members of leadership inside of the game. They’d log into a haptic pod in the building and briefly meet with whoever was in charge of the PR and accounting divisions.”
“Interesting, so the people in charge were in the game itself…” Van mused, his mind darting back to the silver building that had thousands of desks floating in the air.
“Even better news—after some, uh, you know… gentle questioning, the accountants gave us a name. All we gotta do is track him down and see if we can steal some plans from him. Maybe even figure out his real-world identity and send someone after him.”
“Perfect! What’s the guy’s name?” Van asked.
“Lemuel. He’s a pro player or some kind of king. He was the last point of contact for the physical Draco base.”
“Lemuel… well, I happen to know where he is,” Van said.
“Are you serious?” Sang said as she jumped up a little. “Where is he?”
“He’s leading one of the biggest armies in one of the deadliest areas in all of the game. It’s a place called Bloodrock, and it’s hard to get into without the right kind of team.”
“Oh, and here I was thinking we’d be able to get there in an afternoon,” Sang said with a sigh. “How bad is it?”
“Well, minimum entry to get in there is Level 20. Minimum level to survive is somewhere around 35.”
“Well… Level 20’s not too far off,” Sang said, “but 35 seems like a long time.”
“Yeah, we’re looking at a minimum of at least six months of full-time play to get to that kind of level.”
“Urg, we don’t have time for that at all,” Sang said. “How about this? I’m fairly confident in my hacking skills, so why don’t we just—”
“Look, the fact that Draco hasn’t just swooped out of the sky to murder or kidnap us is miracle enough,” Van said. “Let’s not push our luck by starting to hack around. We’re going to have to play this the normal way.”
“The normal way is going to take forever!” Sang snapped. “We seriously don’t have that kind of time.”
“Well, what do you want me to do about it? I’m just one poorly put together bard! We’d need an entire freaking army if we were going to go into Bloodrock and capture their king.”
“Is… is that possible?” Sang asked. “Can we get an army?”
“What? That’s crazy—you’d have to build a town first. That takes forever and…” Van trailed off as a flash of inspiration struck him. “Aha! Of course! Sivlander built his own town! Back when I was running Sivlander, he created an entire settlement known as Silver Peak.”
“For real?” Sang asked.
“Of course, and it makes so much sense! That place was filled to the brim with people who liked my style of leadership and my stances on treasure-splitting. Before I was forced away from my old character, I had nearly 150 NPCS who were in that village, and at least 30 players who’d pledged to be defenders of the town. All we have to do is reach Silver Peak, tell everyone who I actually am, rally up a few higher-level players, and we can march straight to Bloodrock. They can power-level us along the way. It’s perfect.”
Sang slowly nodded at that. “Van, that is brilliant! It’s about time we stopped worrying about getting jumped by groups of people!”
“Awesome!” Van said as he pulled out his map. “And all we have to do is pass through the Lagoon of Terror, into the Stormswept Valley of Nightmares, take a quick shortcut through the Wretched Barrows Of Eternal Darkness, and we’ll be there in no time.”
Sang stared at the map for a few minutes. “Is there any way around those terrible, terrible places?”
“Despite the names, the Lagoon of Terror is surprisingly safe,” Van replied as he picked up Jet and slung the dragon over his shoulder. “Onward! To victory!”
Chapter Two
Sang nervously glanced at the horde of children that was following them. Everything had been going well up until Van saw a fork in the road that led to a place called Drohm Teg. He’d then begun excitedly babbling about video game stuff, ranting about a few things that she’d had trouble following, and then taken all of her gold and made a dash for the “black markets of Drohm Teg.” In his excitement, he had completely left her behind.
Now she was following Van through a maze of merchant stalls and huts in some kind of poorly lit marsh. The floor squished beneath her feet as she kept her eyes on the potential pickpockets roaming the area. The smell was beyond offensive; it was as if someone had collected all of their moldy socks and then cooked them for a solid three hours.
“Here it is!” Van shouted as he rushed up to one of the stalls. There was a nasty-looking man with an eyepatch sitting by a wooden table. He was quietly whittling away at a piece of bark, never taking his gaze off of Sang.
“So, uh, what are you looking for, exactly?” Sang asked as several orange dots appeared on her mini-map. The orange dots indicated the presence of players who were marked as bandits, meaning it was perfectly acceptable to kill them. She glanced over to see six players all standing amongst themselves, talking and laughing as they shopped.
“Drohm Teg is one of the best black markets in this entire game,” Van explained as he fiddled with several pieces of jewelry on the table. “It’s unmarked, hard to find, and most players end up here by accident. You can find just about anything you need—even stuff that’s been officially banned by the game.”
“How does that work?” Sang asked. “How could a player sell an item that was banned by the developers?”
“Oh, I have no idea, but I fully believe the rumor,” Van said as he picked up a small necklace with a piece of amethyst in the middle of a steel box. “Here it is... the answer to my problems.”