Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Set Up

Jace could only cast his Armor and Damage Sink totems right now.  They each took 100 mana, and he had 60 left afterward.  He wanted the Mana Bank totem to hold all 260 mana available, so he would have to wait for another ten rounds to generate that much, which would take an hour.  He knew Drescher had about two hours left to get the nurse, so he hoped he was running behind.  As he had that thought, his vision flashed red, and he spun around to see why he was in combat mode.  Snowy trotted up with a struggling goblin in her mouth.  Now ten rounds only took a minute.

“Good job, girl,” he said.  He wanted to scratch her behind the ears, but the angry goblin tried to claw and bite, and he decided to keep his distance.

{Jace,} Gracie sounded in his mind.  {Good news.  The nurse is here.  He says he can keep Conor stable, but not for much longer.  The Germans are anxious to set up this meeting.}

“Understood,” Jace replied.  He waited a few more seconds and saw his mana return to full.  He cast his Mana Bank totem in the third cavity in the wall and then led Snowy to his room.  “I need fifteen minutes to get ready, and then I will leave to set things up.”

 

---

 

Once Jace stepped into his room, he was in a private setting, and Gracie couldn’t see or hear him.

“What is he doing?” Frans asked.

“I don’t know,” Gracie replied, taking her headset off and turning back to Conor to see what the nurse was doing.  “In case you haven’t noticed, he doesn’t always listen to me.”

They hadn’t noticed.  The Germans had been far more interested in what Esther was doing than Jace.  Gracie had to admit that the unique woman was fun to watch, but Jace was still calling the shots.  Now they paced around the room anxiously as Jace used every bit of the fifteen minutes he had asked for and then some.  A little over 20 minutes after he entered his room, he stepped back out, gently holding the level 50 crystal with two hands.

The stone glowed with energy like it was reflecting the setting sun again, but deep in the cavern, only Trixna’s wards gave off any light, and they hadn’t replaced the ones that had been dispelled.  The gem cast patterns on the cavern’s ceiling like a planetarium, the luminescent designs shifting with each step Jace took.  When he got to the stone pedestal, he gingerly placed the crystal over the center and half closed his eyes as he accessed the locking spell that was now linked to him.  When he was done, he released the crystal, which hung nine inches above the top of the pillar.

Jace stood back and smiled before finally leaving the cavern.

 

---

 

Psycho had been waiting in the neutral zone outside Olympus for almost 30 minutes when Jace showed up, and the elven archer was not happy.  Olympus was always busy.  Its quests were as close to mandatory as the game had.  They were the easiest way to boost your stats, and every beginning player made at least one trip there.

As players arrived to enter the city, they noticed the famous NPC and hung around to see what he was doing.  As players finished their Olympus quests and were deposited in the neutral zone outside the city to level up, they saw Psycho and didn’t leave.  Quite the opposite, as these players saw who was loitering outside the town, they hopped onto the chat rooms or told their operators to call friends.  Anyone who checked the bounties knew that Dresher had placed one on Esther, and to see Psycho out and about like this in a neutral zone probably implied he was here for a meeting.  This might be a chance to catch sight of the elusive woman and possibly get some answers about what had happened in Portsmith.

Jace initially disappointed everyone when he popped in, and most thought he was just another player that had leveled up, as he was level ten.  But a few people knew who he was, and everyone else figured it out when he walked up to Psycho (something none of the other players dared to do even though it was a neutral zone).

“I hate you,” Psycho said, all the mirth from their last meeting gone.  “You’re late.” He looked around at the dozens of PCs all staring at him and making his skin crawl.  “My guess is on purpose.”

Jace smiled at him.  “Your boss was early by over an hour.  I expected him to be late.  I wasn’t ready.  Besides, don’t you like the celebrity status?”

The elf gave him a look that would sour milk.  “I didn’t even need this meeting.  I knew where you were going.  I put the location on your map.”

“Ah,” Jace replied.  “But are you sure that is where the meeting will be?”

“Yes.”  There was no hesitation in his voice.

Jace shrugged.  “True enough,” he said and then continued in a low tone that only the elf would here.  “But something like this needs a little theater.”  Jace raised his voice to almost a shout.  “I invite Ferrick Drescher to my stronghold.  There we will discuss trade options for the Level 50 crystal I have obtained,” he paused after this.  Most had probably heard that the level 50 SIM had been cracked, but only the elf assassin he had killed and Drescher knew he had it.  Murmurs now flew through the crowd.  “And for the rights of Esther Xerxes.”

Now the crowd erupted into conversation almost too loud to talk over.

“You are putting on quite a show,” Psycho said.  “Do you really want this big an audience for your funeral?”

Jace laughed at him.  “You and my operator are the same.”

{I am nothing like him.}

“You both lack faith,” Jace ignored Gracie.  “Tell your boss to meet me in twenty minutes.”  Jace winked at Psycho.  “You know the place.”  He wasn’t quite ready to give out his home address to the world.  He understood they couldn’t enter without permission, but he didn’t want to answer the “doorbell” every five seconds.  “And Nal Saikol,” Jace added quietly, using his real name.  “Don’t come.  Find whatever reason you need.  But this is between your boss and me.”

No one ever used his real name, which earned Jace a bit of respect in Psycho’s eyes.  “I’ll see what I can do.”  With that, the elf turned toward the travel node, but people surrounded it.  It had been spitting out groups of PCs every few seconds to witness this confrontation, but now they spread, allowing the ranger access to the node, and he disappeared.

Once he was gone, the area exploded with questions aimed at Jace.  They all wanted to know who he was, his class, how Esther was in AI mode, where his stronghold was, and if they could follow him.  Jace soaked in the attention for a little while but answered none of the questions.  Soon they all realized he couldn’t speak even if he wanted to since they were making such a racket.

“Things are about to change,” he said finally.  He thought about adding more but felt that was enough and teleported himself out.

 

---

 

Jace thought about transporting directly to his room, but he needed to talk with Gracie.

{Wow, you’ve started quite the buzz,} she said once Jace was climbing the short slope to his new home.

“It’s been five seconds,” Jace said, a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.  Undoubtedly, people had started chatting about it the moment Jace had arrived and started talking with Psycho.  “How many requests?”

“About 50 a second.  It looks like we are up to almost 1,000 already.  Remember, the game isn’t that popular compared to other platforms.  There are probably only 30k players worldwide.  I won’t be shocked if half the game ends up requesting to follow you.}

“Can we rescind the requests after approving them?” Jace asked as the entrance to his cave came into view.

{Yes, but unless you want to go through them individually, you will have to rescind them all.}

“Okay, put me on auto approval or whatever it takes to get everyone access.  But I don’t want any chat requests, and no one gets to enter my MIM except Drescher and his party.”

{You’re the boss,} she replied.

After a minute, Jace paused on the drawbridge, navigated to his settings, and saw dozens of requests from players asking to enter his stronghold.  The view they could see of him for the last 60 seconds must have clued them into where he was, but as Gracie worked in the background, they soon disappeared.

{A lot of people are offering to help,} Gracie informed him.  {I still don’t think you have a chance, but if you had an army of 12 other PCs, you could beat them.}

“And you think Drescher would enter a MIM if he saw a dozen PCs inside, most likely much higher in level than me?”

{Good point,} she relented.

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“No, Drescher needs to feel safe and confident for this to work.”

{Okay, but remember, from here on out, everyone will be able to see and hear what you do.  If you have any tricks up your sleeves, you will have to do them in the privacy of one of your bedrooms.}

“Can I stream alternative content other than the live feed?”

{Like what?}

“Do you have a recording of the fight that took place in the main dining area of the Gilded Swan?”

{Jace, I record everything.}

“Good.  People want to know what happened in Portsmith; play that.  The next 20 minutes will be boring, and I don’t want to lose viewers.  People can stare at my empty audience hall for 20 minutes, or they can watch something interesting.  After that, play Esther’s fight with the Ironfel guards.  That might keep anyone from trying to attack her in the future.”

While he was in his inventory, Jace saw a menu option showing the number of current followers and tagged that information, so it was available on his side menus that usually showed his mana and HP.  Right now, over 600 people were following him.  He exited his inventory, conscious that he was being watched, and moved into his cavern.  Snowy was there to greet him.

“Good girl,” he said, catching her front paws as she tried to jump on him.  She was too big for that, but Jace was strong enough if she tried.  He could tell the wolf was smart enough to know something special was going on, and there was a feeling that this might be the last time they would see each other.  “I need you to take a trip,” he said quietly, knowing that viewers would be able to turn up their volume if they wanted.  “Go find Topper and take him back to town.  He’s small enough to ride on your back.  Take him to the diner where you killed the mice.  He needs to learn how to make pancakes.  It’s for Esther.  Can you do this?”

Snowy wasn’t happy, knowing she was being sent away on purpose.

“I will be okay.  I’ve made it through everything else so far.  This will be no different.  But if you stay, they will kill you.  Topper can’t keep his nose out of things, especially if he thinks Esther is in danger.  Take him and be safe.”

Snowy wined some more.

“I’m not asking,” Jace said with a stern face.  Reluctantly, the wolf did as she was told and disappeared down the tunnel.

{Just so you know, they’ve started a dedicated chat room to discuss what is happening.  Those that aren’t flipping out about the Gilded Swan video I’m sharing have dozens of questions about how you managed to secure this stronghold without killing Topper.}

Jace smiled, and a few seconds later, Snowy came back up with Topper gripping desperately to the fur on her back.  They ran past with the gnome screaming in terror.  “I might kill the gnome yet,” he joked.

{They also want to know what class you are, how you got a winter wolf as a familiar, and a hundred other things.}

“Anyone we know?”

{There are hundreds of names, Jace, I can’t keep them all straight.  Oh, there is an interesting one.  Gweniffer, Drescher’s thief, is watching.}

“Good,” Jace said.  “The more information they have about what they are getting into, the better it is for me.”  He looked over at the Crystal glowing brightly on the pedestal.  He assumed many of the viewers had played this quest and knew how it was suspended and locked there.  The more they thought this would be the same as the scripted version of this module, the better.

“Jace.  I’m back.”

He turned and saw Esther.  He was happy to see her health at full.  “How did it go?  Did you kill anyone?”

She looked confused for a moment but then smiled.  “Was I supposed to?”

“Come with me,” he said and walked toward her bedroom.  The two traveled the short hallway and were soon in the privacy of her suite.  “Drescher is coming here,” he said, sitting at her table.

“I know,” she replied, sitting on the bed.  “They told me.  After I gave them the information you wanted, they said you were calling him out.  Everyone knows, and everyone will be watching.  I want to help.”

“You already have.”

“I want to do more.”

“They will kill you,” Jace replied.

“They will try,” Esther argued.  “Others have tried and failed.”

“Do you know what happens to you when you die?” Jace asked.

Esther was quiet.

“You will wake up here,” Jace said, pointing to where she sat.  “In that bed where you slept last night.  You know that Drescher wants you, and he wants you as you used to be.  He knows that if you die, you will come right back.  If I die and you die, then you will revert to what you were.  If I die and you survive, you will stay like you are now.  However, if you stay here, in my home, and they leave, this home will no longer exist, and you will revert to what you were.  Do you want to stay the way you are?”

Esther nodded.

“The only way to do that is to hide in this room.  If I die, you must run through that window and leave this place as fast as possible.  Go anywhere in the realms but not here.  I will come looking for you if I can, but it might take days.  If you show yourself, they will kill you, and it won’t be pleasant.  The priest will disable you, and Gwen will probably cut you up.”

“I can take her,” Esther spat at the mention of the other rogue.

“One-on-one, I’m sure you can.  But they won’t fight that way.  They know what you did to their guards back in Ironfel.  They won’t let you hide in the shadows or get close enough to grapple anyone.  They will catch you, torture you, and kill you.  And since they know you will come back right here, they will do it over and over and . . .”

Jace’s voice choked up.  “I can’t watch that.  But they will make me.  They will keep torturing you until I hand you over or give them what they want.  The only way this will work is if I hold all the cards.  I can’t give them a bargaining chip, which is why you can’t be there.  If you were successful in your mission, you’ve already hurt them more than you know.  That will be enough for now.”

“If you kill them, will they come back?” Esther asked.

“Eventually, but at level 1.  It will take them a while to get back to full strength, but as soon as Gwen hits level 10, I will be sure to let you know.”

Esther smiled and nodded.  “I understand.”  She paused for a while.  “Will you win?  Is this goodbye for us?”

Jace could barely hold back his tears.  “Whatever happens, if you escape, it is not the end.  I will find you.”

Esther got up and hugged Jace, kissing him gently on the cheek.  “Thank you for everything,” she said.  “Are you sure there isn’t something more I can do to help?”

“I would like to borrow your necklace and ring.”

Esther didn’t hesitate, stepping away from him and removing both items.  Jace swapped necklaces and reverted to an orc.  “Thanks, now stay safe.”

As he stood to leave, he got a notification that Drescher and his people were requesting access to his MIM.  He had told Gracie to block all the other requests.  “They’re here,” he said solemnly.  “I’ll be back shortly.”  He turned and left the room.

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