by David Petrie
“That would be ideal, but both Lucem and Thrift have always remained neutral during conflicts. And it doesn’t look like they will develop much of a military strategy in the next few days.” Alastair placed his hands together and smiled before spreading his fingers back out toward the room. “That’s why I have decided to share some information with the all of you. You saved this world once before, so if anyone can do it again, it’s you.”
“What, you want us to take him out?” Max made finger guns with one hand and pantomimed shooting himself in the head.
Ginger would have preferred that he not suggest an assassination so casually in front of her children. Although it was a valid option.
“Perfect! That would fix everything,” Alastair said through a layer of sarcasm before sinking into his chair a little deeper. “Unfortunately, things won’t be that easy, thanks to someone for breaking the Nightmare’s contract system,” he looked at Kira before continuing, “Berwyn has gotten his hands on an item that makes assassination impossible.”
The rest of the group glowered at the fairy, who had inadvertently altered the game’s contract system, causing it to hand out items or abilities created from the players subconscious.
“What?” Kira squirmed under everyone's gaze. “It’s not like I meant to.”
“Anyway,” Alastair let her off the hook. “We know Berwyn has at least one contract item, and we think he has a second. The one we know of is a crown that he never takes off. Its effect stops him from taking any form of damage.”
“Well that’s just broken.” Farn slapped a hand down on the sofa.
“There is a catch.” Alastair held up a hand. “It will only work so long as he doesn’t draw a weapon or use an ability.”
Ginger chewed that over. “Okay, so he can’t fight.”
Kira leaned in. “But as long as he can get someone else to fight for him, he’s un-killable.”
Alastair released a heavy sigh. “And he’s already paid up with a few of Noctem’s nastiest mercenaries.”
Max fidgeted like a student sitting through a boring lecture. “So what do you want us to do about it?”
“Well, as I said, I’m just here to talk. It would be irresponsible for me to suggest anything. But…” Alastair flashed a grin worthy of a Bond villain, “he does have a weakness that I don’t think anyone has thought of. It’s nothing that’s a secret, but it’s not well known either. And if I were to tell you and you were to come up with an idea to stop him on your own, well, then who would I be to stop you.”
“Go on.” Kira eyed him incredulously.
Alastair took a moment to glance at the door as if giving everyone a chance to leave before saying more. No one did. Instead, everyone leaned forward, even Ginger, despite her best efforts to act like a disapproving adult. Even her kids were on the edge of their seats.
Alastair cleared his throat. “There is, let’s call it a misconception, on how the cities handle their hard. I’ll use Berwyn as an example. When he hires a player as part of his army, the most he can transfer to them is four bars per job. Now, they can still claim bounties or take another job to get more, but the most they can carry in their virtual inventory is ten bars which, if you’re doing the math, is about two thousand dollars’ worth.”
“Go on,” Kira repeated, this time in unison with Max.
“Now, no one has really thought of this because it never actually happens since it takes a lot of work to get that much hard, but let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that a mercenary has maxed out their virtual inventory and has yet to transfer the rest of his hard to Checkpoint for payment. And with all that, he forgets and takes on a bounty. He would have to carry the additional hard in his item bag. Now, let’s say he drops a bar from his bag and logs out. Who would that belong to?”
Corvin raised his hand for a second before dropping it back down and speaking without waiting to be called on, “No one, technically.”
“Exactly. So when it comes down to it, in Noctem, possession is ten-tenths of the law, since all players have a virtual inventory that’s coded to their character data to keep their items safe. Players can also store things in their house vaults or get an additional vault in any city. All of which work the same way, in that they dematerialize an item and store it as data so that there’s no way for anyone to steal it.”
Ginger’s heart raced as she began to see where he was going.
Alastair paused dramatically and swept his eyes over the room. “The misconception is that the royal vaults work the same but with a larger virtual capacity. But in fact, they’re really just a secure room in the palace with stacks of hard physically piled up in them. And technically, the only thing that designates ownership of that hard is that it exists within that room.”
“Holy crap!” Kegan sprang upright. “You want us to rob him.”
Alastair said nothing. Instead, the corner of his mouth curled up. Gasps filled the room as Ginger waited for someone to argue.
No one did.
“What?” Ginger choked out, shocked that she of all people had to be the voice of reason. “You want us to steal nine million dollars’ worth of hard. Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?”
Alastair tilted his head from side to side. “Hypothetically speaking, if a group of talented individuals was to gain access to the vault and successfully remove its contents from the city, then all that hard would belong to them.”
Conflict erupted within Ginger’s mind, the Coin versus the mother. “But what if we got caught?”
“My guess is, Berwyn would just kill you,” Alastair answered matter-of-factly, “but then you would just respawn and go about your night.”
“But what about the law? And, and, you know, the cops?” Ginger struggled with her words, fighting against the excitement of her own thieving nature that told her to shut up and get on board. It was almost painful.
“I’ve had my legal team look into it. It’s shady but not technically against any rule. So there wouldn’t be a reason for the law to get involved. Instead, it would be up to us at Checkpoint to handle the aftermath, which would give us a perfect excuse to get involved. We could spin it as a group of players standing up for their world in the only way available. People like that kind of story. And since it would essentially bankrupt the three cities under the Serpent’s rule, we could bypass Berwyn and replenish all their farming zones to keep the players happy. Then without the money to back him, it would only be a matter of time before he gets overthrown. Most likely, his own people will probably take him down for us.” Alastair sat back with his hands in his lap, a smug expression plastered on his face.
Ginger flicked her eyes around the room, searching for other skeptical faces. “Oh come on, it can’t just be me. You guys can’t actually think this is a good idea.” Her gaze fell on Max and Kira, who were uncharacteristically quiet. The pair exchanged a number of looks and gestures without saying a word. Ginger’s heart sank. “Oh god, you two are already planning it, aren’t you?”
Kira smirked. “Umm, we’re weighing our options.”
Max turned to Alastair. “Isn’t there a limit to how much we can exchange?”
“Nope, that’s another misconception. There’s only a limit to how much a city can transfer to a player. Stealing it would bypass that.”
“Seriously!” Ginger leaped out of her seat. “For the love of god, my kids are here. Can we not plan a heist in front of them?”
“Well I didn’t tell you to bring your kids.” Alastair stared up at her like he was somehow innocent.
Piper let out a giddy laugh that sounded far too excited.
Ginger shot her a disapproving glare, after which she collapsed back into her seat and buried her face in her hands. “Oh god. I brought my kids to a heist. I’m the worst parent in the world.”
There was a long pause where no one said anything. The silence almost crushed her as her nature went to war with her conscience. There was no way she could go through with something so absurd. She had to
be strong. She had to put her foot down before things went any further. Still, all that couldn’t change the fact that she was covering her face to hide an insane grin that could have gotten her committed. It took everything she had not to burst into fits of mad laughter. She was almost salivating.
Ginger couldn’t deny that she loved being a Coin. The last four years of unapologetic thieving had become a part of her. In many ways, it made her feel free. Ultimately, she couldn’t stop herself from doing the math.
Ginger pulled herself together, making sure to at least stop drooling before she raised her head. “Wait a sec, if we can only exchange so much at once, how long would it take to process it all?”
“Oh, so now you’re on board?” Max raised an eyebrow along with Kira.
“Of course I’m on board.” Ginger blew out an exasperated breath. “It’s nine million dollars. I’d be an idiot if I wasn’t. But I should at least be conflicted about it before I lead my kids into a life of crime.”
“That’s very responsible of you,” Alastair sounded both sincere and sarcastic at the same time, “and to answer your question, it would take a few weeks to get everything into your bank accounts, so you would need to stash it somewhere.”
“Um.” Corvin patted his knees awkwardly with his hands. Apparently, he still had a long way to go before his attitude matched his appearance. “If all we have to do is get in the vault and take its contents, won’t that be really easy since we have Kira with us, I mean?” He glanced at the pendant chained around the fairy’s neck, its amethyst stone matching the sparkle of her violet eyes.
“Oh, yeah.” Kegan pointed an excited finger in her direction. “You’re still basically a god, right? Can’t you just…” He didn’t finish his question. Rather, he acted it out by raising both arms in front of himself, then folding them and blinking I Dream of Genie style. Only Ginger got the reference, leaving her feeling old.
Kira shrank back into her seat at the mention of the ability she had picked up the previous year—the ability to take control of the game’s system and bend it to her will.
Fortunately, Alastair answered for her so that she didn’t have to talk about it, “While it is true that Kira is still linked with the system that runs Noctem and can still influence it if she tries to, she has been advised by our medical team not to activate that link since it could be potentially harmful.” He looked at her briefly as if asking if she wanted to add anything.
She shook her head.
He continued, “Besides, it would tamper with the vault’s data, which would look like hacking. And that would bad. If you were to steal that much hard using some kind of cheat, it would close the loophole that you need and make your actions quite illegal. If that were the case, there would be consequences that I couldn’t stop.”
Max folded his arms and nodded. “Okay, godlike powers are out. Sorry, Kira.”
She let out a humpf and turned up her nose. “Didn’t want to use them anyways,” she added, clearly forcing herself to joke about the subject. It would have been successful if there hadn’t been a touch of fear in her voice.
“So what’s this vault like?” Max moved off the subject.
“Oh, you’re going to have to figure that part out on your own,” Alastair shrugged and held out his hands empty as if offering them nothing, “but I can tell you that Berwyn will be holding a celebration at the palace in Reliqua tomorrow night. And if any of you were to secure an invitation to an event like that… Well, I’m sure you could make good use of your time there.”
“So we should case the place?” Max assumed.
“Oh, lord no. I would never suggest that you do something like that.” Alastair made a point of nodding in the affirmative as he spoke. “In fact, I’ve said too much as it is. I should probably get out of here before any of you say something that I don’t want to hear. You know, plausible deniability and all.” He stood up. “Oh, and Farn paid for the room for the next hour, so if there was a gang of hoodlums looking to do some planning, they could get started as soon as I leave.” He grinned as he backed out of the door, adding one last, “Hypothetically speaking,” before vanishing from the room.
Farn pulled out her journal and flipped to her transactions page. “What the hell? He did use my account for this. That’s literally a crime. It’s not even a gray area.”
Kira laughed. “I’m sure he’ll pay you back.”
Farn settled down. “Yeah, he did hire me, so I guess there’s that.”
Max surveyed the room, settling on Ginger. “So, is everyone in?”
She failed to suppress a wry smile that felt right on her face.
“Good, then it’s settled.” He grinned back at her. “We’re going to rob the Imperial Treasury of the House of Serpents.”
Chapter Four
After some discussion, Max came to one conclusion. With less than a week before Noctem’s anniversary, time was going to be in short supply.
“We’re going to have to divide and conquer.” Max stood and stepped to the door. Kira hopped up as well, staying close by his side, only to be stopped short by Ginger.
“Sorry, but I’m going to need this one.” The Coin claimed his partner by the back of her dress and dragged the fairy back to her side of the room. Kira fidgeted with her item bag, her separation anxiety almost palpable in the space between her and Max. He would have felt sorry for her, but she perked back up when Ginger beckoned to Farn as well. “I’ll need all the ladies for the night for what I have planned.”
Farn rolled her eyes but acquiesced to join the women on the other side of the room, leaving Max with Corvin by the door. Kegan wasted no time in throwing his arms over both their shoulders to complete their half of the team.
Max sighed. “At least Corvin’s cool.”
“Hey, I’m cool.” Kegan gripped his shoulder and steered Max out the door. “Besides, when was the last time we had a guy’s night out.”
“Fine, let’s get this done.” Max sighed again and took the lead.
For the guys, their job for the night seemed easy—just find out what they could about the vault. Considering how fast Alastair had made his exit, they weren’t going to be getting anything else out of him. The next best thing was to find someone who had recently had access to a similar vault. As luck would have it, someone fitting that description had just been overthrown. Hopefully, that might also give them motive to help. The tricky part was going to be finding them. After all, Lady Amelia had all of Noctem to hide in.
With Ginger absconding with his partner and Corvin’s class change to a Blade, Max was left without a teleporter. That meant that hoofing it back to where he’d landed the Cloudbreaker was his only option, not that he had any idea of where to go once they got on board.
Max threw himself into the pilot’s chair and took out his journal. Flipping to his inspector, he used the small screen to navigate to Noctem’s message boards. Corvin and Kegan reached for their journals as well, checking in with every trusted contact they had for information.
Max hoped that between the three of them, they could track down the recently dethroned Lady of the Winter Moon. Amelia had earned a bit of fame during her rise to power a few months back, as well as a level of infamy from the number of players she’d taken out in the process. It was safe to say that it would be hard for her to stay off the radar for long. Despite that, they found nothing.
Max let out a frustrated growl. “There has to be a better way. This is taking forever.”
Kegan sat up from where he lay in the floor of the cabin. “It’s only been fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah?” Max considered the time, then shook his head. “No, that’s still too long. Let’s think about this a bit. How could she not show up anywhere?”
“She might not be logged in.” Corvin gestured with his journal held open. “It’s only been a night since Torn fell, so she might be taking some time off after that.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t take a night off,” Max stood up and paced in a li
ttle circle, ducking so that he didn’t bump his head on the low ceiling, “but I suppose I wouldn’t want people bothering me either if I was still pissed off about losing my throne.”
Corvin raised his head. “Okay, so if you were her, where would you go?”
Max sat down on the floor for a moment tapping his hand on one leg. Then he hopped back up and took the pilot’s seat again, firing up the engines. “You’re a genius, Corvin. I know exactly where she is.” With that, the Cloudbreaker ascended into the sky.
In Noctem, if a player wanted to get somewhere off the map, where people wouldn’t bother you, then there was really only one place—Tartarus. Being entirely built by the players, it literally did not appear on any map. If Amelia was there, it would make sense that no one had posted about her. It wasn’t a place you wanted to bother people, lest you receive a stabbing.
Max set the Cloudbreaker down at the edge of the canyon that held the hodgepodge of a city on its walls. There was no real leader or organization in Tartarus, just a bunch of independent groups that had laid claim to different structures or built their own when they’d run out of room. The city wasn’t exactly well constructed either since most players didn’t know much about safety codes or proper building techniques. The result was a collection of oversized tree houses fastened to the walls of both sides of the canyon from mostly farmed materials.
Structures ranged from crudely formed decks joined by rickety pathways to larger, more stable buildings with complex support systems that actually looked like they might hold a decent number of players. Max hoped Amelia was in one of those.
Between the canyon’s walls, a spiderweb of bridges stretched across the gap. Some were only made up of a few ropes weaved together into a footpath with excessively wobbly handrails. Others used heavy chains and wood to create stable footing. Arbitrarily placed torches attempted to chase away the shadows, never quite succeeding.
Max stood looking down into the city from the top of the canyon wall while a few monsters roamed the landscape behind him. “We should get down there before something spots us. Don’t want to get stuck fighting a basilisk again. Ain’t nobody got time for that.”