by Jeff Sproul
Carla smirked. “Glad we’re on the same page.”
Chapter 24: Business As Usual
Riley stood on a large rock against the chamber wall. He had a good eye on the fight and the combatants in the room. It had been almost half a month since Chase was killed by the band of cloak-wearing PKers.
Seth was sitting beside him, his arm out. He kept firing a white beam of energy, thanks to the clasp Riley had given him.
“So then I told my manager that I was sick, which, I mean, I am feeling a bit under the weather,” said Seth, as he continued to fire at a large stone golem that slowly swung its thick arms around the room, trying to hit the various copies of Laura.
“He didn’t even try and quiz me on my symptoms or anything. He was just like ‘alright, get better,’” Seth mimicked a deeper sounding voice at the end, before continuing his story. “But if it was anyone else, I swear he always grills them about why they’re sick, asking if they were out drinking again or whatever.”
Riley threw his right cord out, and then his left. He hadn’t spoken in a few minutes, as he loosely listened to Seth’s story about his part-time job, while also managing to keep up with buffs around the room.
“You’re mad that he trusted you?” asked Riley, glancing over to Seth for a moment, giving him a bit of a confused look.
“Yeah!” said Seth. “I mean, no! Well...I don’t know. Forget it.” Seth grumbled.
Riley blinked, not quite understanding, but he couldn’t help but smile. He diverted his attention back to the fight and threw his cord out to snag the weird dark soft areas between the golem’s stone segments. Even before the spear-tip found its mark, he was sending his left-cord out to one of Laura’s many clones. Todd, Brenda and Erica, were already buffed, so that just left all of Laura’s clones.
“I still can’t believe Brenda got her sigil,” said Riley. “I thought I’d be there to see it, but it had to be on one of the days I was with Laura’s group.”
“Yeah, it was pretty exciting,” said Seth. “I was hoping I would’ve found some powers by now, but it took you about a month, right?”
Riley nodded. “Yeah. But it’s almost been a month for you,” he replied. “Have you been touching everything that looks like it might kill you?”
“Screw that,” said Seth. “I’ve been kicking, punching, jumping into acid. I dunno. It’s tough man.”
“Yeah,” Riley agreed. “So has Brenda demanded that you call her Crossbolt yet?”
Seth snickered. “She’s still undecided on the name, I think. Not that she gets to pick, of course.”
“I wasn’t thrilled with Radiance when I got it,” said Riley. “I wanted something really cool sounding, something that put fear into people!”
“Yeah, I’d say the game screwed you out of that,” said Seth. “But at least you get to try again.”
“True,” Riley murmured.
“So how’re things going on...the bug project?” asked Seth.
Riley glanced over to him. “What bug project?” he asked, trying to make it sound as if he didn’t know.
“I know it’s a secret,” said Seth. “But Laura mentioned some of the details, and to keep my eye out. She gave me a teleportation cube of her own, and from Paladin. But I’ve gotta say, I doubt we’re going to come across the bug.”
Riley had noticed that Seth’s voice had lowered somewhat, so he kept his low as well, even though it was only trusted individuals in the vicinity.
“Yeah, it’s unlikely that you guys would be targeted,” said Riley. “We’ve seen two more attacks in the past two weeks. He or she, has stepped up their game. So far, no news outlet has speculated on him being a player. Or that he’s targeting streamers. But we checked into the recent incidents. They were both groups of paragons. They each had one person streaming their footage when it happened.”
“Damn,” said Seth. “I heard about the last two attacks on the news, cause they’re all about juicy events like this bug popping up. It’s just crazy that this...bug, is able to travel so quick, when most players wouldn’t have the means to do so. There’s that guy who did the portals, back during that invasion. But he could only make them as far as he could physically see.”
“Yeah, there’s definitely ways for players to move around quickly,” said Riley. “But the bug seems to be very powerful on its own. He went head to head with Paladin, and actually seemed stronger. I wish we could warn people about his methods, but currently it’s our only way of trapping him, since he doesn’t know we know.”
“It’s a tough call,” said Seth. “Are you guys working on a trap though?”
Riley’s sighed as he threw out his cords again. “Sort of. We’re gathering data on the attacks, trying to determine who he’s targeting and why. There’s tons of streamers that are paragons out there. Plenty of people make some extra money that way. But he’s not even targeting the streamers with the biggest following. He’s not really targeting the lowest ones either.”
“Well, at least streamers have a decent fanbase,” said Seth as he fired off more shots with the clasp. “Streamers get tons of donations and all sorts of stuff. They make money regardless of what they do, even though a lot of them tend to be PVPers. But even if they die, their fanbase will still be there to throw money at them, cause they like how they play, or they like their personality.”
Riley’s left and right cords retracted and slotted back into his palms. He stared at the large golem for several long seconds. “Crap,” he whispered. “Maybe that’s it?”
“What’s it?” asked Seth, glancing up to Riley.
“He might be targeting players that won’t lose all their income from dying. Since they’re streamers, he can figure out where they are and wait for them ahead of time, and he can take their loot and not have to worry about that player losing their job, essentially.”
Seth laughed and shook his head. “You make it sound like the bug isn’t such a bad person.”
Riley listened to Seth’s alternate point of view, and then immediately remembered his first-hand experience with the arrival of the White Weevil. “Maybe I’m wrong,” he murmured. “He did go after Warcry, and then killed me. Neither of us are streamers.”
“I think you’re trying too hard to figure this player out,” said Seth. “He may have a reason for doing what he does, but I doubt it’s in anyone’s best interest but his own. Think about all the players he killed during the invasion event.”
Riley sighed again. “Yeah, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking it through all the way, I guess.”
“I think if anyone’s going to bring this guy down, you’ve got the best shot at it,” said Seth. “He might even drop a really sweet item. Hell, killing him might even trigger a sigil.”
Riley’s thoughts had drifted. He was envisioning the scene with the Glownaconda, where the beam had swung down towards Warcry. He’d ran over and pushed her out of the way, but before he could dodge out of the way, his foot had been caught. He hadn’t expected the beam to keep him on the ground. At the time, he thought he could’ve rolled or dived out of the way. He started chewing on his lower lip as he remembered the incident involving his death.
“You said Radiance didn’t have a good reputation, didn’t you?” Riley asked.
“What?” Seth replied, as he kept firing at the golem’s weak spots.
“When we first met, and I was trying to find people I knew. You told me that everything you’d heard about Radiance, wasn’t too favorable, right?”
“Uh, well...yeah, kinda,” said Seth. He then turned to look to Riley again. “But you’ve changed. At least, you sure don’t seem like the same kind of person that people were referring to, when they spoke about Radiance. You’re a good person, Riley. It might not have been all that long ago that you were Radiance, but in my opinion, you’re two different people.”
Riley smiled. “I appreciate that, I really do,” he said. “But what I mean, is that maybe the bug is targeting bad people. People who he thinks eit
her won’t miss their income, or players he thinks should be taken out, due to their reputation or how they play the game.”
“Sounds like you need to do some more research on the victims,” said Seth. “Maybe after this, you can apply for an investigator job in your town’s police bureau. Before you know it, you’ll be sending people off to The Dungeon.”
“I’m not sure that putting ‘profiled, tracked down and hunted a player in Sigil Online,’ is going to meet the requirement to get a job like that.”
Seth shrugged. “Eh, give it a few years. You never know.”
Riley’s thoughts were already wandering again as he tried to remember as much as he could about the other players that the White Weevil had attacked.
“Todds buff wore off about a minute ago,” said Seth.
Riley blinked. “Oops,” he said as he threw his cords out again, right one to the golem, left to Todd.
The entire time, Todd had been lifting sections of earth to deflect the golem’s attacks, all the while red bolts flew from Brenda’s crossbow to slam into the golem’s weak points. Erica used the vines she could manipulate, to entangle the golem’s legs, severely limiting its movement. Laura’s copies were making rather weak attacks on the golem itself, but they were gaining most of its attention, allowing the others to deal more damage.
The fight lasted only eight minutes, before the golem crumbled where it stood and left an item in its wake.
“Really nice having Laura with us today,” said Seth, as he slowly stood. “Guess she’s really after paragon, since Carla’s been holding it over her head, huh?”
Riley smirked as he lowered his hands and then moved to the edge of the large rock. “Yeah, Carla’s always holding it above our heads, even Chase sometimes.”
“So Chase is getting back on his feet?” Seth asked, before jumping off the rock and landing about ten feet below.
Riley followed him, hopping down as well. “Yeah, Chase is flying in levels. We’ve been hitting more bosses to help him get back up to speed. He’s been perusing the markets in his off-hours, to see if there’s any questionable items that might grant him powers. He’s actually over in Tall City right now, checking out some place that sells weird things that could lead to getting your first powers.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard about stuff like that,” said Seth. “Sometimes you eat things, or take an item to a specific spot, or bring it near something else...and poof, you get powers. Or something.”
“There really isn’t an exact science to this game,” said Riley. “People try and duplicate past-success with gaining powers, and it never works. You gotta try new things.”
“So Chase is off searching for powers, and Carla is doing...what again?” asked Seth.
“Umm,” Riley trailed off for a moment, as he and Seth walked over to where the others in the group had gathered, already checking out the item. “Oh! That’s right, she went to the movies.”
“Ah,” said Seth, as they arrived at the center of the room. Laura’s arm was stretched out, taking her clones back, one by one.
“Anyone need a ring that gives three to mind,” said Brenda, as she held a small ring in her hand. “And it increases your crit chance by one percent.”
Nobody spoke up.
“Alright, sounds like trash,” said Brenda. “Selling it for credits then. You wanna hold onto it, Seth?”
“Sure, I’ll keep it warm in my pocket,” Seth replied.
Brenda tossed him the ring and he dematerialized it into his inventory.
“Next room?” asked Laura.
“We’re on a roll today,” said Todd. “Why don’t we combine groups all the time?” he asked, looking to Laura.
Laura looked over to Todd. “Um...I don’t know. It might not be a bad idea if we switch to a harder zone,” she said. “Seth is still working on tier one, and so is Chase from my group. If it’s cool with you guys, we could combine and go to a higher zone? Everything we’ve been doing, wouldn’t be a good pace for a group of that size though. If we go somewhere more dangerous, we’d gain more experience, but our individual loot gains would be a little slower.”
“I’m voting on a higher zone,” said Riley. “I don’t mind getting a little less loot. Besides, the things we do kill, would have loot that sells for more, even for what’s considered ‘junk’ items.”
“That’s true,” said Seth. “Let’s just finish our day here, and tomorrow we can meetup at Bunker Seven as usual. I’d love a change of scenery, but it's your all’s decision on where we go, since I just...you know, pew pew things,” he said as he gestured with his palm as if he was shooting.
“Me and Carla can carry you guys,” Brenda teased, her lips curled.
“Just because you gained increased powers, a title, and ten stat points, doesn’t mean you’re so much better than us now,” said Erica.
“Aww, but the fact that I feel better, is what counts!” Brenda joked as she brought her crossbow to her shoulder.
Soon enough, the group followed after Laura and headed into another room to find another boss to fight.
Chapter 25: Eye See You
Riley looked around Laura’s in-game apartment room. It was his first time being there. It was bigger than his own, despite being located in Bunker 7. The walls, ceiling, and floor, were all concrete. There was a bed, a dresser, a chandelier, a mirror, several storage chests. An incense burner was leaving thin little smoke trails up into the air. Riley wasn’t sure how to place the smell of the room. It was almost like laundry detergent, if he was being honest.
On one of the walls, was a large board with crudely drawn sections that represented the various cities. Laura stood in front of it, and continued to draw, adding dots and words beside them.
Seth was also there. As was Red Shotgun. Red had taken the initiative of laying down on Laura’s bed, with her hands under her head.
Seth leaned against one of the concrete walls as he stared down at the incense burner.
“Did we invite Paladin to this little...meeting?” asked Red.
“I sent him a message,” said Laura, as she kept writing on the whiteboard with a marker. “He said to appraise him of any new information, but that he was busy.”
“Sounds like a typical Paladin response,” said Red. “High level paragons always got stuff to do.”
Riley was seated in the middle of the floor, his legs out in front of him, his arms propping him up with his hands behind him. “Did Paladin say that any of his friends would be joining this...endeavor?”
“The bug-squashing endeavor?” Red replied.
“He said that he had some friends who’d be willing to enter the fight, depending on what happens and if they can get to it,” said Laura. “We’re still trying to keep things relatively secret to people we can trust, who won’t sell the information to the news.”
“I’ve thought about it,” said Red. “But then I realized the vids of me smashing that Weevil in the face, are going to be worth more.”
“That’s...very likely,” said Seth.
“I haven’t told anyone else but my girl, Melter,” said Red.
“I’ve mentioned to some of the other groups that I know, that I was looking for quick help on an undisclosed matter,” said Laura. “But after telling Seth about the plan, I haven’t said anything to anyone else.”
“I’m glad I get to be a part of this suicide endeavor,” Seth teased.
“The whole point of this meetup, is to make it less of one,” said Riley.
Laura leaned up and stepped to the side of the board. There were dots, connected to lines, which were connected to names. Laura reached out and pointed to a dot with the number one beside it. It had a line coming from it, that went up to the name ‘Radiance.’
“These are all the attacks the White Weevil has made,” said Laura. “This here, is where Radiance was killed. That was about two and a half months ago. Then, here we have the second appearance of the bug,” she said, as she tapped another dot, which was in a comple
tely different city. “The second incident was about twenty days later.” Laura then moved her marker and pointed to another dot. “The third attack was the invasion.”
“We know all of this already,” Red huffed as she leaned up on Laura’s bed and looked over to her. “Let’s get to the useful bits, yeah?”
Laura looked over to Red, then glanced to Riley. She then looked around to all three of them as she lifted her marker back to the board, pointing at the names she’d written. “For now, the only connection we’ve made to all these incidents, is that each of the groups and players the White Weevil has targeted, is because he perceives them as people nobody would miss, or that can easily replace their lost income, or that just play the game for fun.”
“We researched the four incidents that’ve happened since the invasion event, from about a month and a half ago. That’s the best connection we’ve been able to make,” said Riley. “During the invasion, the Weevil couldn’t have easily picked its targets, so it probably didn’t care too much. He probably figured that if people were going to show up to a boss event like that, then he didn’t care if he killed them.”
“So this guy, or girl, has a conscious that drives their decisions?” asked Red. “Is that all we’re trying to prove?”
“It’s enough to help make guesses on who he’s going to target next,” said Laura. “There’s not a lot of information to go on, as to why he chooses one player versus another, but he always uses streamers. He uses streamers to determine where a group is going to be, and then he seems to have a list of acceptable targets, once he’s there. He may not even go after the streamer, we’ve discovered. Sometimes he’s after other targets. Like with Radiance.”
Riley sighed quietly.
“So this is good detective work and all,” said Red. “But where does this leave us? We’re supposed to be hunting it down.”
“Which is where Paladin comes in,” said Laura. “We’ve made a list of players for him to meet-up with and pass out his teleportation cubes to. He’s doing it under the guise of wanting to put a stop to PKers in the region, which he is well-known for fighting. Unfortunately, there’s going to be some false-positives. These players, which are mostly streamers, will probably summon him at the first sign of trouble. This actually works out really-well for Paladin, because most of these people are paying him a premium for his teleportation cubes, knowing he’ll protect them. So he’s already turning a tidy profit off the whole situation. Unfortunately, he’s had to slow his leveling while he does this, but at his level, a week off isn’t going to affect his stats much.”
