"Well, if you must know, I had a girlfriend who wanted to play, but didn't want to be low level, so we sprung to get her a character. And, of course, she grew bored with the game in a matter of days. So, that was a messy break-up."
"Sounds like you made the right choice," Kylian said. "I'd kill for a free high level character."
They began to walk through the warmly lit cavern. Their footsteps echoed for quite some distance. The fire spell seemed to provide warmth as well as sight, and Sang felt rather cozy, despite how cramped the spaces were. She could feel the gentle heat ebb and flow against her skin. It was making her a little sleepy. The rest of the team soon began to yawn, as well.
They had been travelling for three days with only four or five hours of sleep a night. And while Sang and Van were used to this kind of rough running, for the others, it was growing harder for them to keep up the pace. It was only a matter of time before they'd need to take a longer break.
"There!" Fredlin said as he pointed to a small painted circle on the wall. The paint was bright red and there were three dots in the middle. "That's the Gorgon Brothers symbol. Let's search for a hidden tunnel or something."
Sang activated her Search skill and began to feel her hands along the wall. A small stone embedded in the wall began to glow. She grabbed it and pushed it back, causing the entire wall to slide open.
"Is this it?" Sang asked with a grin. No matter how many times she found a secret door, it always made her feel accomplished.
Van held up a hand. "Not so fast," he said as he walked up to the entrance. The passage led to a set of stairs that went spiraling downwards. "If these guys are cautious, I'm willing to bet this is rigged with a trap." He knelt down and placed a hand on the ground, running his fingers along the floor. He jerked his hand forward for a moment. "Gotcha!" he triumphantly declared as he pulled a wire.
Four large axes came swinging down at once, slicing in all directions on the inside of the secret room. Van was safe, as he had triggered the trap while remaining outside of the passage. The axes swung around violently for a few seconds and then retracted up into the ceiling. Van took out a knife and cut the wire. "It's clear. Let's go."
"Nice work," Kylian complimented him as they walked down the stairs in a single-file line. The stairwell was far too narrow for them to move while side by side.
"I don't like everyone being so squished together," Van said once they reached the bottom of the stairs. The stairwell led to another hall, although this space was equally as narrow as the stairwell. "Makes us way to vulnerable in a fight."
"That goes both ways," Fredlin said. "Only one person can come at us at a time."
"True," Van replied. He knelt down to check for further traps for a few moments before moving forward to lead the team.
In the distance, they could hear some talking. There were three distinct voices – all male. They were arguing about something.
"I'm telling you, I sent the money," said a high-pitched voice.
"And we're telling you that it didn't arrive," said another, lower voice. "So, you don't get your character."
"I travelled a long way here, Bramif!" the high-pitched voice shouted. "I did everything that you guys said."
"Apparently not," the one called Bramif replied, "because your money didn't come through."
"And it's not like we haven't been patient," said the third voice.
"So, get the hell out and don't come back," Bramif said.
"Whatever. Just give me a few days, and I'll get the money to you guys."
"Sorry, but if you say you're going to have it on Friday," the third voice said, "then you better have it on Friday. We don't work with people who can't keep their word."
"But –"
"Get out!" Bramif said. Sang could hear the sound of a weapon being drawn.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. Jeez, lay off, will ya?" the voice responded. They could hear footsteps coming towards them.
"Excuse me," a short man with several gold chains and a flute hanging from his back said as he tried to push by Van. It was awkward as he shoved and pushed until finally he made it to the back of the team's line of players. "If you ask me, these guys are a bunch of scammers," he muttered to Sang. "I'd spend my money elsewhere." And with that, he began his ascent up the stairs.
"We can hear you all!" one of the voices cried. "Please, come into our office. But we would prefer it if your weapons were put away."
Van turned to face his team and nodded. They all quickly sheathed their weapons in compliance with his nod. Then, one by one, they walked toward a large open door. Fortunately, this entryway opened up considerably and there was enough space within the room for everyone to fit comfortably.
The room itself was nothing special; there was a wooden table resting in the center, and two men were standing on opposites sides of the table playing with what looked like little miniature figures of people. The men were dressed identically, wearing silver jackets and thick coke bottle glasses. One was slightly shorter than the other.
"Well, hello," said the short man. "I'm Bramif and this is my brother, Sulif. We're pleased you managed to find us here."
"It's not an easy journey to get here," Sulif said. "Not when you fill this mountain full of traps and Ogres."
"Yeah, it was a bit of a journey," Van said. He pointed to Fredlin. "I believe you two have made his acquaintance?"
Bramif adjusted his glasses and scuttled over to Fredlin. "Hmmm, I remember you. You had that girlfriend, right? Sylvia, I think?"
"Yeah," Fredlin said as he sheepishly grinned.
"My favorite customer!" Sulif laughed. "This guy, head over heels, buys a three-hundred-dollar character for his girl and she barely plays it for an afternoon before saying she's bored."
"We had to make an exception in our no-refund policies because of how hard we laughed when she dumped him!" Bramif said, chuckling heartily.
"Yeah, right," Fredlin coughed. "Well, we're looking for some alts for our characters."
"All of you?" Bramif asked.
"Yeah," Kylian said as he slowly walked around the room, inspecting the space. There was nothing in the room except for the table. There weren't even any entryways except for the one they had just entered through. All in all, it was a very odd place for people to be meeting.
"Well that won't be cheap," Sulif said. "And it certainly won't be something we'll be completing today. You folks are from the Iron Dragons, yeah?"
"We are," Sang answered as she leaned against the table. She looked at the walls carefully, searching for some kind of secret compartment or cracks in the walls, but there was nothing that she could see.
"Figures," Bramif replied. "Well, you guys might be crazy, but at least you're not friends with Draco. Are you expecting to be banned from the game? Is that why you're going for alts?"
"It's long and complicated," Van said. "The only thing that you need to know is that we have the money to pay and we're needing these characters as soon as possible."
"Sorry, friends," Sulif said as she shook his head vehemently, "but we're not particularly inclined to rush on anything."
"Why not?" Sahara asked as she stomped her staff on the ground hard.
"Because," Bramif replied, "we're easily making a six-figure salary from this job, and it's also super illegal, so we need to be careful. Here are the rules: you gotta pay up front, and then we do a background check. Then one of you goes out to meet us in the real world, to pick up the data sticks with the new characters. All you gotta do is plug them into whatever haptic systems you're using and you'll be golden."
"Where are you guys located?" Kylian asked.
Bramif shrugged. "You'll know once you pass our background check."
"How long does that take?" Sang asked after she sighed. This was going to take forever, and she knew it.