Chapter 6: Chapter 5

Matthew walked into his office, a strong cup of assam tea in his hand. The headquarters of the eXalta Player Council was located on five floors of a downtown San Francisco glass monstrosity. Given the amount of people the Council was designed to support it ran itself like any large multinational organisation and had the revenue to match. It's role was multifaceted: to act for the good of players and guilds, to serve as the point of contact between players and Artifact Gaming, to facilitate political negotiations inside and outside the game, and to trade and sell information. The Adventurers Association was the larger organisation, the Council being a sub-division, but was it more purely focused on the gaming aspects of eXalta while the Council looked after everything else.

Since there was no such thing as chatrooms or video conferencing within eXalta most of the Council's work was done in the real world. Inside eXalta he was Siward Zanlith, an agent of the Adventurers Council, outside he was Matthew Siward, the 35 year old VP of Research and Analysis. Taking his seat he put on his VR headset and joined the Council's virtual chambers, appearing in a hallway outside the main conference room. He was here to make a presentation to a full assembly.

He gave a nod to Katherine, one of the newer hires in his department, as her avatar blinked into being beside him. "Ever been to one of these before?" he asked her.

"Once, when I was part of The Kingfishers Guild but never a meeting like this. It feels like I'm walking into a crisis summit of the G-20."

"Not a bad comparison though this is more like the G-500, all the most influential guilds are attending."

They walked into the chamber together, Katherine taking an available seat in the back row while Matthew made his way down to the front. There were three blocks of seating for the over a thousand attending avatars, everyone using either their real appearance or their eXalta character, often including any fantastical gear. Matthew had never been what you would call a gamer before joining the Council but he was now used to cosplay as business attire. They were a weird bunch but not to be underestimated. They were some of the smartest, most skilled, and richest gamers on the planet.

The Council themselves sat in the front rows of the middle section and many gave him brief nods as he took his place at the podium. He waited patiently for several minutes as murmured conversations filled the room. The Council Chairman eventually stood up and clapped, momentarily muting everyone in the chamber. Not through his presence, he simply had moderator rights.

"Thank you everyone. This assembly will now begin. Agent Siward, now that everyone is here please provide a summary of the incident, the latest updates, and what your team has discovered so far."

Matthew began his prepared speech. "Chairman Tarick. Council members. Guild masters. Thank you for your time and attention. If the goal of the Nodel Cataclysm was to cause maximum player deaths, extreme financial losses to Association members, or to inflict the most damage possible to the Kingdom of Jospur, it succeeded spectacularly on every objective.

"The latest casualty reports I have received confirm at least 1.9 million players suffered permadeath, and not just random characters. High level players congregated to Jospur and Nodel specifically. Based on pre-event leaderboard standings 96 of the Top 100 players are confirmed dead including all of the previous Top 10, as well as an estimated 87 percent of the top 100,000. Essentially the majority of the strongest, wealthiest and most veteran characters in the game have wiped. There is now a huge power vacuum in the playerbase. Nodel was the central hub for the starter realm, politically and militarily. It was the city where every player wanted to live or visit, and the location where every guild wanted their headquarters. All that is now gone. Nodel no longer exists in any meaningful form.

"Every single one of the players who died is still waiting for their death penalty lockout periods to expire, for some that could be a very long time indeed, and so none of the affected players have been able to start new characters. As I'm sure everyone here is very much aware there are some extremely angry and upset gamers right now. Artifact have had to temporarily lock down all their socials and the game forums."

There were mutters around the conference room. Matthew knew many of those upset players were present.

"Artifact has put out a statement saying they have no idea what happened and they were as blindsided as everyone else. They confirmed it is not the start of some secretly prepared story arc, new expansion or quest series. Nor was it the bad end to some ongoing story or epic questline everyone missed the flags for. They are accepting no blame. To paraphrase their press release: it's eXalta, shit happens, and everyone should know what they sign up for."

"Have they asked the AIs?" queried one of the Council.

"Yes. Their response was: we are monitoring the situation but no rules or laws of eXalta have been broken."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"My team's and my own opinion is that it means it wasn't a game bug or exploit, and that the AIs let it happen. It is theoretically possible they had no warning but that is incredibly unlikely given they are supposed to know everything that happens inside the game. So based on that it heavily suggests it was caused by the actions of one or more players." He looked over the room with a grim expression. "The question we should be asking is can they do it again and how soon?"

"By the gods," exclaimed one of the senior guild masters. "Are you saying we're dealing with PKs or griefers?"

"It's a strong possibility, just look at what was hit. The in-game Adventurers Association Headquarters and primary Auction House were atomized. Every advanced martial and arcane training college was destroyed. Nodel University is dust. The dense inner city of Nodel, a self-contained warren of rich quests and mysteries, maybe the best area outside of the wilderness to gain XP for the top players, now wiped off the face of the world.

"Then you have the fact that every major Guild HQ based in Nodel no longer exists, that includes their vaults and guild hearts; even if they have any members left they have lost all their stored gear, gold reserves and other resources. For every guild master here affected you and your guilds will have to start from scratch."

The shock and anger became even more pronounced with that statement. The real world financial losses those guilds and their members had suffered would be immense with no means to recover in the foreseeable future. Even when the guilds did manage to get back inside eXalta, Level 1 characters could not farm the best areas or the wilderness.

"How?" asked a guild master from one of the destroyed guilds. Matthew recognized him, his guild and it's over one thousand members had been ranked in the Top 5 in eXalta before being completely obliterated. "Those buildings and our headquarters should have been indestructible. I can't have been the only one to have spent an excessive amount of time and money on acquiring extra defensive items and installing high level protection runes."

"The AIs would never allow indestructible," answered Matthew. "Something may be incredibly difficult to kill or destroy but never impossible. That would go against their ethos for eXalta to respond as believably as possible. However no known spell, skill or item is even close to being powerful enough to cause the level of destruction that occurred. That is the single most critical piece of information we currently lack. The best stream capture of the event we have, from someone high up on the mountain passes, has caused the terms 'magic nuke' or 'M-Bomb' to spread. There was no radiation but the damage was on a similar scale.

"I and a few of my team went to investigate the site. After a run in with the local NPCs," Matthew said with a visibly sour expression, "we eventually managed to gain access to the location where we believed the incident originated. All the evidence from the blast damage, direction of ejecta and the crater itself confirmed this. From our observations the focal point was, with near certainty, at what used to be the campus of Nodel University close to the Royal Palace. Possibly the main university building itself but there is no such thing as surveyance equipment in the game to make accurate maps or take precise enough measurements to confirm that hypothesis.

"The destruction around the source was so complete there was not a single piece of physical evidence remaining. Everything for approximately two kilometres in all directions of the source was vaporised, at 5 kilometres to small pieces of rubble. We have no clues about what happened or who, if anyone, was involved. If it was a manual activation or spell cast then I can only confirm they died along with everyone else."

"Are you suggesting it could have been initiated remotely?" asked a different Council member.

"I have no evidence either way. There is also a small but non-zero chance it was an accident. The university was a site of magical research after all. A failed experiment perhaps. However the university was also a site with an exceptionally strong magical aura. It is why the game lore states Nodel, and specifically the university, was built there in the first place, and maybe that was required to fuel such a powerful spell or item. To my frustration, without more evidence, there are too many possible scenarios."

"We understand your frustrations as well. So what actions do you and your department plan to take next?"

"Honestly without new information I'm at a loss at how to proceed. Unless someone has any suggestions I am inclined to wait and see what happens next. If someone intentionally griefed eXalta they will want to brag about it sooner rather than later."

There were some discussions around the room but with no clear consensus. The only agreement was that every guild active in the game should be on the lookout for any new information and to pass any clues they discovered onto the Association and the Council.

"Okay, moving on then to the next item. I would like to cover the political fallout caused by the incident. With the apparent loss of the entire Jospur royal family and its ruling government no one is currently running the country. There is a very high risk of civil war or a military coup. Keep an eye out for quests along those lines, we'll pass on details about certain candidates we may want to assist or remove. There is also the likelihood a neighbouring kingdom will see this as the perfect opportunity to invade, Jospur may be at war within an eXalta year. The nations most likely to attack would be ..."

***

"You lost her?" asked a stunned Tamhas. Rikhar was a lot of things but incompetent was not one of them.

"Yeah," confirmed the abashed [Rouge]. The small man was nervously rubbing his hands together. "Well, no, not exactly. I'd swear she almost saw me through [Cloak] several times. She must have a pretty high perception score as I levelled my skill. But no, she never knew I was there and wasn't actively trying to lose me. All she did was some window shopping down the royal road until she reached the destruction. Then she was stopped by a couple of army soldiers whom she somehow managed to convince to let her through the cordon. After that, open ground under sunlight, there was nothing for my [Stealth] to work with and the army refused to let me through. She went in too far for me to keep an eyeball on her for long so I hung around for several hours but she never returned, at least not by the same path. So I thought it best to come back and report."

"Thanks Rikhar. You did the right thing. Tell the barkeep your drinks are on my tab for the rest of the night."

"Thanks boss."

"Should we go look for her? The sun sets soon," Eruwen asked Tamhas with a hint of concern in her voice.

"I know you have some fondness for her and feel a sense of responsibility. The natives in this game are so believable we can't help but feel attached, but in the end she's just some random, AI generated, low-level NPC. One of hundreds we saved. We already have all the XP we can get from her. Either she comes back or she doesn't. However, if you want to go I won't stop you." Eruwen nodded reluctantly but sat in silence after that, obvious worry growing on her face as time passed.

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Not long after sunset had arrived, and the streets were blanketed in the evening dark, Helena walked through the inn doors covered by a long grey cloak secured around her neck, its hood hanging loose down her back. Eruwen jumped out of her seat and paced over. Helena looked pale under the barroom lights. "Are you okay?" asked Eruwen with concern.

"Yes. Just tired. It has been a very long day. I'm going to go to my room and rest."

"Good idea. Should I have Jillian send up some food?"

Helena stood there lost for several moments in thought before replying. "Yes. It seems I can still eat. Can you ask Madam Jillian to send up Kiara up as well please?"

"Sure, not a problem."

Eruwen walked through a door beside the bar and found Jillian and her young assistant in the kitchen.

"Up you go child," Jillian said to Kiara, "I'll bring her up some dinner soon."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you ma'am." Jillian chucked to herself as Kiara ran off. "Those two already appear to be fast friends."

Eruwen laughed with her. "So it appears. Poor Helena." Jillian raised an eyebrow at the comment. "I'm not sure I'd have the energy to keep that one entertained for long," she explained.

Jillian laughed along with her. "She can be rather flighty but she shows a lot of potential. I'm considering making her my formal apprentice in a year or two."

"Who am I to disagree with your judgement," Eruwen said with a smile.

"Impertinent woman! Now shoo, leave me to prepare the girl's meal."

With a mocking salute Eruwen said, "Yes ma'am."

---

When the realisation struck Helena that she did not want to be found with the bodies she managed to pull herself together. She wiped her hands, both daggers, and her shoes clean on the [Brute]'s shirt. Her trousers were clean, or the black leather masked any blood in the fading light, but her white shirt was splashed in crimson. She couldn't walk back into the inn like that so she took the cloak from the attacker she had stabbed in the eye. Thankfully he had barely bled and the grey fabric, surprisingly of quite high quality, was clean and covered almost everything except her boots. As she turned over the body to pull the cloak free Helena noticed there was a small pouch tied to his belt. On impulse she removed it and felt the shape of coins inside, following through on her whim she took a similar sized pouch off the first youth. The [Brute] had a much larger purse and so she put the two smaller pouches inside and tied it to her belt, she could spend the time inspecting all the contents later. Now she had to leave.

Helena peered out of the alley carefully but she saw no one else on the street outside. So pulling up the hood of the cloak she started the walk back to the inn. Reveal nothing. There were no instructions how to use the new skill [Mislead] but her experience with the Interface so far was that it was very intuitive. However she was mystified about how she had acquired the skill. If Helena understood the notification she had somehow received the skill by killing the [Brute]. This wasn't something Helena felt she could ask Kiara about.

Helena opened her Interface and mentally focused on her [Level]. For lack of a better description it now felt soft. Helena found she could adjust the value with a thought and pin it in place if she wished. Just before she turned onto the street where the Griffin Inn was located she noticed a barrel filled with rain water sitting in the entrance to another alley. Berating herself for not thinking of it earlier she washed her face and hands in the cool water, hopefully removing any last remains of blood. Drying herself with a rough wipe of her cloak she walked towards the inn.

Inside it looked just like she had left it earlier in the day, except the evidence for the food and drink consumed since then lay scattered across the tables. After a quick chat with Eruwen, Helena went up to her room and collapsed onto the bed. Someone had already lit a pair of lamps for her. She stared up at the knots in the beams of wood running across the ceiling, her mind numb, trying to avoid thinking about the events in the alley.

The distraction that was named Kiara soon knocked and entered the bedroom. "Hello Miss Helena."

Helena sat up. "So they told you?"

"Yes miss. It's a pretty name."

"Thank you. Did you or Madam Jillian find me any new clothes while I was out?"

"Just a shirt and a short skirt. Most of the people in the guild only wear adventuring gear so there wasn't much choice for the likes of you."

"That's fine. Would you like to go shopping with me tomorrow? We can buy some things in some of the shops I saw during my walk."

The bubbly young blonde looked like you wanted to jump up and down but managed to keep herself contained. "Yes please! That sounds fun."

"Great. So how do I take a bath? Does someone have to carry up the water?"

Kiara gave a happy laugh and dragging on Helena's arm pulled her into the bathroom.

"These are magic runes," she said pointing at two tiles sunk into the taps. "Press this one for hot, this for cold." Helena couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

When Madam Jillian arrived carrying a tray filled with small plates of food similar to what Helena had eaten much earlier in the day she asked the short, red-haired woman if it was okay to take Kiara with her tomorrow.

"That sounds like an excellent idea. I have a few things you both can pick up for me, supplies for the trip back home. I'll leave the money with you in the morning. Treat yourselves with what is left."

"That's very kind Madam Jillian. I'm not sure when I'll be leaving, I'll see how I feel when I wake."

"Come on Kiara," the older woman said to the youngster, "Helena looks exhausted. Let her get some rest. You can see her tomorrow."

After eating her dinner Helena ran herself a hot bath and let herself soak. She tried to clean her white shirt, furiously rubbing the cloth together in the water but failed to remove the blood stains. She would have to get rid of the garment later and hope that no one noticed it was missing.

Helena lay there trying to unknot her twisted emotions and thoughts. Did she regret killing those men? The [Brute], absolutely not. The other two she was less clear about. They had been even younger than her, basically still kids, and without those swords she would not have felt in real danger for her life. But they did have swords, and they had attacked her with malice in their hearts. If she hadn't killed them would she now be dead? Helena had no way to know. Did she feel bad about it? Yes but she was alive and they were not, she could not deny the reverse was not worth considering; even if it made her sick to her stomach to recollect the feeling of her blades piercing their flesh, or grating against bone. No matter what logic and the enigmatic message told her to do, her body had its own ideas and reflexive physical responses.

Then there was the fact she knew how to fight. Not remembered but an instinctive, latent knowledge. This was clearly not the first time her hands had killed. But if that was the case why had she been level one before today? There was also the fact she previously had no combat skills on her Interface despite obvious training. And what did it mean there was a System Error and she was now locked at level one? Helena sighed. More problems and questions to add to the growing list.

The water eventually cooled so she climbed out and dried herself off before climbing into bed. Above all things - level. As Helena tossed and turned, sleep failing to claim her despite feeling utterly exhausted, she couldn't keep bleak, troubling thoughts running through her mind. The message had been very clear, she had to level to live. But if, as it appeared, she no longer could then what was she going to do?

Did it mean her death was now certain?

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