“We go on as planned,” Jace said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than he really was.
“But…” Mika said. “They might delete you. You said so.”
Jace smiled at her. “I know. But if we don’t get to the Help Desk and tell them what’s going on, other people will be trapped in that hell that you were in - going from monster body to monster body. I can’t live with that.”
Mika nodded, but he saw her eyes moisten.
“You’re the noble hero after all, dear one,” Diana smiled. “I knew you were the type.”
“Hardly,” Jace smiled despite himself. “I'm scared they will end up deleting me.”
“And yet you’re doing it anyway,” Diana said. “Sounds heroic to me.”
Mika was smiling. “Jace is a hero.”
Jace didn’t know what to say to that so he changed the subject. “I don’t suppose Charlena logged back in?”
Mika frowned but said nothing.
Diana was silent for a second as she looked to Mika but finally replied. “No, she hasn’t logged back on.”
He was disappointed but not surprised. Charlena had actually seen his body and been told by a doctor that there was no way he was the real Jace. He wasn’t sure what she’d thought he was, but he had an explanation now. Unfortunately, that would have to wait.
Fimipp appeared then and brought with him a platter of waffles and a small saucer of salmon. “Some breakfast, sir?”
***
Jace, Mika and Diana ate waffles while Luna devoured the salmon. As they ate, they discussed plans on how to go about the search. It didn’t take them long to realize they couldn’t really make a plan since none of them had any idea of the interior of the building, other than Jace’s brief visit to the throne room.
“I doubt the party will be held in the throne room,” Diana said. “Most likely they have some sort of ballroom.”
“Good point,” Jace agreed. “So, we have absolutely no idea where we’ll be.”
“We’ll have to sneak out and explore,” Mika offered.
“Like a ninja,” Jace smiled.
“Yes,” Mika gave him a big grin. “Like ninja.”
“I can try to charm one of the nobles or guards to give me a tour,” Diana suggested. “Of course, that will most likely only involve the publicly accessible areas.”
“True, but it’s a start,” Jace said. “And it won’t get you thrown in the dungeon. In the meantime, Mika and I will need to try and sneak out and do some snooping around.”
“Yes,” Mika nodded. “With the cloak we got you, you will be invisible.”
“To a certain degree,” he told her. “A very high-level NPC or character can still see through my Stealth. I’ll still need to be careful.”
“What do we say if we get caught?” Mika asked suddenly.
Jace thought for a moment and, remembering some of the old vidstreams he loved, came up with the answer. “Tell them you’re looking for the bathroom.”
The three of them waited the rest of the morning and Jace stayed all afternoon, as well. Diana and Mika left to get their hair and make-up done. There were no cosmetics kits that players could buy themselves. Instead, if a player wanted to change their appearance, they went to a salon and paid in-game money and they could change just about everything - for a price.
The two girls were gone all afternoon and when they finally returned, both women were dressed in their gowns and completely made up. He had to admit, they looked incredible.
Both women had their hair done up in intricate braids and yet both were different. Diana’s hair was braided and then pulled up onto the top of her head, with a few curls on either side of her head. The braids were intricate and were done with beads of silver that matched the silver trim of her blue and silver gown.
The gown itself was gorgeous. It appeared to Jace to be two pieces. The first was an outer, burgundy colored dress trimmed in silver. It had a plunging neckline and was slit down the middle on the bottom. Under the outer dress was a shiny silver dress. The ensemble was cinched tight around her thin waist, giving her a very womanly hourglass figure.
Mika’s hair was braided too but the front of her long, straight hair was braided and pulled around to the back of her head where the braids met. Interspersed with the braids were tiny green flowers that matched her dress.
Even though Jace had previously seen Mika’s green velvet gown, the effect of the women’s make-up, hair and the little green flowers in her hair made her look incredible.
“You both look amazing,” Jace managed to get out. In truth, dressed the way they were, they both looked like models, especially Mika. He was actually having a hard time keeping his mind off her.
Both girls beamed but then Mika’s lips formed a pout. “Where is your outfit?”
Jace quickly equipped his own party clothes. He had chosen a white silk shirt with an ascot. Over the shirt, he wore an embroidered black jacket trimmed in silver. Matching black pants and high black leather boots completed the ensemble.
“You look very handsome,” Mika smiled.
“Thanks,” he replied.
“Are you going to do anything with your hair?” Diana asked as she gave him a critical look.
“My hair?” he asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. “It needs to be slicked back. That’s the style for nobles.”
“Too late now,” Jace shrugged. Then he remembered the hat. He put it on and willed his hair to be slicked back and to make the hat as unobtrusive as possible, he made the hat appear as a thin silver braided circlet.
“Very nice,” Diana approved. “The circlet is a nice touch. Very noble.”
Jace grinned. “Thanks.”
Seeing the girls made him think of Charlena and he looked over to the chair where she had disappeared.
“Sorry, dear one,” Diana said as she smoothed out a wrinkle in her gown. “It doesn’t look like Charlena is coming.”
“We can do this without her,” Mika said, folding her arms over her chest. “We don’t need her.”
Jace nodded. “We can. But I wish we didn’t have to. The more of us searching, the more chance we have of finding the Help Desk. We’re only going to get one shot at this. Who knows if I’ll ever get invited back? Or for that matter, who knows if the city will be here at the end of next week.”
“We will find it,” Mika smiled and Jace envied her confidence.
“Of course, we will,” Diana said, though the older woman showed much less enthusiasm.
Fimipp appeared then in the doorway and cleared his throat. “Sir, the party at the palace begins in one hour. It would be prudent to leave now.”
Jace looked at the halfling. “It won’t take an hour to get there. It’s not even a mile.”
“Yes, sir,” the butler agreed. “But you will be expected to arrive by carriage and the line for carriages will stretch for some distance.”
He and the girls exchanged looks. Jace had thought they’d just walk to the palace, but he guessed Fimipp was correct. This was an official event and the nobility would be expected to observe protocol.
“I guess we’re going by carriage,” he told the girls. He turned to the halfling. “Where can we get a carriage?”
“I took the liberty of reserving one for you,” the halfling said, inclining his head. “It has just arrived.”
Jace chuckled and the girls all looked impressed. “Well done, Fimipp.”
Fimipp nodded his head in acceptance of the compliment and then looked around the room. “Will Lady Charlena not be joining you?”
“Apparently not,” Jace looked to the chair where she had disappeared and sighed. He was hoping she would have logged in so he could explain things to her. He’d hoped she would have at least given him that chance. And now they were going to have to head off to the party without her.
“Very good, sir,” the butler said. “Whenever you are ready, you can follow me. The carriage is ready to depart.”
He looked at the gi
rls. “Time for us to go. You girls ready?”
Mika and Diana looked themselves over and then nodded. “We were born ready.”
“Yes,” Mika agreed with the grin.
“Indeed,” Jace smiled. “But there’s one other thing we need to do before we leave. Take any equipment you don’t want to lose and leave it in your bedroom. It should be safe in this house, at least until we get back.”
“Why?” Mika asked as she fingered her katana.
“If we get caught,” he told her. “Try to make sure you die somehow so you respawn. That way you don’t get stuck in a prison cell. If you do die, you would normally lose your body since we can’t exactly stroll back into the palace and get it. But if you leave your gear here, you won’t lose much.”
“That makes sense,” Diana said. “But won't they be on to us? Won’t they just confiscate the house if we commit a crime? Like they did with that other noble fellow?”
“No,” Jace shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way with players. Once we have a title, we have it for good. It’s part of the coding. Otherwise, people would never spend millions of dollars on something that could be easily taken away.”
“And they’re all about money,” Diana mused.
“Exactly,” Jace nodded.
The girls did as he said and he went upstairs as well and emptied his inventory until he was only carrying his lock picks, his Infiltrator’s Hat, the Kraken’s Claw, and a few hundred gold - in case he had to bribe someone he ran into. When they were done, they met in the foyer.
“Let’s go to the ball,” he said and offered his arms to them. The girls took his arms and they followed the halfling out the front door to where the carriage waited.
Luna padded after them and he idly wondered if it was appropriate to bring a cat to a noble event. Then again, she was his familiar. If it were a problem, he could always dismiss her and resummon her after the party.
Jace stopped and turned to Fimipp. “If Lady Charlena does appear, tell her we had to leave but that we would love it if she joined us.”
“I will, Sir,” the halfling said.
The three of them, and Luna, crowded into the carriage and then, with a word from Fimipp to the driver, they were off to the princess’ birthday party.
Chapter 52
Fimipp had been right. The carriages were lined up all the way to the entrance of the Noble District and then curved around to the north. As they drove past the line to take their place, Jace checked out the other party-goers.
While many of them were NPC nobles, Jace thought almost half of them must be players. And judging by the levels he was seeing, his group just may be the lowest level players at the party tonight.
“I can’t believe all of these people are nobles,” Mika said, as their driver maneuvered them into their spot.
Jace turned from the window and looked at the stunning Japanese girl. “That’s what happens when WorldCog allows people to buy noble titles. You get a ton of nobles.”
“In Japan,” Mika mused. “There are only four noble clans. Not that they have noble titles any longer. Only the Imperial family has titles now.” She looked out the window at the long line of carriages. “There must be hundreds of carriages. Does that mean there are hundreds of noble families?”
Shrugging, Jace glanced out the window as well. “Probably. WorldCog made this an exclusive club that people pay big bucks to join. Most of that money comes from the real world, which is why they’re the most valuable company on the planet. People pay for an eternity of pampering and parties.”
“Sounds boring,” Mika said.
“Sounds wonderful,” Diana chimed in. “You youngsters don’t know it yet, but after a certain point in life, you really have had enough of working your fingers to the knuckles. You begin to enjoy the little, and not so little, luxuries in life.”
Jace and Mika turned to the older woman. Diana looked wistfully out the window. “That’s what I thought I was signing up for when I had my attorney change my will. An eternity of luxury and pampering. It sounded divine.”
“Once support fixes everyone,” Jace told her. “You’ll get your life of luxury.”
Diana turned back to them and smiled. “Yes. That does sound nice. But I do have to admit that playing the game with you three over the last week has been… invigorating.”
“You had fun,” Mika smiled.
“Yes, dear one,” Diana agreed. “I had fun. There’s a certain thrill to the game that I had not expected. I think I will miss it when things get fixed.”
“Why?” Mika furrowed her brow. “You can keep playing.”
“Right,” Jace agreed. “Why do you have to stop? Once they put you in whatever character you originally asked for, you can start playing again.”
Diana waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t know. I doubt it will be the same without you two, and Charlena, of course…”
“It’s not like we can’t play together,” Jace told her.
“We will be thrust into different parts of the world,” Diana shook her head. “I was supposed to be an elf with a huge vineyard in the elven lands. Our Jace here, will be all the way up here. You, I’m not sure where you will be. Didn’t you tell me you were one of those cat people?”
“Cat-kin,” Mika confirmed and then frowned. “You are right. If the company will put me back in my cat-kin, I will not be on this continent. I will not be able to see any of you.”
“See what I mean, dear,” Diana said. “It’s a bit depressing when you think about it.”
The girls lapsed into silence but Jace spoke up. “You two forget that you both have money now. Life insurance, royalties or any money that transferred in from the real world. You COULD pay for passage to some place where we can meet up.”
“But then what?” Diana asked. “It might take me a couple of weeks to catch up to you if you didn’t do anything, but what level is your cat-kin, Mika?”
Mika looked pained. “Almost level 50. It took me almost a year to make it to that level.”
Jace sighed and nodded. “Once you get past level 30, things really slow down. That’s the way they designed it. It’s the most time-consuming game there is, but it’s the only game you can be uploaded into when you die, so they have a monopoly. It gets even worse at 50 and then again at 70.”
“You’re not exactly inspiring hope,” Diana told him.
“It wouldn’t be easy to catch up to her,” Jace explained. “But it’s not impossible either. Especially considering we don’t sleep.”
“That is true,” Diana and she looked at them wistfully. “I do miss sleep. I miss dreaming too.”
“Yes,” Mika nodded. “I miss sleep too. I wish there was a way for us to do that.”
Jace shrugged. “Maybe there is. Right now, none of us have access to the real HUD of an upload. For all we know, there’s a sleep function.”
“That would be nice,” Diana said. She looked between the two of them. “So, what are we saying. That we want to get together once this whole thing is resolved?”
“Yes!” Mika said enthusiastically. “You are my friends. Friends should stick together.”
Smiling, Jace nodded as well. “I hope we do. I’d like to see you both again.”
“Both of us,” Diana teased. “Or one of us in particular.”
Jace caught Mika’s eyes for a moment before she looked away, her cheeks red. He knew she liked him. And he liked her. Part of him also liked Charlena but her recent abandonment had made him reconsider what feelings he might have had.
Charlena had helped him. She’d helped him a lot and discovered his body. Well, she’d discovered the real Jace’s body. But he also had the feeling that she wasn’t interested in a virtual relationship. At least, that’s the impression he’d gotten from some of the things she’d said and done.
Now, she had logged off and hadn’t come back to help them in the most important thing they could do. Find the Help Desk and contacting support. Part of him wanted to unders
tand her point of view, but the other part felt betrayed. And hurt.
They’d never said they were anything. Not boyfriend/girlfriend. Certainly not lovers. But still, he’d thought they had developed at least a friendship. What kind of friend would turn their back on a friend during an important mission?
He tried not to think of it as the carriage moved up another space. They’d made it to the corner and were now on a straight shot to the palace. But at the speed the line was moving, they wouldn’t get there until a little after 6pm.
“Let’s go over this plan of ours again,” Diana broke the silence. “If we can even call it a plan.”
Jace gave the older woman a lop-sided grin. “It’s mostly a plan.”
“It’s more like 12% of a plan,” Diana scoffed. “Barely even a concept.”
Jace waved off her dismissal. “It’s the best plan we can come up with given we have no idea what we’re walking into, where we’ll be or where to look.”
“You know,” Mika said, making a sour face. “When you say it that way, it kind of sounds like we are doomed to fail.”
“Et tu, Brute?” Jace said, looking at the Asian girl.
Mika just looked back at him and grinned. “At least we all have glasses.”
“There’s that,” Jace rolled his eyes. “I did ask for suggestions. We really don’t know what we’re walking into and that makes it impossible to really plan. We have to play it by ear.”
“And what do we do if we get caught?” Mika asked.
“Like I said earlier,” Jace explained. “Escape if you can. If you can’t, try to make sure you die. It doesn’t matter how. Just die so that you respawn.”
“And you’re sure you won’t lose your title or anything if one of us gets caught?” Diana asked.
“I’m not 100% sure,” he admitted. “But I’ve heard of nobles doing some pretty crazy things and they still retained their titles.”
“It won’t matter anyway if that dragon comes,” Mika said soberly. “If the whole city is destroyed, you won’t have a title or house, right?”
They all went quiet at her words but Jace nodded soberly. “True. If the dragon destroys the city, I assume all titles will be null and void, though I may be wrong. The title may remain unless every city in the country is destroyed. But I doubt we’d be that lucky.”
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