No answer was forthcoming.
“Well, whoever you are, you came just a tad too early. You see, we’re filling the moat this morning. If you’d just hung out a bit, you could have floated across instead of climbing all the way down here. I was watching from above. Some of you are really very clumsy,” Alexander said. This earned him chuckles from all those in his group below, and those on the wall.
Taking her cue, Beatrix cast a spell, and water started seeping up through the stone, pooling around the trapped players.
“Oh, look. There’s the water now. And there you all are, stuck to the bottom. One of you guards up there on the wall, run and get the miners, see how quickly they can break these folks out. I hear drowning is a horrible way to go.” More laughter from the wall. Still, one of the human guards took off. Not everyone got his humor.
With a sign, Alexander continued, “What’s your name, mister vulgarity?” he asked.
“Suck my ass!” the man shouted.
“Well that just doesn’t sound pleasant at all. And even if it did, your ass is currently locked in several feet of stone. Quite unreachable. Now, as your face is quite near the ground, you don’t have much time before you’ll be blowing bubbles with each breath. I will ask you again. What is your name. I have to have something to put on the arrest report.”
“We’re going to kill you all! You, your families, your friends! There is no stopping the Dark One’s plans for you! You think you’re safe inside Olympus? You’re not! We’re everywhere!”
“And every single one of you, so far, has been as dumb as the rock you’re trapped in. Where did this Dark One find you all? Is he hanging around shopping malls and shooting ranges looking for the dimmest bulbs who walk by?” Alexander stoked the man’s anger, trying to buy time and get him to talk. The water was still rising slowly, and the talkative one was started to splutter as it reached his chin.
“Your friend here is going to drown. I’m afraid my miners were still asleep when you arrived, and they won’t make it here in time to save him. Or most of you. I could, of course, save you all, but that is not my duty. My duty is to interrogate you. I’ve given up on mister grumpy over there. Who will answer my questions and save you all from a slow, painful drowning?”
“I’m not going through that shit again,” said the mage who’d nearly drowned in the water globe. “We’re all from Chaos Nation. PK guild. Henry was one of our officers before he bailed and went to PWP. I don’t know who this Dark One is. I came here to get payback for Henry,” she said.
“Well, let me educate you all. One of the players who ambushed us initially, and was captured, got himself banned from the game for threatening a GM. That same player died, along with several others, in a suicide attack on Jupiter’s headquarters six nights ago. The asshole who’s drowning over there works for the same guy who paid them, and helped them organize the attack. So, you’re all working for a terrorist organization, now.” Alexander shook his head, as if he felt sorry for them.
“Oh, shit,” the mage said quietly. “Wait! I don’t know anything about all that!” She started flailing, waving her arms. Others did the same, crying out their innocence.
Alexander became worried they’d log out and run. But players couldn’t log out in combat. It was one of the safety protocols.
“Stop that! Are you trying to escape? Or is that an attack?” he cried. For the record. An arrow from above struck the mage in the shoulder. Other arrows hit other squirmers. His guys had been paying attention.
“Sasha, thorn trap please,” he said quietly. She cast the spell, which did enough damage to each player to keep them in combat.
“I believe some of you may be innocent. At least, innocent of the activities back home. You’re still PK assholes caught raiding my land, but hey, that’s part of the game, right? If you can convince me, I might let you out of there. Now, tell me everything you know about mister profanity the bubble-blower over there.” Alexander raised the man a few inches to keep him from drowning.
One of the warriors spoke first. “His name’s Marlin. He’s a lieutenant in the guild. Third highest. He recruited most of us here. I don’t know where he lives. We don’t talk like that,” the man said.
“And what are all of your names?” Sasha asked, pulling out a parchment like she was going to write on it.”
All but Marlin gave their names. They weren’t really needed, his father would have pulled their accounts immediately and given their info to the FBI. This was just another stall tactic.
“Who can tell me about this Dark One that Marlin’s so fond of?” He looked around at the group. They looked around at each other. Nobody spoke.
“Come on now, this Dark One dude has been running your guild, and PWP, for months now, at least. You expect me to believe that none of you has a clue who he is?”
“He’s the one who’s gonna wipe you assholes from the face of the earth!” Marlin shouted again.
“Marlin, sweetness, you seem angry. I mean, not like ‘just got caught with my pants down’ angry, but really upset. Did I run over your dog or something?” Alexander asked the man.
“My cousins nearly starved because of you! You and your bullshit shut-down. They made their living in Europa. You took that from them!”
“Ah, I see. They were in Iran. It wasn’t me that took their livelihood. It was their government. They harbored the terrorists that killed hundreds of innocent people, including my mother. We gave them plenty of time to avoid a shutdown. And we gave their people time to sell off their assets. Had they simply turned the terrorists from Light of Truth over to the proper authorities, your cousins might still be in Europa. Or Io.”
Light of Truth were heroes!” Marlin shouted. The rising sun’s light showed his face to be bright purple. Alexander raised him up a bit more, and loosened the stone around his chest a bit.
“Dude! We’re not with that wackjob’s group! I swear it!” Another of the mages was beginning to panic. “I remember that whole thing ten years ago. Those anti-tech nuts blowing up the hotel. I want nothing to do with that!” he was yelling desperately. “I’m a techie! I friggin’ play a VR game for a living! I have kids to feed!”
Several of the others caught on to the seriousness of the situation. Alexander saw several of them lose focus, staring at the UI’s, trying to log out. He nodded at Sasha, who cast the thorns again.
“Aaargh! Dammit! Let me out of here!” one woman screamed.
Alexander looked at her coldly. “You are still under arrest, and under interrogation. Those are the first words you’ve spoken. You’ve not answered a single question. And you seem to be in a hurry. Got someplace to be?”
“I… I gotta feed my kid!” she yelled. Nobody believed her.
“Bullshit, bitch.” Lainey’s voice was full of venom. “If things hadn’t gone wrong for you here, you’d be up there raiding the keep right now, not feeding your kid. Try again.” Alexander wanted to hug her.
He let the silence hang. The slower this conversation went, the better. Finally, the first mage who had spoken said, “Tell them SOMEthing! I’m not going to jail just because you feel like being a bitch!”
The woman just smirked at the mage.
“She doesn’t care,” Alexander explained. “She’s figured out that she’s going to jail, and doesn’t give a shit if you do, too. The fact that she’s in such a hurry tells me she’s in it with Marlin, there. And she’s itching to log off and try to disappear. At least three others had the same thought.” Alexander gave them a moment.
“They used you like cannon fodder. Bunch of PK assholes who don’t much care who they run with, as long as they can victimize weaker players for fun and profit. They scooped you right up, and ruined your lives. They WANT you to lose your places here. They want you to hate us, so it’ll be easier to recruit you, stick you in a van with a rocket launcher, and point you at us. Those people who died in the attack? Only one of them was shot. Their van mysteriously exploded. Martyrs for the cause. And whe
n you die too, they’ll claim it was all our fault. Just like Marlin there’s been doing. They’ll recruit your families or friends, offering them revenge. More cannon fodder.” He pointed at the man who’d said he had kids. A few of the players were actually crying, shaking with fear.
“And don’t forget, this all started when a bunch of assholes decided they hate tech, and needed to show their feelings by blowing up a hotel full of people,” Alexander finished.
He turned to look up at the wall, suddenly realizing there were citizens up there listening. And down here with him. Shit.
While his back was turned, the bitch who’d claimed to have a hungry kid shouted a word, and a bolt of dark magic pierced Alexander’s back. He reflexively cast wizard’s fire on her, which set the vines on fire, and eventually all the other players, as well. “Don’t kill them!” he shouted, falling to the ground.
His health was down to 50%. There was something wiggling around in his chest. He could feel it squeezing his heart. He felt nature magic and light magic heals tingle through him. But to no effect. He was bleeding, and his vision was getting blurry. The tightening around his heart continued. He tried to cast a heal on himself. It didn’t help either.
Down to 20% health, he felt someone force his mouth open. He recognized the taste of one of Sasha’s potions. Then another. That was better. Back up to 50%.
Then Kai jammed a clawed hand inside his stomach. Back down to 20%! What the hell? Kai attacked him?
He felt a strong tug in his chest, and then searing pain. He blacked out.
On Io, when you die, you move into a sort of grey box that players called ‘limbo’ or ‘purgatory’. You sat there with pretty much nothing to do for ten minutes while the respawn timer ticked down. You couldn’t check your mail, or chat with your friends, or watch the rest of the fight that killed you. Many people took the opportunity to take a bio break and grab a snack.
Alexander waited for several seconds for limbo. It didn’t come. He couldn’t see anything at all, in fact. Just as he was beginning to get worried, he found himself in a white cube, his father’s avatar sitting at a table in front of him.
“You’ve only got a few seconds. You didn’t die, you just came very close. They’ll heal you soon. Your tactic worked. The houses of all ten are being raided as we speak. My guess is at least one of them had ties to Light of Truth. They’ll all be investigated. And their accounts terminated. Those found innocent of involvement will be allowed to petition to get their accounts back. The rest of Chaos Nation will be investigated as well.”
Before he could speak, the room disappeared, and sunlight began to shine in his face. “Oh, thank god,” he heard Lainey say.
Looking at his UI, he saw he was back over 50% health. Though he felt like shit.
“Kai? Where’s Kai? Why did he attack me?” Alexander mumbled.
“BWAHAHA!” Brick bellowed. “Ye had a shit-weasel lookin’ thing in yer chest. It were killin’ you. Kai reached in and yanked it outta ye like it were a infected tooth! Sasha, keeped ye alive, though I dunno how.”
That made more sense than the dragon trying to kill him. “Thank you… Kai,” he said.
“My pleasure, Alexander.” Kai held up a black wormy thing that was all teeth and muscle. Its body had thorns down both sides. Alexander knew it was gonna give him nightmares. “It has been centuries since I’ve seen this spell. It is a truly evil thing,” he added.
Sitting up, Alexander looked toward the player who’d shot him. She was unconscious, maybe dead. There were arrows in each of her eyes, and two more stuck in her skull.
As he stood up, fully intending to finish her off, a GM appeared next to her. All the non-players froze stiff. Time had stopped for them.
“All of your accounts have been suspended, pending federal investigation into possible terrorist activity. You will be disconnected in ten seconds. Authorities are already at your homes, and will be placing you under arrest. Any in-game assets have been confiscated, according to Io’s terms of service.
With that, the GM disappeared. Thinking quickly, Alexander shouted, “Fire!” and cast wizard’s fire on each of the players. Arrows and spells rained down from above, and a blistering crossfire of ground level arrows, weapons, and spells ripped the players apart. Lugs stomped Marlin’s face so hard it squirted out to the sides.
Max gathered their inventory bags, and looted their bodies. Benny, Brick, Beatrix, and several of the guards and hunters got level increases from the fights.
No point in wasting the deaths of ten higher level PK’s, if you could get some benefit from it!
Alexander looked up at the wall. “Lorian, please spread your hunters out along the wall in groups of two. I’ll need you, Max, and Lainey to search the forest in a bit. The rest of you, back to the keep. Tell the farmers they can come out to work. No miners or lumber crews outside the wall today.
He raised several benches in a tight circle, and sat on the nearest. The players, Fitz, and Kai followed his lead. Fitz teleported Beatrix and Benny down.
“Fitz, Kai, thank you for your help. This could have gone badly without you here. As I’m sure you heard, this conflict isn’t just happening on Io, but extends to our homeland, as well.”
Turning to the other players, he explained. “Fitz, Kai, King Charles, Captain Redmond, and the dragons, as well as a few others, are aware that we adventurers come from another world. Much like the demons come here from their plane. Except we’re slightly better behaved.” Misty chuckled at that.
Looking back at Fitz, he said, “We’re about to have a discussion that involves a lot of details about our homeland. I’m afraid Odin may not allow you to hear most of it. I did not want you to think us rude, or that we are trying to exclude you. You are both valued members of our team, and I consider you friends.”
Kai nodded his head. “Aye, we saw Odin’s messenger appear, but could not hear the words he spoke. We will go and finish widening the moat, so that it can be filled.”
“Thank you.” Alexander smiled at them. The pair headed back toward the gate and the narrower section of moat.
“Max, Lainey, a quick update, then you two please take Lorian and head out. I’ll fill in the new folks. While I was dying, I got an update. The authorities were indeed waiting for each of these assholes when they woke up. There’s a suspicion that at least one of them, maybe this ‘Dark One’, had ties to the old Light of Truth. That’s all the new news I have for you guys.”
As Max and Lainey took off, they waved at Lorian, who leapt lightly down from the way, landing gracefully. The three of them would catch up to Fitz and get teleported out of the moat.
“Lugs, Helga, Benny, Beatrix. You four have learned a few things today that I’m sure come as a surprise. As you can see, this little war is happening on two fronts. Here, and in the real world. Unfortunately, hearing this information means that you will be monitored by the FBI, and Jupiter security, from this point forward. The information you have now impacts an ongoing terrorism investigation, and national security. You cannot share this information with anyone. I mean, anyone. Not a husband, wife, sibling, best friend, the person you trust most in the world. I’m sure when you log off, there will be federal agents waiting to speak to you about non-disclosure agreements. Any questions so far?” Alexander asked.
“You knew about all of this before?” Lugs asked.
“Yes. But like you now, I could not discuss it before. I tried to warn you to the extent I could, before inviting you to join us. I did not intend for you to have any involvement other than defending the keep in-game. Marlin’s big mouth, unfortunately, closed the door on that.”
“I wish you hadn’t invited us.” Lugs said sadly. “I don’t need these kinds of complications in my life.” A few of the others nodded their heads in agreement, or understanding.
“Lugs, I’m sorry. I can’t undo it. But I can offer you some alternatives. First, Jupiter will put security details on each of your homes, for your protection. Unless some
thing happens, you won’t even know they’re there. And if you choose, I will release you from Greystone. You will be paid the gold you’ve earned while you were here, and given the promised soul crystals, which you can sell for a significant amount. You can go on about your in-game lives. Though your play will be monitored, you won’t be interfered with. Anybody who has seen your faces here will be banned from the game. That should reduce the likelihood of your identities being passed around. Or, you are welcome to stay here, and continue with us. As most of you have seen, there is a lot of opportunity here. You might even earn enough over the next year or two, that you’ll be able to retire. Helga, how much did you earn in the mine yesterday?” he asked.
“Maybe 40,000g,” she said. Benny’s eyes got wide. He was probably cursing himself for being offline.
Alexander handed her a small soul crystal. “This is worth another eight to ten thousand, depending on where you sell it. And when.” He handed a crystal to each of them. “How long would it take you to earn $50K in the game, normally?” he asked Lugs.
The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands Page 32
