Pillowcase wasn’t filled with dread. She was filled with magical stuffing. She wasn’t overwhelmed with dread either. She’d been crafted such that no threat would make her composure fall apart. Falling  apart did no good on a battlefield after all, and a complete cessation of emotion wasn’t the same as being overwhelmed. Was it?

“It is very clearly time to flee,” Vixali said. A perfectly rational response, delivered in a perfectly calm and rational tone of voice. 

The members of her coterie were as silent as only the dead could be. The quiet vacuum persisted for the space of two absent heartbeats before the room erupted in chaos and outcries of all types.

“This is suboptimal,” Pillowcase said, observing the swirling mass of bodies which seemed to be trying to flee in all directions at once.

At her side, Lost Alice cut off a short giggle. Pillowcase wondered what she was amused by. The situation seemed to lack humorous agents.

“For what it’s worth, we beat the [Formless Hunger] once already,” Lost Alice spoke at a normal volume, but the words somehow landed in Vixali’s ears despite the cacophonous din the other [Vampires] were raising.

“Silence,” Vixalie commanded. “And stillness.”

The chaos of the court vanished as quickly as it had erupted, but Pillowcase could see it was a fragile peace – like a thin wafer of ice waiting for a sharp blow or the inevitable rays of the sun to shatter it.

“What is your price?” Vixali asked.

Because no offer of help could be given freely. Everything had to be an exchange to a [Vampire]. Compassion was a weakness experienced by lesser beings and the mark of fools.

“I don’t believe I will set one for this,” Lost Alice said.

“It will be a favor to be repaid later?” Vixali asked.

“No. No price,” Lost Alice said. “We don’t need to charge one.”

Pillowcase wasn’t sure but that sounded like either an insult or a power play.

“It’s both,” Lost Alice said privately, when Pillowcase asked her. 

“Is it wise to antagonize the leader of a large group of creatures who are already biased towards hostilities?” Pillowcase asked also on their private channel.

“It depends on the antagonism,” Lost Alice said. “Vix isn’t going to declare war on us for trying to help her. She’ll try to go for a more subtle revenge. She has to or she’ll risk losing the coterie to me.”

“You can take leadership of them from her?” Pillowcase asked, strangely uncertain how she felt about that prospect. Her emotions were thawing after being bludgeoned into insensibility by the terror of discovering that the [Formless Hunger] was both active and aware enough to form plans.

“In theory, sure,” Lost Alice said. “Leadership among [Vampires] is primary gained through shows of strength, with treachery being seen as the ultimate sort of strength. In practice that means that I would have to beat more than just Vix to take the throne though. Qiki would support her because familiarity makes treachery easier to plan for.”

“That doesn’t seem a particularly sort of relationship,” Pillowcase said.

“It’s not,” Lost Alice said. “Intentionally so. A leader needs to work to keep their position or their underlings will devour them. Sometimes literally. Which is why you couldn’t drag me to that throne with wild [Hell Stallions].”

“You are an unusual [Vampire]?” Pillowcase asked.

“You’re not the first one to notice that,” Lost Alice said and glanced over to flash a quick smile at her.

“I hope they appreciated you too,” Pillowcase said.

She didn’t see the flash of pain and longing that swept across Lost Alice’s face. Whether it belonged to Lost Alice or Lisa was something they themselves perhaps couldn’t have said either.

“Tell us what you require then, if no price will be asked, to vanquish this foe,” Vixali said.

“A map,” Lost Alice said. “Specifically of where it has focused its incursions. Or at least where you can be sure its struck against your watchers. Also any of the other dungeon dwellers who are in those areas.”

“That is a significant store of secrets,” Vixali said.

“They were secrets,” Lost Alice said. “Now they’re food for a cosmic monster. If we’re going to make sure it stops advancing, we need to know where it’s advancing currently, and what it chose to strike out against first.”

“And if we give you this information, how will you be able to use it to prevent this [Formless Hunger] from advancing?” Vixali asked.

“Now that is a secret,” Lost Alice said. “What would you be willing to pay in exchange for that?”

She made a point of eyeing the throne Vixali was still seated on, and for a moment Pillowcase wondered if the [Vampire Queen] would agree to transfer her crown to Lost Alice’s head. The moment passed swiftly though as Vixali’s laughter filled the hall.

“We shall see, perhaps, once it’s been determined that your boasts are more than empty words,” Vixali said. “As we are generous though, your request will be met. [Castellan] arrange for a map to drawn up which highlights the information they require.”

“Of course my [Queen],” Qiki said.

“That went well,” Pillowcase said on their private channel.

“It wasn’t a complete disaster,” Lost Alice said. “But we do have a problem before us now.”

“Would that be ‘how are we going to stop the [Formless Hunger]’?” Pillowcase asked. She’d been wondering about that probably more than Vixali had since Vixali only knew that the [Formless Hunger] was contained on the surface but wasn’t aware of the price Pillowcase had already paid to escape it’s clutches.

“Yeah, that would be the problem,” Lost Alice said.

***

Rose’s problems were multiplying, but that suited her just fine. Jamal was running by her side, FOOF was flying just over her shoulder, and at her back were people she was beginning to suspect she might be able to trust to at least a some small degree.

“So, the [Vampires] were able to confirm that the [Formless Hunger] is expanding. Do we have people start evacuating now or is it too late to even run?” Lady Midnight asked.

“Where could we exacuate them to?” Jamal asked as Matt Painting. 

“The surface?” Lady Midnight suggested. “Or maybe that pocket dungeon that Pillow and Alice found?”

“Do we know the [Formless Hunger] wouldn’t be able to follow us there? Or that there’s any method of exiting the dungeon?” Starchild asked.

“We don’t,” Jamal said. “Pillow and Alice said they weren’t able to find an exit while they were there and if a gate works for us, it’s probably smart to assume it would work for that thing too. So we’d basically be stuffing ourselves into a hole with no way out.”

“I’m open to ideas that don’t suck,” Lady Midnight said.

“We could fight the thing,” Rose said.

She felt everyone’s gaze burrowing into her.

“No, seriously,” she said. “I know when it caught us last time, it was all kinds of wrong, but Pillowcase has new skills, and if we’re expecting it, we can, I don’t know, brace for it?”

“That thing reached into my mind and was ready to take me apart,” Jamal said. “How do we brace for that?”

“Like Pillowcase did,” Rose said.

“She paid a high price for that,” Starchild said. “I’m disinclined to lose any of the rest of us as we lost Pillowcase’s other half.”

“What if we ambushed it?” Rose said. “Last time the thing got the drop on us. Most of us are ranged damage dealers though. Maybe we could out distance it?”

“We saw it take out a spaceship,” Pete said, speaking with Starchild’s voice. “I’m guessing it’s got us beat in the maximum range department.”

“There’s got to be some way to beat it though right?” Rose asked. “I mean, it was this weird cosmic thing but now it’s trapped in a game, so it’s gottable be beatable.”

“Does it?” Jamal asked. “It doesn’t seem to be playing by the rules all that much.”

“You know, I think she’s right,” Obby said. “Being here is going to change it. Just the fact that it has a name now means that the [Formless Hunger] isn’t what it once was. Maybe it could be slain?”

Obby seemed to be talking to herself as much as any of the rest of them, but Rose liked where her thoughts were going.

“Does that mean we could beat it with the right strategy?” Rose asked, hoping to nudge Obby’s musings into a more productive direction.

“What? Oh, no, probably not,” Obby said. “We’ve still got a problem of scale to work against.”

“It’s too big too shoot?” Rose asked.

“Sort of,” Obby said. “It’s size is just a reflection of its overall power though. The real problem is that when something that’s essentially infinite gets translated into the constraints of this world, it’s going to be set at the max available level unless it chooses to be something else.”

“The maximum level for players is 99,” Lady Midnight said. “But the highest level monster is level 150.”

“Can we even scratch a level 150?” Rose asked.

“In the game we couldn’t,” Lady Midnight said. “There were floors on a character’s chance to hit and the damage they could do, but if the level gap was too large, the hit chance was set to always fail and damage was set to zero no matter what. It saved the devs from having to deal with weird rounding errors supposedly.”

“That sucks,” Rose said. “There’s got to be something we can do!”

“Level up, like a like?” Jamal said.

“Even with a power leveler and the perfect mix of enemies, we wouldn’t hit the level cap fast enough,” Pete said.

“And we’d be stuck with worthless gear if we did,” Lady Midnight said.

“Wait wait wait!” Rose said. “Oh! Wait? Could this work?”

“I don’t think we’re going to know unless you use some real words to tell us what you’re talking about,” Jamal said.

“The [Formless Hunger] has a level now right?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, probably level eleventy billion or something,” Jamal said.

“So what if rather than trying to get to its level, we bring it down to ours?” Rose asked. She’d done her research and felt a thrill of victory as it paid off.

Not that it was a victory yet.

It was just a chance at victory.

And she’d thought of it!

“Bring it down to…?” Lady Midnight asked as the gears started turning in her head too.

“Wait, she’s right,” Pete said. “Do they have any of those here though?”

“Any of those what?” Jamal asked.

“Level locked zones,” Rose said, practically skipping as she ran. “They’re usually PvP areas, but the idea is that anyone or anything who goes into them gets scaled down so that noobs like us don’t get crushed by high level griefers.”

“Would that work?” Lady Midnight asked. The party had come to a stunned halt, their trek back to the encampment momentarily forgotten.

“I…yes, yes it would!” Obby said. She gave Rip an affectionate slug on the shoulder. “You are brilliant! No matter what the creature is, the scaling algorithm can refactor its stats to be level appropriate for whatever cap its limited to. And even better, each ability the creature has comes with a minimum level. If a creature is locked below that minimum level, the ability isn’t available anymore. Which for the [Formless Hunger] would probably be all of them!”

“You know, I don’t even know why I was worried,” Jamal said, clear relief sounding in his voice. “Not when I got my girl Rip here.”

“We do have some problems to overcome still though,” Starchild said. “First is the matter of finding a level locked zone in time. I don’t think we’ve run across any so far.”

“I can handle that,” Lady Midnight said. “Let me get in touch with the people who are still on Earth. They’ve got to be able to find out where the lowbie PvP zone was in the Beta.”

“Then there’s the larger problem,” Starchild said. “Pillowcase just contacted me. They’re heading out to save Vixali’s [Vampires] by fighting the [Formless Hunger] by themselves.”

The plan had been derailed. Because that was what happened to plans in Lisa’s experience. You made them so someone else could wreck them. Normally that didn’t bother her. Okay that was a lie. Normally that made her want to stab someone, but she’d had an exemplary stabbing-free record for long enough that she didn’t think she was in much danger of falling off the wagon. 

Not that stabbing someone was likely to help under the present circumstances.

“I thought we weren’t going to split the party?” Pillowcase asked on their private channel.

“Sometimes you go with the least terrible idea available,” Lisa said.

They were running, but telepathy wasn’t interrupted by a need for breath. Not that either of them technically needed to breath. Lisa was a bit concerned about their stamina though. Despite their superhuman constitutions, they couldn’t run at full speed forever and arriving at a [Vampire Coeterie’s] lair exhausted and unable to run further wasn’t an optimal strategy even if the [Vampires] in question where, theoretically, on their side for the moment.

“If the [Formless Hunger] is expanding downwards, we should warn Yawlorna and her people as well,” Pillowcase said. “And maybe Darren too?”

“Darren should be…no, you know what, you’re right. Monsters aren’t supposed to be able to cross between zones, but even if that’s still true, the [Formless Hunger] exists specifically to break rules right?”

“I believe so,” Pillowcase said. “We also can’t be sure how much divine power it absorbed from the [Heart Fire], so the world may be fine with it moving around like a god would.”

“I called Yawlorna already and warned her to keep an eye out,” Lisa said. “Do you want to give Darren a shout? Wait, we can’t can we?” 

“Not directly,” Pillowcase said. “But maybe Yawlorna can send a messenger?”

“We’re here!” Qiki said, pulling up to a stop at an iron portcullis. “I’ll let Queen Vixali know you’ve arrived, one moment please.”

Turning, Qiki walked through the portcullis, her body passing through it like a cloud of mist before reforming on the other side.

“Can you do that?” Pillowcase asked privately.

“Not yet,” Lisa said. “It’s one of the higher level racial abilities for the [Graveborne].”

“Does that mean Qiki is a danger to us?” Pillowcase asked.

“Qiki’s a danger to us because of who and what she is,” Lisa said, though it might have been Lost Alice’s sentiment more than her own. “[Vampires] are predators who feed on apex predators. Qiki and Vixali may be entirely on the level. It’s possible that they can see that they need us if they want to survive. There’s all kinds of arguments to back that up and that’s exactly the sort of situation where their prey is going to be the most inclined to trust them, and so it’s also exactly the sort of situation where they’ll stand to gain the most if they turn on us at just the right time.”

“Would they have any reason to turn on either of us though?” Pillowcase asked. “I can’t nourish them. Would your blood be of any value to them?”

“In general [Vampires] can’t feed on other [Vampires]. The blood is lacking the vitality needed to be proper food,” Lost Alice said. “My case is slightly different though. I can’t feed on any of them except maybe Qiki and Vixali but any of them could feed on me.”

“That seems unbalanced,” Pillowcase said. “What makes your blood different? Your levels?”

“Both my levels and even more so the class I have levels in,” Lost Alice said. “The healing magic I carry can substitute for a living person’s vitality. I’m told I am quite tasty.”

Lisa groaned at the double entendre in Lost Alice’s last statement, but Pillowcase didn’t seem to notice it.

“You can regenerate your magic without taking the vitality from your blood though, correct?” Pillowcase asked.

“Of course,” Lost Alice said. “I recover magic the same as any caster would.”

Lisa could feel the hum of magic which surrounded her and knew that if she wasn’t already at her limit, she could pull in the ambient energy to refill herself easily.

“Could a mana potion serve in place of blood for you then?” Pillowcase asked.

Lost Alice was about to scoff at the idea, but Lisa caught herself.

Mana potions weren’t blood, but there was a chain of logic to Pillowcase’s thoughts. At least in the case of a [Vampire] with healing abilities.

Lost Alice wasn’t pleased with the idea of drinking a mana potion as some kind of artificial, diet blood substitute. Real blood quenched more than a physical thirst. Lisa was able to tear her thoughts away from that though and appreciate the idea that she might not have to tear people apart just to keep her appetite in check.

“You may enter, freely and of your own will,” Qiki said as she swirled up from the floor in a cloud of mist. Producing a key from thin air, she unlocked the portcullis and lifted it lightly with one hand.

Show off, Lisa thought, ignoring the matching thought that she should be using her enhanced strength for similar feats.

Pillowcase advanced forward immediately, making sure to shield Lost Alice in case an ambush was about to fall on them.

No ambush appeared though, so Lisa ventured in before Pillowcase could get too far away.

Qiki led them through a number of cavern rooms, up several natural stairs, and down even more sloping passages.

“Are they trying to confuse us?” Pillowcase asked privately.

“I’m sure they would be delighted if they could but this is probably more to impress us with the amount of area they control,” Lost Alice said. “Each of these caverns should have monsters spawning in them, but Vixali’s control of the area is strong enough to be recognized by the dungeon itself. These areas have basically been ceded to her and her crew.”

“It would be more impressive if they fortified the area somehow,” Pillowcase said. “They have space but its not offering them any benefit in defending it.”

“[Vampires] typically can either destroy an attackers easily, or will turn and flee,” Lost Alice said. “When your prey is is either surprised and helpless or forewarned and incredibly deadly with little middle ground between the two, there’s usually little to be gained by opting for a standup fight you’re not certain you can win.”

“Tactically sensible,” Pillowcase said, nodding in satisfaction.

Lisa was sure Pillowcase could see the crowd which was beginning to follow them. In ones and two, [Vampires] were tagging along in their wake as Qiki lead them to Vixali’s…throne room?

The [Vampire Queen’s] room was carved into clean, polished lines. Almost certainly by hands both familiar with stonework and possessed of far more patience than any of the queen’s minions had.

Unlike the natural caverns which had risen no higher than an office hallway, the ceiling of the [Throne Room] soared, dropping no closer than one hundred feet to the floor. 

The most unexpected bit of architecture though were the stained glass windows. Given how far they were below ground, windows of any kind were an impractical choice. By all rights the stained glass should have been dark, mounted against a wall of stone, but the ones which adorned the walls of the [Throne Room] were brilliantly lit.

“Magic?” Pillowcase asked privately.

“Or a truly ridiculous amount of engineering,” Lisa said.

Pillowcase nodded towards the windows running down the left side of the Throne Room.

The ones that were open.

With a cool breeze wafting in which carried the scent of pine trees.

“Right. Magic then,” Lisa said. Lost Alice made sure nothing more than an amused wrinkle of a smile ghosted across her lips. 

They were not in a place were being overawed was healthy or wise.

Vixali was watching them from the throne which was perched atop three platforms, each ten feet high.

That is the definition of impractical, Lisa thought and considered how silly Vixali would look putting on mountain climbing gear just to sit in a fancy chair.

Points for dramatic effect though, Lost Alice thought.

“The [Adventurers] Lost Alice and Pillowcase are here in answer to your summons, my [Queen],” Qiki said.

Her what? Lost Alice wasn’t willing to start a fight over the slight, but it did set the tenor of the meeting differently than what she had anticipated it to be.

“You have information we need,” Pillowcase said. “Tell us where you’ve lost your spies.”

Lost Alice suppressed a chuckle. Blunt, to the point, and completely oblivious to the social dynamics at play, Pillowcase was the delight Lost Alice had never knew she’d been missing.

“This is our court,” Vixali said. “A measure of civility is requisite in any petitioners who appear before the throne.”

“That’s interesting information. Not what I asked, but I will remember it if we need to petition you for anything,” Pillowcase said.

Lost Alice couldn’t hold back her smile at that, but the warning bells in her head helped pull it back before it lingered too long. Vixali had a significant number of [Vampires] she had to keep under control. Undermining her authority was fun, but ultimately counterproductive if they were going to be working together.

“In this case, your [Castellan] informed us that there was an opportunity for a mutual beneficial arrangement,” Lost Alice said. “We came at greatest haste because we have information which indicates that arrangement may need to be consummated immediately, hence my partner’s insistence.”

“New information?” Vixali asked.

It was like catnip for [Vampires], and Lost Alice could see the rest of the Coterie hanging on her next words.

“[Castellan] Qiki informed us that some of your servants have gone missing,” Lost Alice said. Most of the coterie reacted as though this was stunning news, but few were good enough actors to hide the fact that it was already well known. “We were at the [Ruins of Sky’s Edge]. We know what happened there and what lies there still.”

This news produced a less dramatic effect on the coterie. They simply became quiet. And still. Predators observing information on which life and death turned. 

“We have long since sworn off contact with the daylighter town,” Vixali said. “What about its destruction brings you here in such haste?”

“Have you encountered a [Formless Hunger] before?” Pillowcase asked.

“No. What is this thing?” Vixali asked.

“Nothing,” Lost Alice. “Weaponized nothing. You’ve seen the troop transport the [Consortium of Pain] has sent against the surface world?”

“We are aware of the surface dweller’s woes,” Vixali said.

“The [Formless Hunger] pulled it into itself and took it apart. Atom by atom,” Lisa said.

“That sounds formidable, but it’s immobile is it not?”

“That’s why we came here as fast as we could,” Lisa said. “The tunnels we came through seem to lead back towards [Sky’s Edge]. From what we can see the [Formless Hunger] isn’t expanding beyond the borders of [Sky’s Edge] but it’s not clear where the lower border of the town is.”

“Meaning, the [Formless Hunger] could be expanding in this direction, choosing to move through the dungeon rather than where it would be exposed,” Pillowcase said.

“It seems a simple enough thing to determine,” Vixali said. “We have other watchers and this [Formless Hunger] doesn’t appear to be subtle or difficult to spot.”

“Check with them now,” Pillowcase said. “Please. If the [Formless Hunger] is expanding then we will need to act without delay.”

“I..umm…have some bad news,” Qiki said. “The watchers are gone too. So, either an existing dungeon dweller took them out while they were in hiding without giving them a chance to raise the alarm, or…”

“Or the [Formless Hunger] is growing, and advancing on us,” Pillowcase said.

Lisa felt her unbeaten heart ice over.

“It’s worse than that,” she said. “It took out your watchers? Watchers who were setup to be able to observe each other I’m guessing.”

“Yes, of course,” Vixali said.

“Then it’s not just growing,” Lisa said. “It’s intelligent.”

A vampire was waiting for them when Pillowcase and her team returned to their home.

“Greeting brave travellers, my [Queen] would converse with you at your soonest convenience,” Qiki said from the entrance to the [Ruins of Heaven’s Grave]. 

Pillowcase didn’t groan. That was a response Tessa would have made. The [Vampire Queen’s] request was instead added to a list of priorities which was impractically unstable. In any operation there would always be some reordering of tasks. It was to be expected and accounted for according to the experience her makers has sewn into Pillowcase. Even with that though, she had to question the the value of trying to assign a task order to what was more or less pure chaos. 

Past a certain point, further interruptions made the idea of forming long term plans into an exercise in absurdity.

“We have not had a great day,” Lost Alice said. “Did your [Queen] explain why she wanted to see us?”

“She is concerned,” Qiki said. “She did instruct me not to rush you, but that time was likely of the essence. So…”

“So one or more of us should go with you now before whatever new catastrophe has a chance to get rolling?” Pillowcase asked. She didn’t need to sleep. Not like a human did. And her stamina was enhanced by both her magical nature and the levels she’d attained. Despite all that though she was still tired.

“Except we won’t be doing that,” Lost Alice said.

“We wont?” Rip asked. She had her bow ready but stood with the same exhausted posture the rest of the team displayed.

“No splitting the party,” Lost Alice said.

“In that case I am instructed to venture along with you for a far as you will allow my company,” Qiki said. “Oh, and I am to render any aid you should require if the creatures in the dungeon prove to be more than you can easily handle.”

Pillowcase didn’t need Lost Alice to translate that from [Vampire]. Qiki would be evaluating their strength every moment she was with them. If they proved to be weaker than the [Vampires] expected then it would lead to complications later on.

“You’re free to tag along as far as you want,” Lost Alice said. “Just remember our people are off limits. Anyone’s fangs touch them and we’ll have a discussion about it.”

A discussion? Pillowcase asked on their private channel.

Direct threats are considered a sign of weakness in vampires, Lost Alice said. By ‘discussion’ I mean I will personally rip the [Queen’s] tongue from her throat, and Qiki there understands it.

Do you think they know that you’re a healer? Pillowcase asked. She hadn’t been sewn  with a sense of humor, but the thought was a mirthful one anyways. 

Perhaps she really was more than she’d been crafted to be?

If they do they’ll understand that means I can hurt them, heal them, and then hurt them again just as badly, Lost Alice said.

Remind me not to anger you, Pillowcase said, seeing possibilities she hadn’t considered before.

You’ve done more or less the opposite of that so far, Lost Alice said.

Pillowcase wanted a moment to process that but, as seemed to always be the case, no moments of peace were allocated to her.

“Perhaps as we travel, I might ask a few questions?” Qiki said. “There are matters which will just possibly be relevant sooner rather than later.”

“Matters such as?” Lost Alice asked.

“A few of our minions have gone missing,” Qiki said. “They normally quite hard to kill – quite hard to even detect in fact – and yet the vanished without a trace.”

“Were they in or around the ruins of [Sky’s Edge]?” Pillowcase asked.

“Some of them, yes,” Qiki said. “Others were watching some of the deeper passages in the [Ruins of Heaven’s Grave] though, and all seem to have suffered the same fate.”

Pillowcase paused. She’d been leading them back to the camp where the resident’s of [Sky’s Edge] and the adventurers had setup accommodations after the Consortium and Darren-the-Servant-of-Fire had wiped the town off the map. It was supposed to have been as safe a place as they could find. Possibly that was still true, but “safe as they could find” was clearly not the same as “safe”. Not if her guess was correct.

“Did they all disappear at the same time?” she asked.

“The ones in the [Ruins of Sky’s Edge] did,” Qiki said. “The one’s watching the lower passages in the [Ruins of Heaven’s Grave] vanished later.”

Tessa would have cursed. Pillowcase remained silent, processing the new information.

“That’s not good, is it?” Rip asked.

“No, not if it means what I think it means,” Starchild said.

“How long did it take for the watchers to vanish?” Pillowcase asked.

“We’re not sure,” Qiki said. “They don’t have a regular check-in schedule.”

“Do you have a rough estimate? And was there anything different about their loss than the ones in the [Sky’s Edge],” Pillowcase asked.

“You should probably talk to [Queen] Vixali about that,” Qiki said.

“We will,” Lost Alice said. “But we’re still going to see what shape our people are in.”

“They’re still quite edible,” Qiki said. “And uneaten,” she added at Lost Alice’s sharp look. “We’re better neighbors than you might imagine us to be.”

“Oh, I imagine you to be the best of neighbors,” Lost Alice said. “You seem quite intelligent after all.”

Was that meant to be subtle? I’m not good at speaking [Vampire] yet, Pillowcase asked Lost Alice privately.

Not especially. I mean I could have slapped her if I wanted to be less subtle but as [Vampires] go she doesn’t seem too bad, Lost Alice said.

Which means we can trust her?

Yes. Her betrayal should be very predictable.

Is that…a good thing?

With a [Vampire] it’s pretty much as close as you get, Lost Alice said.

Present company excepted? Pillowcase asked.

I think you can get a little closer with me, Lost Alice said. When we have time for that.

Had she been aware of it, Pillowcase could have taken comfort in the fact that even if Tessa hadn’t been fractured from her, their gestalt still would have missed the implications of what Lost Alice was saying at least nine times out of ten.

That sounds good, Pillowcase replied, not consciously aware of how her words might be received.

“I don’t know if this is related,” Lady Midnight said. “But Cammie just let me know that one of the other teams ran into more of the [Disjoined].”

Lost Alice cursed, and then glanced over at Rip and Matt and apologized.

“Any losses?” Pillowcase asked.

“No. From what she said, the [Disjoined] were really fragile, and self-destructive? Let me ask about that,” Lady Midnight said.

“I wonder if we’re the only ones running into these things?” Rip asked.

“I can check with Cease All on that,” Lisa said. “If the [Disjoined] are popping up in the regular realms then maybe someone’s figured out how to keep them from eating towns.”

“That might have been a unique scenario,” Pillowcase said. “[Sky’s Edge] lost it’s [Heart Fire Shrine]. That was what gave the [Disjoined] access to the [God Spark] at its heart.”

“From what my sister’s told me, the regular zones have been hit even harder than we were,” Pete said. “I can’t image the Consortium didn’t target the [Heart Fire Shrines] there too. Adventurers are just too strong if those are still in play.”

“This sucks!” Rip said. “I never even got to see those places and now they’re all wrecked?”

“Weren’t they supposed to be really pretty?” Matt asked. “I read about how well they held up even compared to modern games.”

“Huh, you know, that’s true,” Lady Midnight said. “Everyone used to talk about that. How the artists had really gone above and beyond what the tech at the time could usually do. I wonder…”

“Wonder what?” Pillowcase asked.

“It could be an odd coincidence, or maybe that’s why it was [Broken Horizons] this all happened too,” Lisa said.

“Or maybe this place is why [Broken Horizons] was as amazing as it turned out to be,” Lady Midnight said.

“How would that work?” Matt asked.

“Oh, I see,” Lisa said. “You’re thinking this world might have been some kind of muse for the developers?”

“Yeah, like it inspired them via, I don’t know, dreams or something,” Lady Midnight said.

“Interesting idea,” Obby said. “Kind of a shame we can’t grill the original developers for where they got their inspiration from.”

“There are a whole lot of questions I can think of putting them over a grill to get answers to,” Lost Alice said.

“I thought [Vampires] like their meals uncooked?” Rip asked.

“Generally, but we’ll take what we can get,” Qiki said. “Not that we would eat people of course. That would be wrong.”

Lost Alice didn’t dignify the sarcasm with any answer or reaction. 

“Can’t we though?” Pete asked. “Not the grill thing, or eating them, but doesn’t someone have a connection to the support staff? I mean it’s been…a day?…I don’t even know how long now. They have to have some answers at this point right?”

“We had a line that was supposed to give direct access to one of the [GMs] but it was blocked the last several times we tried to access it,” Pillowcase said. 

The idea of a [GM] or [Game Master] hadn’t been included in Pillowcase’s stitching, but she could still recall exactly what *GM Burnt Toast’s* role and capabilities had been. 

She also knew how close Tessa had believe herself and BT to be. 

How do I remember that? she wondered. Tessa’s memories weren’t part of her anymore. They’d been lost when she [Fractured]. 

Hadn’t they?

“That can’t be the only option for communicating with them though can it?” Pete asked.

“It’s not,” Lisa said. “If we can get word to one of the players who’s still on Earth, they could pick up the telephone, or even have someone drive there I guess, assuming anyone we can reach is close enough.”

“The problem is the concurrent login count,” Lady Midnight said.

“Several hundred thousand players,” Lisa said. “EE’s always been cagey about exact numbers but we know it’s at least that high.”

“A fair portion of those are in the Asia-Pacific or European regions though and those are handled by local call centers,” Pete said. “The HQ we’d want would only be dealing with North American players. Or people who play on the NA servers.”

“That’s still easily over a hundred thousand players,” Lisa said. “They probably don’t have the support staff to handle even one percent of that. Maybe not even a tenth of a percent.”

“Excuse me, but, if I might be so bold as to ask, what are you all talking about?” Qiki asked.

“We’re not from here,” Rip said.

“An explaining more than that would take more time than we have,” Lost Alice said. “What you can pass along to your [Queen] is that we have some idea what happened to your spies. We weren’t involved of course, and we will be happy to provide her with all of the details we know.”

“She will be delighted to hear that,” Qiki said. “From you. In person.”

“Wait, you said the spies in the lower passages were lost?” Lisa asked. “How much lower?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand the question,” Qiki said.

“There are links between the [High Beyond] and the [Sunless Deeps], how far down were those lower passages? Were they still in the [High Beyond]?”

“Oh, uh, yes, of course,” Qiki said. “We haven’t risked venturing out of the [High Beyond]. A few of our predecessors tried it and came to rather unpleasant ends.”

“That means the spies were still fairly close by right?” Lisa asked.

“Well, the [Ruins of Heaven’s Grave] is dangerous on its own too,” Qiki said.

“More so than you know,” Lisa said. “Call Vixali, if you can. She needs to make for our camp right now. No delay.”

“What are you thinking?” Pillowcase asked.

“Not thinking. Fearing,” Lisa said. “If I’m right, then I’m giving up on rational thought.”

“Oh no,” Starchild said, apparently grasping the idea Lisa had come upon as well.

“What?” Rip asked.

“We didn’t see the [Formless Hunger] expanding right?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah, it was staying within the town’s borders,” Rip said.

“Was it?” Lisa asked. “Or was it expanding downwards rather than outwards?”

Tessa: What the heck is an “Outerlude”?

Beth: It’s basically a chapter outside of the normal narrative. The usual rules don’t apply here since this isn’t, technically, part of the story.

Tessa: And you would be?

Beth: A traveler. Technically a “World Walker”, which at this point you are too. Also the main character of Hidden Pages, which dealt with this kind of “hidden out of view of the story” thing as its central theme.

Tessa: Huh, that’s neat how you spoke in a hyperlink. It sounded kinda funky. Is that like how when we’re saying things like the [Broken Kingdoms] it sounds weird too?

Beth: Same idea. The callout there is to things which might have help text links associated with them.

Tessa: Why are they just in brackets then? Shouldn’t there be an actual link there?

Beth: It’s more of a conceptual link. I think we’re just supposed to imagine that there are wiki pages relating to a lot of this stuff, or some other kind of documentation behind it.

Tessa: You’d think that would get explained somewhere.

Beth: Eh, it’s not that important and the narrative doesn’t support someone turning to the reader and going “hey, you, here’s what this means”.

Tessa: It’d sure be nice if it did sometimes though. I mean there’s enough plot threads going at the moment that I need a scorecard some days. I don’t even get how they’re all going to come together.

Beth: Maybe they won’t? Your thread is pretty central, but the other ones are there in part to flesh out the world.

Tessa: Is that why we’ve got place names for locations that have never appeared?

Beth: Yeah, in a long running MMO, you should have tons of active locations, and if you add on the idea that even old areas will still have their NPCs as living, breathing people then the world gets a lot more crowded.

Tessa: We stayed in [Sky’s Edge] for a long time though. It seemed like that was a pretty central spot until it got nuked off the map.

Beth: I was kind of surprised by that too. I would have liked to see a side thread to build that place up a bit more. It had some interesting characters in it.

Tessa: I suppose the characters are all in the caves now, so no loss there necessarily.

Beth: Speaking of the caves, was there a spark of romance there between you and Lisa?

Tessa: What? I mean…I…I can’t talk about that. Spoilers and all that.

Beth: Really? You think that’s supposed to be a secret at this point?

Tessa: No. But. I mean.

Beth: Ah, you’re still at that stage of the relationship. Gotcha.

Tessa: What stage? We’re not at a stage. She’s got a girl already. And I’d like to point out that I’m trapped out here in sleepy hyperspace or wherever this is.

Beth: That’s not all that likely to be permanent though is it?

Tessa: I don’t know. I was out of most of the last volume. Or all of it? I don’t even remember anymore. Time has no meaning and everything’s terrible.

Beth: Hey. It’ll be okay. These things tend to happen for a reason. You’re offstage now, but that’s to give other characters time to grow. 

Tessa: It was kind of neat to see Pillowcase trying to deal with things on her own.

Beth: Plus the loss of you gave her some unusual new abilities.

Tessa: Not that we’ve seen how those will play out.

Beth: Give it time.

Tessa: Is that really all it’s going to take though. Obby stuck a moratorium on using the [Primal Devouring] skill and the others look like they’re both passive and exotic.

Beth: Those could be the most powerful ones you have though. Situationally useful abilities can be like silver bullets when the narrative throws weird problems at you.

Tessa: Speaking of bullets, I had a question there: if we’re in a ‘more real’ version of the [Fallen Kingdoms] and the [Consortium of Pain] comes from outside this reality, why aren’t they using things like guns and bombs?

Beth: From what we’ve seen so far, it seems like despite being technomagically advanced, they’re still stuck with fitting into the overall fantasy aesthetic of [Broken Horizons]. I’m sure in the narrative there’s some explanation for guns and bombs not working based on the [Arcanospheres] idea, but it’s one of those things that hasn’t come up explicitly yet, so the final answer is a bit nebulous.

Tessa: You know there have to be some Earthlings who are trying to invent them in the [Fallen Kingdoms] though right? People are so convinced that modern military munitions are the be-all-end-all of warfare.

Beth: Can you blame them? It’s what they’re familiar with and it’s what movies and TV have preached from the beginning. The gun is mighty. Fear the gun. Love the gun.

Tessa: I wonder what the stats for a gun in the [Fallen Kingdoms] would even be?

Beth: It’s ultimately just something that accelerates a tiny mass to a high speed. They’re not that complicated. And they can be used by level 1 nobodies.

Tessa: Oh wow, and they don’t even insta-kill level 1 nobodies, outside of critical hits.

Beth: Right. You’re primarily looking at the equivalent of multi-round bleed damage which actually scores the kill. 

Tessa: And since they can be equipped by level 1s, their stats would probably be pitiful. Minor damage, and a minor DOT is all it takes to kill a lowbie who doesn’t have access to magical healing.

Beth: So that is probably why the Consortium isn’t using guns. Bombs are likely in the same category but they can do structural damage, so they’d have to have better stats than a gun.

Tessa: I know Glimmerglass got blasted through a six foot thick wall of stone in one of the old cutscenes, and we started that fight off at nearly full health, so maybe even a city wrecking bomb is something an adventurer could shake off?

Beth: I’m not going to suggest that you step in front of one to find out, but if you can live up to the things your characters have done in the game then, yeah, you’re probably more superhuman than usually gets made apparent.

Tessa: Except for all the times we get knocked out.

Beth: As narrative crutched go, I’ve always found that to be an annoying one.

Tessa: So, do you think we’ll ever get back to Earth? Or is that going to be something that just slips away as a goal as the plot rolls on?

Beth: I did read ahead a bit, so I know where some of this is going, but that’s something I am not going to spoiler.

Tessa: Oh come on! There’ve been all these chapters set on Earth. There’s got to be something going on there.

Beth: Oh, it’s not spoilery at all to say that there’ll be more event on Earth. I mean Hailey left in this chapter – and didn’t that take forever to get too! I thought she was going to hop over back a long time ago – but you’ve still got Marcus there, and several other characters.

Tessa: Yeah, including Brendan, Mellisandra’s player. What’s up with him and Pete?

Beth: They’re meant to reflect how a lot of players will have characters of a different gender and how it’s nothing particularly remarkable.

Tessa: Then you’ve got player’s like Pete’s sister though right?

Beth: Yeah Feralfang, or Melissa. I’m kind of hoping the story gets to her sometime soon. Pete’s mentioned, sort of obliquely, that Melissa’s trans and that falling into Feralfang’s body was something she took to like a fish to water. So that perspective is an interesting one, especially in contrast to her brother, who’s character, Starchild, does not match his own gender. Beyond that though, Melissa is one of the few crafters that we’ve heard of so far, so that’s another perspective we haven’t really seen yet.

Tessa: It’s interesting that there’s such a generally positive reception to discovering yourself in a foreign body, even when the genders match, but more so when dysmorphia is a real thing that’s even been mentioned in the story.

Beth: Yeah, we’ve seen a little exploration of that in Pete and Starchild’s chapters where they seem to still be very separate people. On the other hand, your chapters with Pillowcase have stressed repeatedly how you and Pillowcase are really just aspect of the same person.

Tessa: Then there’s Lisa who thought there wasn’t a Lost Alice at all, only it turns out Lost Alice was, what, sleeping?

Beth: Not exactly sleeping, more like Lisa wasn’t trying to connect with her. She was still thinking of Lost Alice as just an icon or a pawn she moved around the board. Once she started to connect though, she found that their relationship was a lot like yours and Pillowcases. In fact talking to you was probably what made her subconsciously start reach out like that.

Tessa: I’m glad she did. I know it’s weird, but I like having Pillowcase in my head.

Beth: I don’t think that’s weird at all. You made Pillowcase as someone you’d like and so the real version of her is likable. I think it’d be weirder if you didn’t like your character on some level at least.

Tessa: Is that what happened with those [Disjoined] guys? Did they have some kind of violent, negative reaction between the player and the character?

Beth: That was the hypothesis, and until more data emerges it seems reasonable. Picture the most toxic, over-entitled player you know and then imagine how their character relates to the people in the world. There’s kindness and humility built into the game version of [Broken Horizons] characters that some of the real people behind them would find abhorrent.

Tessa: I’m glad I hooked up with the party that I did then.

Beth: I think that’s meant to reflect that there are a lot of good people out there, and that if you’re not an abusive ass you’ll kind of be drawn together.

Tessa: Which I’d like to point out is why I’m not hitting on Lisa. The last thing I want to do is try to mess up the relationship she’s already in.

Beth: But you saw in this volume that she’s really kind of broken up already.

Tessa: I know! Wasn’t that wonderful! Oh, wait, damn, I’m a horrible person. I should not be cheering for her misery.  Plus, I’m not going to remember any of this if I ever get back to her am I?

Beth: This chapter? Nope. Not a word of it. What happens outside of time and space, doesn’t really happen in any meaningful sense.

Tessa: Huh. So you don’t really have to worry about spoilers then do you?

Beth: Not for you, but they’re still dangerous.

Tessa: Give me a little one at least. What’s up with Rose and Jamal?

Beth: Really nothing to spoil there. Rose is asexual, and loves Jamal, just not romantically. Jamal is not asexual, and loves Rose, also without an eye towards romance because he knows Rose just isn’t into that. 

Tessa: Yeah, but where’s their story going? Tell me nothing bad is going to happen to them. I’ve got to know at least that. If the kids are going to get killed or worse then I’ll just burn this place to the ground right now.

Beth: Woah, woah, woah. Ok, spoiler territory here then: <spoiler> Rose and Jamal are going to be fine. Their story does not end in misery or horror. They’ll have to fight for their happy ending, and it may not look like a typical happy ending for a girl and a boy, but they’ll get there. </spoiler> 

Tessa: And me and Lisa? How about us? Do we wind up together? Or at least get to kiss!

Beth: Now for that you’re just going to have to keep reading won’t you?

Interlude – Marcus

Marcus felt like the center of a vast storm. Around him, the Egress Entertainment office was entering it’s six millionth hour of absolute chaos (Or was it only twenty four? It couldn’t have only been one day could it? Had he slept? Had he eaten? Did any of that matter with the literal fate of an world hanging on his shoulders?).

“Any luck getting the scenario designers online?” Hailey asked.

No. Not Hailey. Burnt Toast. Or BT.

Marcus could recognize elements of Hailey’s voice in BT’s. They used the same words and had the same inflections, but BT’s voice was scratchier. And older. She sounded like someone who’d walked a whole lot of bad roads and made the things that lived there regret all their life choices.

“Yeah, the FBI agreed to spare one of them. We’ll have an agent along as oversight,” Marcus wasn’t happy about the last bit. The chance that the agent would understand even half of what he was hearing was remote, while the chance that he might get spooked by some of the game jargon and decide they were all some kind of terrorist cell seemed uncomfortably high.

“I know these people aren’t Seers, but you’ll forgive me if I plan around their input as though they were,” Penswell said.

Marcus was willing to forgive Penswell more or less anything, mostly because she wasn’t supposed to be real.

No. The Penswell from the game wasn’t real. Whatever was happening, this Penswell was a living, breathing person. Marcus loved the idea of true A.I.’s, and as a result had a reasonably good layman’s understanding of what crafting a convincing A.I. required. Building an A.I. that could emote as clearly and with the complexity Penswell had shown in their conversation so far was even less plausible than there being an alternate universe out there which just so happened to resemble the game he was working on.

As he pondered how he’d gotten to a place where “alternate universe” was a plausible explanation for anything, Marcus sent off one email after another through the Broken Horizon’s game client. As far as his machine knew, “@BurntToast” was a viable delivery address while “@Penswell” didn’t exist. BT’s mail queue on the other hand was more than happy to forward on the chunked up bits of the server logs which revealed all the information Marcus could find about the Consortium’s invasion force.

It seemed like a ridiculous thing to be doing by hand. In a movie, Marcus imagined his character would be arguing strategy directly with Penswell. There’d be a sizzling undercurrent of sexual tension as they yelled random military-sounding things at one another, and in the end he’d either die while heroically inspiring the protagonists to carry on, or his advice would prove to have the one, secret insight the protagonist was able to apply at the last possible second to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Marcus chuckled at that thought. His reality was that he had no applicable experience for ordering armies around, Penswell was literally superhuman in terms of tactical genius, and he’d shipped her with Niminay since the first time the two characters were in the same room together.

All he could do was give her and the rest of the Fallen Kingdoms Defense Force the information they needed to make the best decisions they could with the resources they had.

“We should probably put the devs we’re bring in to the test before you go relying on what they’d been developing for a storyline for the World Shift event,” Marcus said, thinking that the only thing worse than no information was wrong information. “Even if our lore matched your world’s actual history before, that might have changed once this disaster happened.”

“It’s funny, we think of very different things when ‘this disaster’ is mentioned,” Penswell said. “For my people, the Consortium invasion is the disaster and the presence of so many [Inspired Adventurers] is a blessing, where for you this was all supposed to be an idle diversion?”

“It was more than just a diversion,” BT said. “The game, Broken Horizons, was how thousands of people interacted with their friends and loved ones. Before this happened, I wasn’t ‘really’ BT, in the sense that I’d never been in a fight in my life, or earned even one magic item, but in another sense I was her. To a lot of people, BT was the person they knew, the one who would have their back when they were trying something hard. I had friends I only ever knew here, and while the world may not have been ‘real’, what we had was probably more real than I knew at the time.”

“The people in the Fallen Kingdoms were meaningful to us too,” Marcus said. “You had stories and a presence somewhere we spent a lot of our time. When you and Niminay got together, it was Pride month here and we had players in tears when they got to that cutscene.”

“What?” Penswell asked. “I know that became common knowledge, but no one seemed to notice it much here.”

“That might be a difference between your world and our game,” Marcus said. “Or it might be that we didn’t have the other characters react much.”

“If you can see, and possibly script, even simple moments of our lives, it’s seems impossible that you couldn’t write the Consortium completely away,” Penswell said.

“I wish we could,” Marcus said. “I would do it in a heartbeat. Ever since the World Shift expansion launched though and changes we try to make with any sort of administrator level privileges erases the person trying to make them and the change they tried to create.”

“Whoever made this happen obviously doesn’t want us to have ‘god mode’ powers too work with,” BT said. “Using the information stream that exists between the two worlds didn’t seem to have problem though, and I figured if we only had it for a limited time, we had to make it count.”

“There is good news there,” Penswell said. “This information is definitely going to count. I have every answer I need to plan our counter offensive except one.”

“What are you missing?” BT asked.

“I can see our enemies, but the mind behind them is elusive,” Penswell said. “They have kept their true goals hidden so well that I fear even this could be a trick.”

“Oh, is that all?” Marcus asked. “The leader of the enemy forces is named ‘Azma’, let me send you the full Lore sheets on her backstory and her character write-up which has all of her personal capabilities.”

Interlude – Ryschild

Ryschild could see that things were starting to fall apart. Azma’s careful plans had hit the one pitfall she hadn’t accounted for; someone trying to kill her by supporting what she did.

Well not perhaps supporting. More like applying pressure in a direction that she was used to receiving nothing but resistance from.

It was fascinating to watch her scramble to limit the damage inflicted by a few bits of information which put her in a better light that she desired. So much of her attention was devoted to fending off the deeper repercussions of the wheels of corporate bureaucracy changing direction that she’d left her two subordinates largely unattended.

It was the perfect time to strike.

Ryschild didn’t bother glancing at Grenslaw. They both knew the opportunity which lay before them, and they both knew neither was going to avail themselves of it.

There would be subtle directives arriving from their backers shortly. Hints that they were free to fulfill their contracted agreements. Those would be followed by riskier and less obtuse directions to complete the assignment and, finally, by unambiguous orders to get the job done immediately.

Not that Grenslaw’s “orders” would ever arrive. Ryschild had arranged for the liquidation of Grenslaw’s principal backer as a courtesy move, since it was to be taken for granted that Grenslaw had already provided the same service for Ryschild.

People spoke of relationships being taxing and difficult but Ryschild had never quite understood why. There seemed to be almost always be a simple (if occasionally bloody) method of improving your opposite number’s day. So long as each person in the relationship was willing to step up and do the work there really wasn’t much to angst about.

“Twelve hours,” Azma said, looking up from the numbers which were spread before her. “This whole enterprise will fall apart in twelve hours.”

“That would be an hour after the arrival of the [Director of Applied Xenobiology]?” Grenslaw asked.

“Three hours,” Azma said. “The official itinerary notice lists is a smoke screen. Durger Wenfall maybe the most cowardly director in the Consortium but he’s got the quarterly review coming up and his division hasn’t produced anything in the last two months.”

“How much damage will he do?” Ryschild asked.

“In theory, very little,” Azma said. “He’s assuming direct authority over the processing of the [Formless Hunger] but the rest of the operation remains with this office. As far as the oversight committee is concerned, we’ll be offloading an extraneous portion of the operation onto more appropriate hands which should be a net boon to achieving the operation’s original objectives. They’ll likely hit us with a surcharge for any aid Applied Xenobiology provides with the natives, but beyond that no one will see Wenfall’s meddling as a burden.”

“But he will meddle,” Grenslaw said. It wasn’t a question. It was barely even a statement. Each of the people in the room knew the kind of impact uninvited managers could have on a project.

“He is going to do more than meddle,” Azma said. “I have filed an official report as to the current state of the [Formless Hunger]. It explains clearly that we do not have control over it, and that it still represents a significant threat. Unfortunately, Wenfall has already read the report, as well as a leak indicating that we need time to solidify the third party deal, and so he has decided that the official report is overstating the case and expects to arrive to find his new “asset” ready for delivery.

“And when it’s not?” Ryschild asked.

“He will see that he  has been duped, be unable to accept any personal responsibility, and turn the issue around with a statement enumerating a comprehensive list of my failings,” Azma said.

“Does he have the clout to give that list any teeth?” Grenslaw asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Azma said. “He is on shaky ground from a performance standpoint, so no one will support him if the board brings him to task for that, but he’s also generally well liked by the oversight committee so they will side with him in an issue such as this where there is any chance they would be opposing the board or risking their solidity of their positions.”

“Can he be removed?” Rychild asked.

“It would be inconvenient to do so,” Azma said. “He’s weak and easily manipulated under most circumstances, while his successor has a particular grudge against me and is more protected than I would prefer.”

“An accident for both?” Grenslaw asked.

“That would be the simplest solution, but thanks to the leaks this has spread beyond the office of Xenobiology,” Azma said. “There are several other divisions who are looking at the [Formless Hunger] as an already acquired asset and have begin using the resources associated with it as collateral for their own projects.”

“Can we accelerate the time table on the [Formless Hunger’s] capture?” Ryschild asked.

“That appears to be the only option open to us,” Azma said. “Which means it’s going to fail.”

“Whoever created the leak will have accounted for that,” Grenslaw said, understanding Azma’s train of thought.

“Properly capturing the [Formless Hunger] is  a plan with a low probably of success to begin with, and it’s one which we cannot eliminate the possibility of sabotage from,” Azma said. “So there will definitely be sabotage, and it will come a moment before it appears we have succeeded.”

“Can we plan around that eventuality? Perhaps use the sabotage as an explanation of why the [Formless Hunger] is not ready?” Ryschild asked.

“Failure for even the most justifiable of reasons will still appear as failure to the oversight committee. They will only be concerned with the loss of the investments they’ve made in relation to this. The blame will fall to me because I am a more convenient target than someone at a Director’s level.”

“What will we do then?” Grenslaw asked.

Azma blinked and a ripple of confusion passed over her features.

It had been the perfect time to betray her. She had to expect that they would. Ryschild allowed a tiny smile. Surprising someone like Azma was no easy feat, even if she didn’t stay surprised for very long.

“We’re going to secure the [Formless Hunger],” Azma said. “Withdraw our forces from [Corsair’s Bay] entirely, and the troops we have stations around [Crystal Bower]. Redeploy all of them to the satellite moon. We’ll need the entire area pacified within the next two hours, so they are to destroy anything living they find there.”

Interlude – Grenslaw

Grenslaw’s job was a simple one. Act as the principal aide to an “Market Opening Operation’s” [Supreme Commander] and then, when directed, betray them. It was a fairly typical assignment as such things went in the Consortium. Management believed that cultivating a cut throat environment was the sort of filter any high performing organization required, especially when the cut throat angle was taken literally.

Ryschild, Grenslaw’s opposite number was employed under identical terms. Serve as a principal aide and kill Azma at the selected time. There wasn’t any particular ambiguity in the terms of their contract. The particular method of termination was left to their discretion, and in that each could be assumed to exercise personal initiative, but the wording around the outcome of their assassination attempts was quite iron clad. 

By contract, and to further their careers, Azma needed to die. Not metaphorically, not socially or politically. Any of those could be included but only a complete and permanent cessation of biological functions and the final termination of all mental activities would suffice. The meant no “briefly dead but resuscitated” or “bodily destroyed but the mind was uploaded to another substrate”. The Consortium was all too familiar with a wide variety of methods for escaping a death sentence and when it came to its internal dealings made sure to eliminate every loophole it had ever encountered.

Of course the reward for killing Azma would only be awarded to the one who could first submit quantifiable proof of having been responsible, which meant for Grenslaw to collect the bounty and the new position which came with it, Ryschild would likely need to die as well.

Not that any of that was going to happen.

Ryschild glanced over to the station where Grenslaw was working the numbers on the [Formless Hunger] and made eye contact. An wordless agreement passed between them with a simple nod.

The Consortium had taught them each many things. In addition to basic studies, they were each master [Assassins] and [Manipulators]. The first meant that killing someone wasn’t a problem for either one. The second meant they were more aware of the intent behind their contracts than the Consortium would likely have preferred.

Grenslaw returned to the numbers and played with a small smile. The most dangerous enemy in the world was the one who knew you best, and no one fit that category better than Ryschild. 

Long before either one would kill Azma, they would kill each other. 

It was sweet, or at least struck Grenslaw as so. Rychild was so dependable. They didn’t sabotage each other. They didn’t quarrel. They didn’t even generally avoid one another. On the contrary, they shared most meals together, had regularly helped one another with their classwork, and even more regularly eliminated the lesser annoyances which would have compromised their progress.

Grenslaw remembered a boy who’d tried to play the role of bully in their second year of schooling after they’d been inducted into the [Officer Corp]. The boy had been high born, and well connected. Grenslaw had become a target of his wrath quite accidentally. The boy had made it a matter of pride to then destroy Grenslaw’s chances for promotion to the next year’s classes.

They’d never actually found the boy’s body. Grenslaw only knew he was dead because Ryschild had made a gift of the boy’s personal accounts to Grenslaw on the next New Year’s Eve. The accounts had been given as recompense for the damage the boy had done, and as they were only unlocked because the life seal on them had lifted, Grenslaw had all the proof there would ever be as to his fate.

“This is disturbing,” Azma said, looking up from her station with undisguised concern on her face.

“New values from the [Formless Hunger]?” Ryschild asked.

“Much worse,” Azma said. “Our work is being praised.”

“By who?” Grenslaw asked. She could have asked how receiving praise could be a bad thing but Azma didn’t like answering obvious questions. She wanted her people to have their brains as engaged as hers was.

“It’s unattributed,” Azma said, her eyes narrowing into a hard cast.

“Meant to appear as a leak?” Ryschild asked.

“But not from within our ranks?” Grenslaw added, piecing together the problem as rapidly as Ryschild was.

“It’s meant to look like a leak from the oversight committee,” Azma said. “Or rather the sort of leak one might fake as being from the oversight committee if one was looking to call for extra funding for a project. It seems we have made unexpected and exceptional progress on the transdimensional entity and are to receive a commendation for the work we’ve done.”

“That is a very indirect play,” Ryschild said.

“Yes. Indirect but with many troublesome tendrils,” Azma said. “If we ask for additional funding now to exploit the [Formless Hunger], this leak becomes a time bomb waiting to be revealed as fake, especially if our efforts ultimately prove fruitless. If we argue against the leak, the oversight committee will leap to the assumption that we are either trying to drive up interest by calling attention to it, or that we have outside funding and have contracted away the rewards of this operation which weren’t explicitly called out in the original contract.”

“The latter part would be correct though, would it not?” Grenslaw asked.

“Of course. People would be appalled if we weren’t doing that. They’d trust us even less than they do now,” Azma said. “The problem is that either approach confirms the underlying reality of what the leak claims, namely that we have uncovered a valuable find as part of this operation.”

Grenslaw thought about that for a moment while Azma chewed through more of the correspondence.

“When it says we’ve made exception progress, is that exceptional compare to baseline expectations for finds like this, or is the leak suggesting that we have the [Formless Hunger] under control already?”

“It makes no distinction between the two in its brevity, but the wrong people are far more likely to read it as the second scenario,” Azma said.

“What will the wrong people do?” Ryschild asked.

A new message arrived addressed to the [Supreme Commander]. Azma opened it.

“This,” she said. “This is exactly what they will do.”

Grenslaw saw the text of the missive on their central screen.

With the transdimensional asset secured, control of the asset will be transferred to Applied Xenobiology.

Grenslaw blanched. The [Formless Hunger] was nowhere near secured, and Applied Xenobiology didn’t have anywhere near the firepower to change that.

Interlude – Penswell

Penny had had better days. It would, in fact, be accurate to say that she’d lived through better apocalypses.

“The news looks good from [Crystal Bower] and horrible from [Wagon Town] and [Thaldinforge],” Niminay said. “I can head to either one, but if I do I’m afraid [Corsair’s Bay] is going to see a lot of action.”

Niminay’s team were all max level and at the gear cap. Thankfully that didn’t make them unique among the forces Penny was coordinating. What Niminay had that the other adventurers seemed to lack was presence. Some of them were good leaders, some of them even had an impressive level of charisma and battle experience, but Niminay had an aura. When she called the townspeople to fight with them, normal citizens became something extraordinary. And adventurers? Adventurers became Heroes. Like the tales of old.

Penny wished she could bottle that quality and pass it out like healing potions. Barring that she was left with the far less enjoyable task of weaponizing the woman she loved. 

“I need more of you,” Penny said, entirely aware of the many different meanings that phrase could have and meaning pretty much every one of them. 

“Am I hearing an order in there to quit the field and carry you away from all this?” Niminay asked.

“Don’t you dare tempt me,” Penny said. Niminay had the willpower to overthrow the gods themselves. Penny knew herself to be far, far weaker than that. With that in mind she turned the conversation away from all the things she wanted to talk about and back to the matter at hand. “Do you have any of the adventuring guilds you trust to handle [Wagon Town]? I think we can shore up [Thaldinforge] if we the scouts can get us a sense of which Consortium forces are on the move and where they’re heading.”

“I’ve talked with one guild that’s all [Rogues],” Niminay said. “They’d make a decent supplement to your scouts, but they all seem pretty money hungry, so you’ll want to check if we can afford them. As for [Wagon Town]? Do we even know what we’re up against there?”

“Widespread societal prejudice and centuries of devaluation of the goblins as a people,” Penny said, stabbing her quill into on of the rejected requisition letters repeatedly. “Oh wait, you meant the Consortium’s force. How silly of me. It’d be so easy to think they were our allies with how eager everyone seems to be to see them eradicate all life from [Wagon Town].”

“It’s not that bad is it?” Niminay asked. “What about [Wolf’s Point]? They’ve been trading with [Wagon Town] for years.”

“Silence,” Penny said. “The world’s more or less divided into the bigots who want to see all of the goblins dead, and the cowards who are afraid to standup and say the goblins matter too.”

“Let me see what I can do then,” Niminay said. “I’ve met a couple of goblin heavy [Adventuring Guilds]. We’ve got a lull in the fighting now so I can reach out to them. I know the [Wagon Town Council] must be asking for all kinds of reinforcements. I’m sure the adventuring teams will step up, and they might even have some ideas the council won’t have thought of.”

“I could make a case for having you lead them,” Penny said. “It’s easier to get support to [Corsair’s Bay] if your absence does provoke an attack there.”

“I’ll help wherever you send me,” Niminay said. “I don’t think I should lead this one though. I don’t know what the [Wagon Town] forces are like. Or what fighting in the [Goblin Deeps] entails when you’re trying to save people rather than loot the place. Let me talk to the goblins I know and see if there’s a leader that the people in [Wagon Town] will unite behind. I can stand behind them for support if they want, or we can send them the burliest set of adventurers we can muster. Or both.”

“Talking with you always makes me feel better,” Penny said. “Ok, that’s a plan, and if we get on it right now, it might even work. Except, damn it, except we don’t know what kind of forces the Consortium has in reserve around [Wagon Town]. If we send you or a team of adventurers in there, you’ll be walking into what is absolutely a trap.”

“I’ve walked into traps before,” Niminay said.

“And you always walk out of them,” Penny said. “But the citizens of [Wagon Town] won’t. Right now the Consortium is waiting, so the fighting in the town is fairly light. They’re turtled up, and holding out while our forces gather against them.”

“That doesn’t seem like a winning play on their part.”

“It’s not. At the rate things are currently going, we’ll overwhelm them in the next three hours. That means they’re probably about two and a half hours from unleashing their counter offensive and based on their performance in other theaters, they’ll send enough troops to capture or destroy the total forces that we are currently capable of projecting into the area.”

“So…a trap, and a good one,” Niminay said. “But we still have to spring it or they’ll just roll right over everyone there and be able to extend even farther into the [Goblin Deeps].”

“Yeah, and that’s the other reason no one wants to help the goblins,” Penny said. “Nobody wants to see what kind of horrors the Consortium is waiting to unleash.”

A high priority message alert appeared before Penny.

“Huh, a message from one of the team leads in [Crystal Bower] just came in,” Penny said.

“Patch them in. If I need to redeploy there I’d rather know sooner than later,” Niminay said.

“Ok,” Penny said and joined Glimmerglass into the channel with Niminay.

“Hey, we had a…unexpected bit of good luck?” Glimmerglass said, picking her words carefully. 

“Do tell, I could really use some good luck about now,” Penny said.

“I think you’ll like this then. Let me patch in Burnt Toast and Marcus,” Glimmerglass said.

“Who?” Penny asked.

“Hi Penswell, you can call me BT. I’ll be your liaison to Marcus,” BT said.

“Marcus?”

“That would be me. I’m not a player. Not at the moment at any rate. I’m not in your world. But I do know a lot about it. In fact, from what the server logs are showing me, I think I can tell you where every Consortium force in all the [Fallen Kingdoms] are deployed and what capabilities each unit possesses. Would that be helpful?”

Interlude – Byron Grey

Dealing with idiots was part and parcel of the job, but the only joy it gave Byron was in setting them to march to their own destruction all unaware and hopeful that their filthy little desires would be fulfilled.

“So I believe you can see why I thought this was important,” Whiteweather said, nodding towards the monitor which was displaying the report Whiteweather had put together 

All things considered, it was a good bit of data analysis. Using nothing more than his own resources, Whiteweather had discovered that that Azma’s forces had stumbled upon a transdimensional entity in the world they were in the process of opening up.

“Of course,” Byron said. “This changes the character of the operation under Azma’s control quite substantially. Or it will once it’s proven to be true.”

“But the numbers! You can see…” Whiteweather leaned forward over Byron’s desk as though being in physical proximity to the data would strengthen his case.

“Numbers can lie,” Byron said. “You know that. The Steering Committee will never act on interpreted data before the field commander’s report arrives.”

“But they must act!” Whiteweather said. “If she proceeds any further, Azma is likely to gain control of the creature and then there’ll be no leverage strong enough to get it away from her.”

“That is also likely true,” Byron said. “Such is the nature of high stakes gambles like this one.”

“But we can’t let her win!” Whiteweather said. “If she gains any more power they’ll have to promote her to Director to keep her on and you know the first thing she’ll do is conduct a purge of everyone she doesn’t true – and she trusts no one.”

“Quite so,” Byron said.

“That will include both of us!”

“Which is why we are going to do something about it,” Byron said.

“But you said the Steering Committee won’t do anything about it,” Whiteweather said. “You’re not seriously proposing that we openly oppose her are you?”

“Oh of course not,” Byron said. “I know you brought this to me in the closest confidence. Exposing this openly would put you in far too much danger.”

“Thank you,” Whiteweather said as he wiped away the thin sweat which had started forming on his brow.

“I would never do such a thing my friend,” Byron said. “Your safety is of paramount importance. The Consortium can scarcely stand to lose a man of your vision.”

Byron was all warmth and sincerity, turning what should have been a dangerously effusive warning of impending betrayal into a kind and comforting expression of solidarity.

“So you have some scheme to turn Azma’s efforts against her more indirectly?” Whiteweather asked.

It didn’t take much intelligence to see that. Azma was ruthless to a fault. People who openly opposed her died. Never directly by her hand. Very rarely was their demise even vaguely associated with her. Through one means or another, her enemies simply ceased to be. Individually the deaths did nothing to protect her, save to remove that specific thorn from her side. It was only when viewed collectively that her efforts spoke a clear message which this rest of the Consortium (or at least the meaningful parts of it) had absorbed – you did not make problems for Azma. You treated her much like radioactive waste – something horrible which was best dealt with by allowing some else to manage the headache.

Some few had sought to murder her back of course. More than a few really. Attempting to kill Azma herself was invariably met with either one of two fates: an infliction of the exact same death you had intended for her or, in some odd cases, recruitment to her cause. Those were the people Byron found the most worrisome. They knew better than any not to trust her and yet they chose to work for the woman? It was inconceivable.

Then there were the people who sought to strike at Azma through her close relations. This was complicated by the fact that, as far as Byron could see, she had no close relations. No loved ones. No family. Barely even any coworkers or subordinates whom she tolerated.

Three times though she had displayed a passing fondness for someone and an attempt had been made on their lives. Azma was less subtle in response to that, and far less restrained. She hadn’t killed any of her agressort swiftly in those cases. Two of them were still alive in fact. That they lived in unimaginable agony and had paid everything they had for the privilege delivered Azma’s message more clearly than anything else could have.

Byron was not going to repeat those mistakes of course. Not when he had a viable candidate to make them for him.

“In this case discretion is paramount,” Byron said. “As is making sure the Consortium remains on our side. The last thing we need to is to go outside the official processes and find our own apparatus of command being turned against us.”

“That’s a tall order,” Whiteweather said. “You know that female has seduced half of upper management. She exists because she’s suborned so many of the people who are supposed to be keeping her in her place.”

Byron smiled and nodded agreeably, exerting a monumental effort of will to preserve a mask of sympathy. Whiteweather and the people like him were doomed. They were so eager to tear down Azma, and others like her who didn’t fit the ‘proper mold’, because they knew how unworthy they were of the positions they held. In allowing themselves to be blinded to Azma’s accomplishments and talents, they preserved their fragile egos at the expense of truly understanding their enemy.

For his many and vastly indulged faults, Byron did not fall prey to the same foible though. He knew Azma’s quality and talent. He didn’t like her of course, but even in a hated enemy there could be room for respect, and Byron didn’t hate Azma either. She was a particularly deadly fish swimming in a pond he occasionally chose to dip a toe into. He could marvel at her grace and ferocity while carefully working to remove the peril she posed to his aims and endeavors.

“I will let you in on a secret that was passed down to me by my old mentor,” Byron said. He’d never had a mentor of course. One learned the sort of lessons Byron had through observation and a natural aptitude for guile and subterfuge. People who spoke openly about such things tended to be people who were interested in attention and acclaim, which was the exact opposite of the proper mindset for effective social maneuvering in Byron’s estimation. Despite that, people like Whiteweather were so apt to cling to authority figures that offering them even a non-specific, fictional one was often enough to erase any doubts or sensible questions they might otherwise raise.

“The key to undermining someone in Azma’s position is not to oppose them but to give them exactly what they want and more,” Byron explained, knowing that Whiteweather would begin sputtering in confusion if allowed a moment to speak. “Understand that I do not mean ‘ally yourself with them’, or ‘allow them to do as they wish’. The essence of this strategy is that few people will are defended against receiving more of a good thing, and it is so very easy to turn a little more of something good into quite a bit too much and, ultimately, enough to crush them completely.”

“Yes, yes, I can see the wisdom there.” Whiteweather was nodding in an empty, barely comprehending manner.

Byron knew if he asked Whiteweather to offer a practical implementation of the idea Whiteweather would be completely at a loss for even the vaguest approximation of an idea.

“That is where your report is so crucial,” Byron said, setting his claws into Whiteweather’s fragile ego. “Azma has discovered something of great value in her endeavor. It could offer her power and influence beyond any of the rest of us. The transdimensional entity she is investigating represents the most dire of threats to us, if she can bring it under control. Until this however, it will be quite a useful tool to destroy her with.”

Interlude – Marcus Mashall

Marcus was destroying his career. When, not if, people discovered that he was on the game on a GM level account and interacting with an employee who had willingly stepped into the game, he would be at best suspended and at worst arrested for the crime of not stepping aside and allowing the people who believed they were in power to hang onto that belief for whatever time remained before the world came tumbling down.

Marcus looked at his desk. The reports neatly piled in one corner. The coffee cup with the company’s logo on it. The cubicle walls where print outs and notices were pinned. Even the wall paper on his computer’s desktop with it’s plain company logo. 

The whole environment made a statement. Or several statements. 

“The person who works here has no personality.” 

“This desk is for a piece of the corporate machinery, not a person.”

“The man who sits here is afraid to show his real self, even to the people he works with every day”.

Or maybe especially to the people he worked with every day.

By all rights, the person who sat at Marcus’s desk should have been the type of person to dutifully inform his corporate overlords about the new development with Hailey and allow them to work out what the official response would be. 

Marcus wasn’t sure where that man had gone. It was possible he’d never really been that man. That his isolation and lack of personality had been an artifact of the demands the system placed on him.

He had to be the boss. He had to be impartial. He had to enforce the company’s mandates, even when they were ill considered and abusive. If he didn’t then all of the progress he’d made, all the security he’d achieved, would all be taken away.

“Now that the whole world is falling apart though, I guess none of that matters anymore,” Marcus said to no one in particular.

There were still support reps hard at work. Just because the crisis was close to a day old didn’t mean they’d made any real headway on bringing the players together or establishing clear lines of communication. 

If anything the players themselves were more on the ball about that, and the EE support team was largely riding on their coattails, offering what assistance they could, or rather what assistance their management would allow them to offer.

“I’ve got Miguel looking at the server logs,” Marcus said, speaking into a team chat channel and hearing the impossible in reply.

“Good, I don’t know what you’ll need to look for, but hopefully there’s something weird there that can act as a lead,” Burnt Toast said. Burnt Toast, who was also Hailey MacGilfoyle, but who really was the adventurer known at Burnt Toast.

“You sound like you’ve stabilized some,” Marcus said.

“Yeah. I’m…I’m…I’m…holding it together,” Burnt Toast said with a burst of static in between her words. “Mostly.”

“What is happening to you?” Marcus asked. He didn’t expect an answer.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem to be getting worse, so that’s…” she grunted and fought to regain control of her voice before something unwanted slipped out. “Good,” she finished.

“Can you augment her actions at all Marcus?” Mellisandra asked. Mellisandra who was another character within the game. Mellisandra who had a player behind her, but who, again, was also her own person. In fact from what Marcus could tell, he had only spoken to Mellisandra so far. The fictional person with no AI behind her at all had help a short but informative conversation detailing some of things she’d discovered by interacting with her player. 

“No, her screen is completely blank,” Marcus said. “It was fine until I tried to touch the controls, and then poof everything was gone.”

“Its okay Marcus,” Hailey said. Her voice was so similar to Burnt Toast’s but without any effort Marcus knew which of the two he was speaking to. “I think we’re already in an [Inspired] state. There’s probably no additional benefit we’d get from you directing our moves. And it would be a bit creepy.”

“Oh yeah, cause nothing else about this is creepy.”

“I think there may be something far more important Marcus can do for us, if he’s willing,” Glimmerglass said.

“I’m all in on this,” Marcus said.

“I think you need to speak with our [Grand Strategist] then,” Glimmerglass said. “You may not have made this world, but you and the people there know what it’s secrets are, and what secrets the Consortium holds. Give that to us and you’ll give Penswell the most powerful weapon she could ever wish for.”

Interlude – Penswell

Penswell was trying to be in twelves places at once, and was succeeding for the most part. Her problem was that she really needed to be in a hundred places and her limits didn’t stretch quite that far.

“I’ve got news from [Crystal Bower],” General Aurelite said. “Got time to hear the details or do you just want the summary?”

Aurelite was, in theory, in charge of the combined troops of the [Fallen Kingdoms Defense Force]. In practice though that amounted to little more than “Chief Cat Wrangler”. The regular forces were a challenge on their own. Add to that trying to integrate troops which had fought wars against each as recently as a few weeks ago, and then toss the impossibility of controlling the [Adventuring Guilds] into the mix. 

The urge to join the Consortium wasn’t overwhelming, but Aurelite could see the appeal of it.

“Summary first, followed by the details please,” Penny said, allowing one of her projections to freeze in place so she could reclaim the brainpower needed to process Aurelite’s words.

“Ok, in short, we’re holding [Crystal Bower]. The [Library of Light] saw heavy fighting – well beyond our projections – but the team there held out. The [Garden of Silence] escaped relatively unscathed and saw comparatively less fighting. The two other offensive fronts went according to plan. The upshot is we’ve got control of the teleport fields within the city and have reenabled the interdiction wards with the new protocols.”

“That was exactly the good news I needed to hear,” Penswell said. “Give me a breakdown on where our forces are at.”

“The regular troops are moving in and fortifying the key locations,” General Aurelite said. “We’ve got a team from one of the [Crafting Guilds] dispatched with them to create new defensive structures. That should raise their effective level if they have to repulse another invasion.”

“Do they have an special units with them?” Penswell asked. “We were going to move a contingent of [Beast Handlers] and the [Fire Drakes] into the city too, but they’re still pinned down in [Wagon Town].”

“I can order the handlers and the drakes redeployed,” Aurelite said. “They have a path open to exit the battlefield.”

“If they leave, [Wagon Town] falls,” Penswell said.

“It’s not exactly a tactically critical location,” Aurelite said. “The troops in [Crystal Bower] would have a much better chance of holding the city if they had drakes to counter the Consortiums [Clockwork] soldiers with.”

Penny ground her teeth. The argument for “let the goblins die already” had been raised in at least thirty different varieties, from straight out racist calls to “end the vermin while we can”, to more veiled suggestions as to the relative value of different targets the Consortium had attacked, to attempts to couch allow the goblins to be exterminated as ‘tactically necessary’.

The moment you accepted the goblins as people though, it became impossible to take any of those arguments seriously.

“[Wagon Town] has the highest concentration of [Alchemists] and [Tinker Mages] in the entire world,” Penny said. “It is also the bastion which guards the principal gateway into the [Goblin Deeps]. It’s shielding more people than [Crystal Bower], [Thaldinforge], and [Corsair’s Bay] out together.”

Penny was pretty certain that Aurelite mumbled something like “if you can consider them people”, but since the General didn’t seem inclined to overtly pursue the matter, she let it drop, wondering if that was a mistake.

“I’ll take it that no replacements for the [Fire Drakes] have been found yet?” she asked instead. [Crystal Bower] was still an important focus point in the overall campaign, and the elves there deserved protection as much as the goblins did.

“We’re in negotiations at present, but those may take some time,” Aurelite said.

“Negotiations with who?” Penny asked. She was trying to stay abreast of the diplomatic war being wages in addition to the physical one, but she’d fallen behind on monitoring the political maneuvering of the various factions as the fighting had intensified and consumed all her attention.

“We have opened communication with the [Tyrant of Flames],” Aurelite said.

“What! When was this! Who authorized it?”

“You did,” Aurelite said. “You specifically instructed the diplomats to ‘make any alliance, with any force that is willing to fight against the Consortium’. Those were your exact words.”

Penny pinched the bridge of her nose, her jaw and neck muscles going rigid.

“I didn’t think I needed to add ‘who isn’t actively trying to eradicate all life in the [Fallen Kingdoms]’. Perhaps I was foolish but that seemed too obvious to mention.”

“And yet here we are,” Aurelite said.

“We need to call those negotiations off,” Penny said. “The [Tyrant of Flames] is an existential threat to this world. We can’t fight one apocalypse with another. That doesn’t leave us with a world, it leaves us with a [Flame Tyrant] who’s now got extra-dimensional [Murder Barges] at his command!”

“I am well aware of that. But the negotiations have to continue.”

Penny paused for a moment, stunned at the stupidity of that line of thought, but then paused. General Aurelite was many things but she wasn’t stupid, which meant there was some compelling reason why she would risk such a catastrophe. Penny searched her imagination for what that reason could be. She called to mind the worst possible situation and knew that must be it.

“The Consortium’s already negotiating with the [Flame Tyrant]?” She knew that had to be it, even though she really hoped to be wrong.

“They got there before we did,” General Aurelite said. “We’re not out of the running though. Our diplomats are still alive and are reporting back, second hand admittedly, what the Consortium is offering for the [Flame Tyrant’s] cooperation.”

Penny’s concentration wavered as her breath turned white hot. Holding onto a dozen projections at once became impossible. Three were indispensable but the rest she released until she could get her rage back under control.

“What makes any of them thing the [Flame Tyrant] will cooperate with either the Consortium or us,” Penny asked. “And what can we possibly be offering a monster like that?”

“At this point? Existence,” Aurelite said. “The [Flame Tyrant] isn’t stupid. Despite what the Consortium is offering, it’s obvious that from their perspective, foreign powers like the Tyrant will never be respected or allowed to continue existing in a world they conquer.”

“Of course not,” Penny said. “If they let the [Flame Tyrant] live, they’ll all be burned to ash within a week.”

“That’s where we have an advantage,” Aurelite said. “We have a history with the [Flame Tyrant]. There’s at least the possibility of an mutually satisfactory relationship there.”

“What? How?”

“Well, we could give the [Flame Tyrant] one of the Consortiums other worlds after we beat them,” Aurelite said.

Penny pictured it. One world cast from slavery into the fires of utter destruction in order to preserve the world she knew and loved. The temptation was clear and the numbers added up, provided she assigned based on what was the most convenient for herself. Otherwise it was the problem with the goblins writ on a planetary scale.

“Has that been suggested yet?” she asked.

“Not explicitly,” Aurelite said. “The negotiators reported that they’re still working through the social amenities required to properly address the Tyrant.”

“They’re wasting time. Good. Have them continue with that and report if there’s any sign of the Tyrant accepting either offer,” Penswell said.

“Do you think that’s likely?” Aurelite asked.

“No. In this case it’s much better to string both of us along until its clear who the victor will be and then threaten to join the other side if their demands aren’t met.”

“That’s when we’ll recruit them?” Aurelite asked.

“That’s when we’ll destroy them,” Penny said. With a deep, calming breath, she forced her muscles to unclench. The [Flame Tyrant] had caused too much pain already but allowing herself to get distracted by that wasn’t going to do any good for the people she still could save.

Interlude – Marcus Marshall

Seeing Hailey disappear in front of his eyes shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Marshall. He’d already seen one of his other support reps suffer the same fate and there were reports from around the world talked about the same thing happening to players by the tens of thousands.

But Hailey hadn’t been at her desk. She hadn’t even been playing Broken Horizons.

Or…

Marcus rushed back to the call center room and Hailey’s cubicle. His administrator password was enough to get him in her machine. His stomach sank when he saw two instances of the game’s client running. 

One was clearly the official “GM” level account which most of her work was done through. They’d always required the support reps to have an normal user version of the code installed as well though. Sometimes problems could be tracked down in the less restrictive “GM code” but more often the reps needed to be in the same version of the game that players were seeing to encounter the bugs they were reporting.

Marcus didn’t have to pull up the other instance of Broken Horizons to know that Hailey had been logged in on her account as well. He could see the character name in the title bar. Pulling it up he expected to see the same blank screen which had been on Ashad’s screen when he’d been disintegrated or pulled into the game or whatever happened to GMs who tried to use their god-like powers.

Hailey’s client wasn’t fried though.

Marcus could see her – or her character, “Burnt Toast”, really.

And he could see the message that appeared in her chat log.

>> Hey Marcus! Sorry to cut out on you like that.

>> I’ve got some important stuff to do here though.

>> Could you try to make sure no one turns off my computer. 

>> And maybe cover for me? If anyone asks, tell ‘em I went home early or something.

Marcus stumbled back.

This was not possible. Even for the last day, this wasn’t possible. People were only supposed to be absorbed, or whatever was happening to them, when their characters died, or when they tried to log off. Hailey had been standing right beside him. She couldn’t have tried to log off.

Maybe she’d left her character somewhere dangerous and been killed when she was away?

But she seemed to know exactly when it would happen.

No. She seemed to chose when it would happen.

>> One more thing…thing…thing….thing…

>> I seem to be having a bit…bit of trouble

>> This might not have been the best…worst…best…worst…best idea ever.

>> Maybe have Jane and Miguel check the server logs for

>> for this character? What’s happening to me might shed some light on

Marcus waited for another message to appear but after a minute none more showed up.

On the screen, Hailey’s character appeared to be kneeling down, head pressed to the floor and meditating. It was an interesting emote, especially since Marcus knew for a fact that there wasn’t any emote like that in the game.

“Can I help get you out of there?” he asked as he typed the message into the chat window.

It should have gone to the local channel and been said so that the other characters around “Burnt Toast” could hear it too. Instead a reply immediately appeared in the chat log, with Marcus’s text simply being swallowed up.

>> I don’t want to get out of here.

>> We have too much to do still. There’s too many people here who need our help.

Marcus wasn’t even sure he believed the “people” in the game were real people anymore. One part of him acknowledged that they seemed to respond and behave like real people, but another part was still valiantly clinging to denial as a means to retain at least a few shreds of his sanity. 

He hadn’t slept in a long while, and he’d been under so much stress leading up to the launch of the World Shift expansion. Hallucinations didn’t seem that far out of the question. Even a full psychotic break probably wouldn’t have been unwarranted, and would certainly have been better than what he was facing.

Except he knew it couldn’t be that easy. 

Rolling up his sleeves, he went over to his own machine and unlocked it. Waiting for him was his own game client – this one running his “GM” character. GM powers were strictly off limits, but talking? Talking didn’t seem to cause any problems.

He was wrong about that, but also very right in what he did.

>> Ok, no getting you out then.

>> Tell me what I can do to help.

Glimmerglass didn’t know she was going to change the world when she clicked the send button, but in a sense, that was exactly what she intended.

>> TO: @burnttoast

>> FROM: @glimmerglass

>> HEADER: Checking in

>> BODY: Hi there! It’s been a while, but I wanted to see if you’d gotten caught up in all the stuff that’s going on now. I hope not – it’s pretty awful – but if you are in the middle of this, toss me a line ok? Your name is showing up kind of weird in my list, and it’d be nice to know you’re okay.

Glimmerglass had struggled over the words for longer than she should have. She knew that preparing for the next wave of the Consortium’s forces was crucial, but debating between “my list” and “my friend list” had seemed just as important.

Was she BT’s friend anymore? Did BT even want to hear from her in the first place?

“Message is sent?” Cambrell asked.

“Yeah. I kept it short. I guess that’s good?” Glimmerglass said.

“It’s good you sent it,” Cambrell said. “How she responds, or if she responds, that’s on her. Won’t change that you tried, they you were brave enough to reach out.”

“I know. None of that makes it any easier to take my eyes off my Inbox though,” Glimmerglass said.

“No answer might be the best answer. Didn’t you say that?” Cambrell asked.

“Yeah, if she’s fully retired she might not be reachable at all. That would put her out of any immediate danger.”

“Might expose her to more danger in the long though, wouldn’t it?” Cambrell asked. “Old adventurers aren’t going to be ignored by the Consortium for too long after they conquer the world.”

“That won’t be a problem for her if do our jobs though,” Glimmerglass said. “If we take back [Crystal Bower] and the other cities Penswell has targeted, we should be able to stop their advance.”

“Maybe,” Cambrell said. “Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a strategist – and I can see why this place is a critical but this is war on a world-wide scale. Holding one town, or even one country isn’t going to be enough to stop the whole war.”

“I know. Even if we could get a main boss to appear, there’s too many of the Consortium’s forces here for them all to crumble when the boss is defeated. This war is going to change the face of [Fallen Kingdoms] forever, even if we were to win it right now. If we can hold [Crystal Bower] and the other places though, we can create safe areas for the non-combatants to. That would give the retired adventurers some hope.”

“Won’t do much for the regular people though,” Cambrell said.

Glimmerglass deflated a bit, seeing the world through Cambrell’s eyes. Goblins had been accepted as a “people” rather than “pests” or “monsters” only relatively recently. And that “accepted” status was far from universal. There were still goblin controlled dungeons and areas which were viewed as fair game for adventurers to plunder since the goblins who inhabited them had refused to enter into the non-aggression pacts the “civilized” goblin nations had signed.

In the midst of a global crisis, it was all too easy to imagine the goblins – no matter their affiliation – being left to fend for themselves, or even actively sabotaged by their neighbors who would be just as happy to see the Consortium’s forces succeed in a complete genocide so long as the genocide was limited to “the right people”.

“Do you know how your friends and family are holding out?” Glimmerglass asked. She could teleport off to help them, but she could put in a word for her team to help with the defense of [Toothache] or [Wagon Town] or one of the other goblin cities once [Crystal Bower] was secured.

“Uh…dead,” Cambrell said. “But that’s not new.”

“What?”

“Didn’t become an [Assassin] because I had a lot of either one,” Cambrell said. “Don’t tend to make many on the job either.”

“You’ve got…no one?”

“Coworkers. Employers. Enemies. Lots of those. It sounds bad when I say it like that, but it’s sensible.”

Glimmerglass sputtered searching for which of the many objections she was going to raise first. Something in Cambrell’s expression brought her up short though.

“Sensible? Do many people target you for your work or do they go after the people who sent you?” she asked, guessing what one of the prime issues might be.

“Oh, they always come after me. The targets, their relatives, target’s bosses, my bosses sometimes. It’s fun. You should try it. Keeps you on your toes. And makes you a light sleeper.”

“I’m guessing the easiest route to take to you tends to run through those who are close to you?” Glimmerglass asked.

“Only if I care about them,” Cambrell said. “Happy advantage though, if you’ve got an annoying associate, messing up just enough on a mission and then hanging around them for a little while can fix that problem easily.”

That should have been terrible. It should have evoked sympathy but Glimmerglass couldn’t help but be drawn in by the goblin’s gallows humor.

“So how annoying would you say we all are?” Glimmerglass asked, affecting a suspicious glare.

“It varies,” Cambrell said. “This isn’t that kind of mission though. Here if I mess up, we just all die. Or get captured. War’s not particularly subtle.”

“Happy advantage then, we can be friends,” Glimmerglass said.

“My enemies aren’t limited time offers,” Cambrell said. “They’re happy to wait as long as it takes to get to me.”

“I’d be more worried about your enemies if I didn’t know what my friends were like,” Glimmerglass said.

“My enemies don’t fight fair,” Cambrell said.

Glimmerglass laughed. “You think my friends do? Let me ask you this, do your enemies generally possess any sort of wealth?”

“Sure. Nobody hires me to kill poor people, and poor people can’t afford me,” Cambrell said.

“Do you know what adventurers do to people who have loot who decide to flag themselves as hostile to us?” Glimmerglass asked. “If not allow me to direct your attention to where Damnazon and Mellisandra are stripping the [Trainsaw Transport] for every saleable part, while the rest of the team loots every body in the area. There are locust plagues that leave more behind than your typically adventuring team.”

Cambrell turned his gaze in the direction Glimmerglass indicated and started to chuckle a moment later.

“That is kind of disturbing now that I look at it,” he said.

“Yeah, you might think being an [Assassin] is bad, but trust me, you fit right in,” Glimmerglass said. “I mean, I’m the healer and I’ve bashed in more brains with my staff so I could get some new underwear than I should ever admit.”

Cambrell slowly slid his gaze to Glimmerglass, a look of honest concern creeping into his eyes.

“For reference, I don’t wear underwear,” he said.

“So noted,” Glimmerglass said with a nod of approval.

“Hey, any word on when the next Consortium strike force is going to get here?” Mellisandra asked. “I’m try to coordinate with some other teams.”

“Nothing from Penswell’s [Command Center] yet,” Glimmerglass said. “I did hear from one of the scouting teams we have patrolling the city though and they said we’re clear for the moment. The Consortium force in that last represent most of what they have in this quarter of the city.”

“Might send [Assassins] in,” Cambrell said. “Probably not though. No one good target. This would be a bad job to get out of too.”

“Good, I’ll let the others know,” Mellisandra said and left to go rejoin the looting.

 “Could you get out of her if you had to assassinate one of us?” Glimmerglass asked.

“Probably,” Cambrell said. “Depends on which one.”

“I’m going to guess Damnazon wouldn’t be easy?”

“Wouldn’t be my first choice,” Cambrell said.

“I’m guessing I would be though?” Glimmerglass asked.

“Sorry,” Cambrell said.

“No, it’s smart. Always take the healer out first. I’ve argued for that strategy more times than I can count.”

“Just hard to make sure people stay dead when someone like you is around,” Cambrell said. “Probably have to kill you first even if my target was someone else in the group.”

“You sound like BT now,” Glimmerglass said. “Whenever we did intra-guild PVP, she always apologized for taking me out first. Even when I specifically told her that was the strategy to try for.”

“You told her to kill you first? And this person was a friend?”

“Yeah. We were…close. Or at least I thought we were.”

“Murder seems an odd tactic for staying close,” Cambrell said.

“Dying in an adventurer PVP zones isn’t quite the same as normal,” Glimmerglass said. “I mean, obviously, we weren’t permanently killing each other. It was practice for PvP Raids.”

“Oh. So you used practice weapons?”

“Not at all. Real weapons. Real spells. It’s pretty weird the first time you do it. Really helps if you’ve died and respawned before so you know being blasted to bits isn’t that bad.”

“Still seems like it would be hard to kill the person you’re used to being the one who keeps you alive.”

“I did mention I can cave in skulls with this staff right? In PvP, there’s no such thing as ‘I don’t do any damage’. Turn your back on a healer and they will absolutely punish you for that.”

“Adventurers are weird.”

“No arguments there.”

“So, will your friend be expecting you to cave in their head if they come back?”

Glimmerglass frowned as she tried to consider her message from BT’s perspective.

“I don’t think so,” she said. Could BT be worried about being yelled at? Did she think Glimmerglass was still mad about how she’d left?

Are you still mad?

Am I?

Glimmerglass wanted to say ‘No’. Of course she wasn’t still mad. That was a long time ago.

Except shouldn’t she be mad? 

“Should she be?” Cambrell asked.

“I’m not going to attack her!” Glimmerglass objected. “I…we need her! We need everyone like her!”

“You just look tense when you talk about her,” Cambrell said. “Usually I see that when people are about run away. Or try to stab me.” He paused for a moment to reflect on that. “I may not be as familiar as I should be with how normal people act.”

Glimmerglass chuckled.

“It’s not you,” she said. “Things with BT are complicated. I don’t know if she even knows that though. I think for her it was probably really simple. Our guild wasn’t doing too well and people had started leaving. No one major or critical. Not before her. I thought we could recover, rally and do some recruitment. I thought we had something worth preserving. But that was just me. I…”

“You cared. You needed it more than they did,” Cambrell said. “I know how it is. I wasn’t always…I had friends too. Long ago. It sucks.”

“It’s stupid to worry about though,” Glimmerglass said. “That’s all ancient history at this point. And this war is so much bigger than all that. I can totally let the past just fade away. I just hope she can too.”

Glimmerglass turned her thoughts inwards, her imagination reaching back across the years for the sound of BT’s laughter, for the fiery courage in her eyes, for the scent of her as they sat close around a campfire late into the night.

“I just want to see her again.”

>> Message received!

Glimmerglass blinked and called up her inbound message queue. Before she could open the message from “@burnttoast” though, a comet crashed to the ground beside her.

A cocoon of golden light opened like a flower, layers of petals peeling back as a blinking and stunned Burnt Toast stood up from the minor crater she’d punched into the floor of the library.

“Hey there,” she said stepping forward. 

“BT?” Glimmerglass asked, her breath and heart squeezed into immobility by surprise.

“Long time, no see Glim..glim…glimmer,” BT said and then fritzed for a split second.

Just like a [Disjoined].