by Natalie Grey
“Well,” Jay said, “let me tell you.”
He appeared in the center of the bar a moment later, with Katie coming in as well.
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry, guys. I really thought that was the best idea.” Gracie sank her head into her hands. “This is not my day for good decision-making, apparently.”
“It may have been the best idea, you know,” Katie pointed out. “Dead is dead, after all, but letting us all buff each other was a good thought.”
“Right.” Gracie sighed and forked over some gold for the repair costs on her gear. “Ouch, that one hurt. Oh, and we lost all of our opals. Hope those weren’t important.”
“We’ll just wait for Alan before going back,” Jay suggested. “Maybe hang out in some lower-level places for a bit after this, you know?”
“If you two still want anything to do with me, I guess,” Gracie said skeptically.
Katie laughed. “What, because we died once, you think we want to leave?”
“She takes the tank thing really seriously,” Jay said in a stage whisper.
“Do you think she knows that people die all the time in MMOs?” Katie whispered back.
“Guys.” Gracie leveled her sword at them. “All I’m going to say is, if you two want to hang around in half-destroyed armor, whispering in each other’s ears, I’m gonna need you to get a room.”
Jay guffawed. Both he and Katie fixed their gear, the holes mending themselves and the armor becoming brilliant once more.
“Where to next?” Katie asked. “And I gotta say, if you guys ever form a proper guild, I’m in.”
Gracie and Jay looked at one another.
“Now there’s an idea…” Gracie murmured.
Chapter Twenty
“Uh, Gracie?” Alex’s voice was very calm.
“Yeah?” Gracie didn’t look up.
“Is there a reason you’re trying to prove that Pepe Silvia does not exist?”
“Huh?” Gracie looked up, totally lost, then glanced around. Her research into past monthly dungeons was arranged neatly around her in piles corresponding to each fight, with—
Hmm. Well, it had started out neat. Now, with different fights linked to each of those in satellite piles, and with her constant perusal of said piles, it looked like she’d mugged a college kid and thrown their notes all over the room.
“Who’s Pepe Silvia?” she asked finally.
“Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Charlie goes on that rant? You know, with the board covered in paper and string—”
“Ohh, right.” Gracie scratched at her ear and gave a laugh. “I’ll have you know this is much saner than it looks like.”
“They all say that,” Alex said to no one as he exited the room. “Oh, hey, you got groceries before you went crazy.”
She nodded absently. “I know, I’m pretty great, right?”
“That remains to be seen.” Alex’s voice came from the kitchen, and he appeared a moment later with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. “What is all this?”
“You know,” Gracie told him with great dignity, “I’m having trouble with your assessment of crazy, given that you’re eating peanut butter directly out of the jar.”
“Sure, Nutella is better, but we don’t have any Nutella.” Alex gave a shrug and dropped onto the couch, staring over Gracie’s shoulder. “So, explain. Otherwise, I’m going to be forced to believe that you’re trying to summon demons, and I distinctly remember a no-demon clause in our rental agreement.”
He wasn’t kidding, but… “I thought that was a joke,” Gracie said.
“It was a nod to my ex,” Alex said, “so it was a joke. But only kind of.” He looked a little sad at the memories.
“Anyway, peanut butter is a condiment,” Gracie said, returning to a less painful topic. She winced when Alex looked her dead in the eyes and ate a huge mouthful. “Your mouth is going to get all stuck together, and then you’ll be sorry. Anyway, this is my research to see if I can predict what the new content will be this month. And…” She pointed to three piles beside Alex on the couch. “Dossiers on the competition.”
“So that’s why there’s a file labeled ‘Demon Syndicate.’ I was worried.” Alex leaned over to read as he scooped out another spoonful of peanut butter. “When you said ‘research,’ did you mean ‘hit list’?” He pointed with the spoon. “Because this looks like a hit list.”
Gracie laughed as she changed tabs on her computer and scrolled down to a series of diagrams. “I just copied down the player names for each guild. I still don’t know anyone’s spec or anything, or even who they’ve brought into their month-first runs before. I’ll make more notes when I have that.”
“Do you wanna, I don’t know, run that by me again in a way that gives me a clue what you’re talking about?” Alex popped the spoonful of peanut butter into his mouth and then said, his voice strangled, “Wait. You’re thinking of doing a month-first run, aren’t you? That’s what you’re trying to do, isn’t it?”
Gracie tossed a glance over her shoulder with a toothy grin. “Maybe,” she admitted cheekily.
He grunted. “Fuck, you don’t think small, do you?”
“Of course, I don’t,” Gracie said, unconcerned. “Nor should I. The gear part is taken care of. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to—”
“Except for the fact that these are guilds who play all day long together, have developed their own language, train for this, and have the best specs in the game!” Alex waved his hands. “You won’t be leveled far enough in three days to have your spec all set up.”
“So we’ll roll with what we got,” Gracie said, unconcerned. She looked over her shoulder at him again and grinned. “Come on, there’s no real downside. Well, I won’t have your rent money if we don’t make it. On the other hand, you’ll be getting that sooner or later anyway.”
Alex sighed. “And this is happier than I’ve seen you since your date with the douche.”
“That was not a date. That was cleverly disguised torture. Slow death by douche. Oh, that is a terrifying mental image.” Gracie stared at the far wall for a moment. “Forget I said that.”
“I’m trying, but it seems to be burned into my brain.” Alex put down the peanut butter. “I think I’m done with dinner, then. Okay, lady, riddle me this: how are we going to play tonight if the entire living room is covered in bits of paper?”
“Oh. Oh, dear.” Gracie scrambled up. “Give me ten minutes. Fifteen. Half an hour. I’ll get all this moved into the bedroom and keep working in there.”
“You’re so caught up in this that you’re not even going to play?” Alex sounded impressed.
“You, my friend, have never seen me in research mode.” Gracie looked up with a smile when a ding sounded. “Ah, the coffee is done.”
“Lord help us,” Alex said with the sigh of a man who had what he thought he wanted and just realized he had screwed himself. “I’m going to wake up tomorrow and find you strung out on Red Bull muttering buff numbers to yourself, aren’t I?”
“There’s a non-zero chance of that.” Gracie picked up a stack of paper and organized it. “I’m going to exercise my right against self-incrimination and not tell you exactly what the number is.” She headed off for the bedroom with Alex’s chuckles following her.
Alex called, “Wait. Come back.”
“Eh?” Gracie stuck her head around the corner.
“Look, if you’re going all crazy about this, I’ll help.” Alex picked up the phone. “First order of business is dinner. I’ll order, then we’ll divide up tasks and buckle down. Sound good?”
“There’s the Harvey Mudd alum I know and love. Come on…when you saw this, you got a little turned on.” Gracie wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“I’m going to exercise my right against self-incrimination now.”
Alex hadn’t ever seen Gracie’s research mode, but it was just as true that she hadn’t seen his, and she was impressed. By the time food arrived, he was so deep into his not
es that he didn’t hear the doorbell ring. He didn’t even stop to eat until Gracie waved the box between his face and the page, and even then, he tended to stop chewing whenever he reached an interesting passage. With Pad Thai trailing out of his mouth, Gracie reflected, he looked a bit like a swamp monster.
“So, they’re really skewing heavily toward frost and fire,” he said finally. “Either way.”
“Maybe they’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones,” Gracie suggested. She’d commandeered one of the couch pillows and propped her torso on it as she watched a video of a failed attempt. “But, yes, they seem to go hard on that dynamic. Maybe we want to get a fire mage on board as well as Freon?”
“Sounds good. Who is that?” Alex came to sit next to her, moving her coffee cup carefully out of the way.
Gracie nodded her appreciation. “Scions of Shinra,” she said. “They were the top dogs a few months in a row at the start, but Demon Syndicate has been dominating lately. They’ve had some close calls, but they always come through. They’re scrappy. I like it.” She grinned. “Of course, they’re also sort of the Goliath to our David, so what do I know?”
“Mmm.” Alex narrowed his eyes. “What are they— Oh, shit.” The party had wiped, and Gracie nodded as she leaned in to hear the voice chat.
She rewound the video for them to watch again. There hadn’t been any obvious sign that the boss was gearing up for such a big attack, or so she thought. It took a third watch-through before she realized that some of the decorations around the top of the circular room had been lighting up one by one. When all of them had lit up, closing the circle, the boss attacked.
“When they wipe, do they start from scratch?” Alex asked.
“I don’t think so.” Gracie frowned. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if that made it into the mechanics. They seem to be trying to find a balance between penalizing failure enough to make it sting and incentivizing trying. In a normal game, I’d say they wouldn’t think twice about throwing that out there and letting it all blow up. Here?”
“What?” Alex looked at her. Then his brain caught up with him. “The payouts. The sponsors. They don’t want anyone crying foul.”
“Yep.” Gracie nodded. “You know people would throw a hissy fit about losing out on ‘their’ share of the pot. Or, you know, having their company logo splashed up there.”
Alex gave her a look. “Would I be correct that you’re speaking from experience, here?”
“I may have logged out because I was getting spammed with guild offers.” Gracie rolled her eyes. “At first, I tried to explain to everyone that my ranking wasn’t real. Then I lost my voice and gave up.”
“That explains the several mugs with tea bags.”
“We’re out of honey,” Gracie said mournfully. “Anyway, it was just too much trouble to be logged in. They’re so full of themselves. Not just these three guilds, either. All of them are.” She sighed. “Well, from what I’ve seen, the main takeaways are to be ready for frost and fire, look in the environment for clues about what’s coming, and prioritize killing the boss over the mobs around him.”
“Yeah, that’s one of your favorites.” Alex grinned. “But be careful—as soon as you think you have it down, they’re going to switch it up on you. They’re sneaky.”
Gracie snorted with laughter, then covered her mouth to keep Pad Thai from going everywhere. “Yes, I’m sure Dragon Soul Productions is very interested in what I, personally, think the next dungeon will be.” She grinned. “It’s a crazy thing to try for, but it’s my crazy thing. Unless…”
“Hmm?” Alex had leaned back against the couch and was picking the last of the chicken out of a takeout box. He glanced at her and frowned at her expression. “What’s up?”
“Matt texted today.” Gracie shrugged. “My old boss? Says he’s talked to Vince, and he can get me my job back if I want it.”
“Gracie!” Alex winced.
“I know. I know. But it’s a job, right? It’s money, right?”
“Money and misery,” Alex said succinctly. “Don’t go back there. Aim higher.” He jabbed his plastic fork at her for emphasis.
“Fine,” Gracie grumbled. “But I hate job searching. Everywhere is related to the casinos somehow.”
“You’ll find something,” Alex predicted. “For now, I kinda want to see what’s going to happen when you try to do this month-first run.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Gracie asked sweetly.
“What?” He looked at her, perplexed, catching her gaze. “Oh, I don’t like that look.”
“You’re going to be there,” Gracie reminded him. She grinned at the look on his face. “So get ready to call in sick, because we’re running that dungeon on Day One come hell or high water.”
“Oh, no.” Alex dropped his head. “Oh, God. This is so going to be a shitshow.”
“It’s going to be awesome, and Teef is going to be the famousest purple panther there ever was,” Gracie said. “Cheer up! We’re about to be rolling in extra cash.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Darkness closed around the party, close and oppressive. They were underground, although how the environments team had managed to make that clear, Jay didn’t know, because it wasn’t possible to see the ceiling of the caves. Somehow, though, they had managed to make the place seem both more vast than any mortal had seen before and yet claustrophobic, locked as it was in silence.
They stood on the shore of a massive lake, its waters deep and dark and moving just enough to suggest that there might be something huge and slimy lurking under the surface. Jay shuddered at that thought as his eyes traced the chain of islands that led to the temple at the center of the lake.
The Lake of Souls had been the month-end dungeon four months before, and it was one of the rare ones that didn’t feature ice or fire as a main mechanic in the boss fight. As the lore went, the temple at the center wasn’t made to worship the gods.
It had been made by the gods.
To worship death.
Jay had to admit that the environments team had done a bang-up job on this one. He’d seen the sketches and watched the videos, but it was very different to be inside the instance.
“Everyone ready?” Gracie’s Aosi-filtered voice might be designed to make her sound epic, but right now she sounded like a god-level pep squad of one. “Had a glass of water? Stretched?”
Jay rolled his neck reflexively. Normally that was just an idle question, but in Metamorphosis Online, it was important for most of the players. You could play the game with a click wheel and some other movement controls, but most people chose to play with a VR body suit. Muscle cramps were, therefore, a very real possibility.
At least it tended to make instances shorter, Jay reflected. When you were actually participating in each fight—as the Dragon Soul teams had during the testing and development—you didn’t throw in extra trash mobs just for the heck of it.
Their core group had expanded to a full ten now, and he was feeling good about the new additions. Chowder, Freon, and Lakhesis had come back for another bout, and they had rounded the group out with Dathok, an Ocru back-up healer for Alan, and Ushanas, an Aosi fire mage. So far, she and Freon had proved to be an amazingly deadly team, and even though their spells didn’t hurt team members, Jay had discovered just how disconcerting it was to have a brawl in the middle of a rain of fire.
Everyone checked in, their names surrounded by a green aura as they did so, and Gracie gave Jay a last smile before stepping to the edge of the water. She knelt and placed a shimmering gem in a carved depression, and stones rose soundlessly out of the water to break the surface, forming a path to the first island.
Gracie hesitated before stepping onto the first one, and Jay couldn’t blame her—whatever moved the waters had sent a wide, shallow wave lapping over the stones. But she squared her shoulders and marched across first, the others following her tentatively.
Jay brought up the rear as she’d asked him to do, givin
g the gem one last look. It was forged from the opals they’d gone back to get in the Aosi zone yesterday. Gracie, it turned out, was more than a little obsessive when she failed at something. She’d grudgingly agreed to do something else for a while but had eventually suggested going back to the scene of their earlier wipe.
They’d wiped a few more times, but each time they’d gotten farther, and they’d learned to spot the signs of an ambush. By the time Alan signed on to heal, they hardly needed him.
Jay was enjoying watching her learn the boss fights as well. At first, he’d been bored by how many times she ran through each fight, and frustrated by constant failure. Just when they seemed to have an enemy’s fighting style down, Gracie would change some aspect of her strategy.
More and more, however, he respected the process. Gracie had developed not only an uncanny intuition for the way the developers’ minds worked, but she also knew just how each type of player interacted in terms of skills, and she was learning the preferred play style of her team, as well.
On the platform, the players spread out to surround a pristine altar. Its shining white stone was, if anything, too clean. It looked as if sacrifices had been made here and death had swallowed every last drop of blood, leaving nothing behind.
There was a grinding sound, and the ground beneath their feet shook. Waves lapped urgently at the shore. Above the altar, a ball of light appeared and spun wildly before lengthening into a seam that split reality.
“You dare refuse to give the sacrifice?” a voice hissed.
Jay’s eyes sought Gracie. She was standing at ease, waiting. Her sword was still on her back.
The hissing voice laughed. “Then I will choose from among you.”
Now the sword came out with a ring of steel. “Not. Fucking. Likely,” Gracie informed the demon.
It dropped through the tear in the world, a lanky figure made of light and dark intertwined. It straightened up slowly.
Or it would have.
Instead, Gracie was already there, leaping onto the altar and beginning with her standard shock blast. Jay had asked her about it while they were fighting smaller groups the other day, and she had explained that, as far as she could tell from her research, it was the most mana-effective way to generate threat, no matter the size of the party. It was only barely possible for some higher-level skills to edge it out, and Gracie was of the opinion that having a combo she could execute by habit was more important than minuscule gains.
