"You are going to share this code, right?" Max asked.
Les hesitated. "I haven't decided yet. If I share the code, then you two will be just as guilty as me. If I keep it to myself, then the majority of the blame will rest with me. I'll be the one holding everyone, including the two of you hostage."
"You're giving us the code," Mary said. Max nodded, backing her up. "We do this, we do it together. Win or lose."
"So our job is basically to keep the nurses off your back while you set the codes?" Max asked.
"Yeah and help me gather up enough supplies to see us through. We don't want to start without being fully prepared for at least a week's stay. If the players don't return by then, well, then something has happened to them in-game." He hesitated. "If you wanted to keep someone in a game, could you do it?"
"Sure, if you had access to the game's code," Mary answered. "I mean all you'd have to do is crank up the end boss to be unbeatable. And, of course, make it to where the players couldn't simply log out."
She was quiet for a minute remembering the morning the team had gone into the game. Nika had set up monitors so that the employees could watch their game play. When Nika first appeared on the screen, in that extremely skimpy outfit, she hadn't looked happy at all. There was no audio available to hear what was being said, but Mary was pretty sure that at that moment if Nika could have logged out, she would have. Most likely to change outfits. Mary had played the game online, and she remembered the Amazon character class having a lot more clothing than Nika did.
"I'm pretty sure they can't log out," she said, putting a voice to her thoughts. "I mean can either of you see Nika agreeing to that costume design?"
The boys shook their heads. "Not really, now that you mention it. She was always rather shy and straight-laced."
"Exactly," Mary said. "I think she'd have logged out then and there if she could have." She hesitated. "Which is starting to make your crazy notion look a little less crazy, Les."
He nodded. "Plus, the people watching the screens right before they went dark said that Nika and the testers went off the map. I've been wondering why they did that. Now it makes sense if you think about it."
"She was heading to a back door," Mary said in awe.
"Yeah, and they upped the level of the coyotes in the area right in the middle of battle, too. Several people commented on that 'glitch'," Max said. "Sounds like it wasn't a glitch at all."
"That also explains why the screens went dark. Nika turned off the cameras so that VirTech wouldn't be able to see what they were up to." Mary was beginning to believe more and more that Les' plan had real merit.
"Okay," she said, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater. "What exactly do we need to stock up?" That would be the next hurdle to jump, as none of them had the extra funds to buy food and water that far in advance. And a week was a long time to go without.
"I've been surveying the kitchens while doing my rounds, and I think we can get everything we need right from there. The trick will be getting it up to the player's lounge area," Les grinned at Max. "That's where you and your wonder cart come in. We can load it down with as much food and water as it will carry and take it up in the elevator."
Mary thought a moment. "If I'm not mistaken, every floor has a small kitchen of its own. I don't think they are very well stocked, so we couldn't count on their having much food, but it might help out a bit."
Les nodded, thinking. "Does anyone from the main kitchen ever go up to stock them?"
"I'm not sure." Mary grinned. "But I'm thinking they will tonight."
"Right. So we load Max's cart down and you take up as much as you can on a stocking run. Make sure to grab things that we can eat pretty much straight out of the can or box. We don't want to have to worry about fixing meals or anything."
Especially if they couldn't get the nurses on their side.
Les knew her too well. Her expression must have given her away because he looked at her and then gathered her into a big bear hug. "Don't worry, Love," he said. "We can do this. Hell, together the three of us could do anything."
At least that's what she thought he said. Mary's brain pretty much shut down after he called her Love.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: An Unexpected NPC
By the time they left the second oasis, each team had two additional monsters, even though it meant using up the last of their traps. Nika was really hoping they didn't come up on a bunch of Munches between here and the Outpost, or she would have some very disappointed players on her hands.
They had called a small meeting before mounting up to discuss whether or not it would be prudent for them to join up as one big team. After Nika's close call, she didn't want to have to face not one, but three bosses all together again if they could at all avoid it.
Evan had assured them that there weren't any more mini-bosses until the halfway point oasis between the Outpost and Gaia's caverns. After the Outpost, the game stretched the players' abilities a bit by limiting them to one oasis between the two main points in the remainder of the game. It was about twenty miles to the oasis and another twenty to the mountains that topped Gaia's domain.
That meant that once they left the Outpost, if they moved forward steadily, they should be to Gaia within two days. As far as Nika could remember, she wasn't located all that deep in the cave system either. The problem was being rested enough after the hard days of travel to be ready to take her on when you got to her.
Without the immediate threat of having to face multiple bosses, they all voted to continue on as three separate teams until they got close to that mini-boss holding oasis. That should give them two more dawn time player battles to help them level up. Nika did hate the thought of giving up all that free experience, especially as it worked for both them and their critters.
According to the more experienced Trial's players, it sounded like they would have to prove their worth in battling their critters before being allowed access to the city. Looking over their inventories, Nika didn't think that would be a problem. Their critters were pretty strong with all the recruiting and simple level grinding they'd been doing. In fact, a couple of their critters were actually a higher level than the players themselves. One of them was her cute little Munch. The second was Ash's FireStorm.
Louella's crew of critters were more evenly leveled as she believed in giving them a fairly equal time at battle. Ash and Nika simply played their favorites more often than not.
If it turned out that any of the teams weren't strong enough to enter the town, they could always join up and try again. One way or another, they would be in the city by noon. Hopefully by mid-morning if Gaia's creatures would give them safe passage.
As they stood now, Nika and Evan were both level fifteen, bumped up yet again by the critter recruitments and battles. The others were just one level under them. All of them had some pretty powerful attacks to choose from in battle, including Dean's new TripleShot. The really cool thing about that new ability was that the triple arrows weren't limited to a single target. One arrow would fly to hit each of the three lowest health enemies in the battle, doubling up only if three targets weren't readily available.
It was pretty close to an area of attack. Should come in handy. The more of those they had within the party the better. With Louella's powerful Cyclone and Earthquake coupled with Ash's Blizzard, they were beginning to rock that.
They had made a pact to ride past any monsters on the way to town if it was at all possible. The only ones they really couldn't simply ride through were the mounted bandits. Luckily, they only met one group of those. It was pitiful how little experience they got for fighting compared to their little critters. If she did add them to the game, she'd have to even that out a bit. It could make the players get a bit lazy. More likely though, she'd simply design another game just for them. She needed a new project anyway now that Gaia's Rebirth was complete.
Maybe she and Evan could start a side company for the new game? It might be a way to get closer toget
her like Gaia had done for her and her father. Not that she thought of Evan as a father figure. Far, far from that.
With the straight on riding, they actually reached the gate to the Outpost and the small fighting arena just after dawn that morning. They were all starting to feel the effects of the new sleep schedule. Nika was hoping their brains would adjust to it soon. She'd hate to lose the early morning riding hours without all the blazing sun and heat.
They stopped just short of the arena and did their player battles, raising another full half-level each. According to Ash, the arena they were about to all face should take care of the other half.
"Let's try to get into town first," Nika said. "Just to see how things really stack up here." The others agreed, and they started toward the closed gates of the town.
Evan frowned. "I don't remember having closed access to any town in the game."
"That must have come with the Trials update," Ash said. "In that game, you pretty much had to earn the right to enter any new town with a good showing in the arena outside its gates. There was no just walking in."
What there was, though, was a clinic standing right beside the arena. That was good as it meant that players could fully heal their critters before hitting the arena. At the back of the clinic, and apparently all clinics in the game, was a monster storage facility. That made it easy to change out your monsters if you found you needed to for the arena.
Nika saw Louella studying the outside of the arena. "Is something wrong?" Nika asked.
"No, I was just trying to see which arena this was," the girl answered. "I think from the coloring that it's water. Which means you aren't going to want to have more than one fire critter in your party. Most of the arena's monsters will be water element that can do some heavy damage to them."
"Ash said there were three battles in each arena." It sounded like a question, so Louella nodded.
"Yup, and that's the reason you might want to have one fire critter in your party. A lot of people will pack in only plant-based and lightning monsters and then the arena will sneak in a fire monster in the last battle that will pretty much wipe them out. It's a good idea to go in heavy with water-beating type monsters, but to have a good backup too."
There was a lot she had yet to learn about this new update. But it didn't surprise her to find that she was actually having fun doing just that. Nika could totally understand the popularity of this game. In fact, it just might be her first purchase once she got things straightened out back home.
That little niggling feeling was still there in the back of her mind, though. Something to do with the critters, but she simply couldn’t put her finger on it. If it was important, it would come to her in time.
Setting her jaw with determination, Nika turned to the others as they left the clinic. "Okay, everybody. Let's do this."
It took time for each party to make their way through the three battles, but there wasn't any real worry about not passing. With their additional player battles, they had more than made up for the beginning round of play they might have missed by not going back into Forest for those creatures first.
The only one that had a tiny bit of trouble was Ash. That was to be expected as she had concentrated mostly on leveling up her main creature, FireStorm. She struggled a bit, but the game let her pass. By the skin of her teeth, but she was allowed to enter the city along with the rest of them. Most importantly, they didn't have to join up for her to do it.
The Outpost was a sprawling oasis filled with tiny buildings and shacks that looked like they had sprung up haphazardly over the years. Definitely not the organized towns they were used to seeing, even here in the game. Out here in the desert, people made due with what they had, and there wasn't a lot of building supplies available. There were more than a few tepees sprinkled throughout the large grassy space. Made sense as these were most likely used by passing nomads going to the city for supplies or trading.
Trading, she thought. That was what they needed to do with the hyena hides. Trade them for gold. That was probably how the nomads earned their money.
First things first, they hit the save point and then headed to the market and restocked on traps and critter potions. With all the cool loot they'd been getting, the place didn't have anything equipment wise that was better than what they already had. Quite the reverse, actually. Nika smiled when she saw the shop owner drooling over their weapons. Especially Ash's new Heaven's Blessing Staff. Yeah, she bet that would bring in a pretty penny. If they were stupid enough to think about selling it, of course.
They didn't even bother to ask about lodging. They planned to just pitch their tent for what time they were here. That certainly looked like what was expected, anyway. Nika didn't see a house big enough to accommodate players for any length of time. She might want to add one for those vacationers using the game as an escape. They might not relish the thought of being stuck in a tent with only a bedroll while in town. Some players would look forward to towns simply for the thought of sleeping in a bed.
If your brain thought you were comfortable, you were. The reverse of that was also true. It was as simple as that.
It was still fairly early, so they decided to take a quick look around the town and check for any available quests before finding a spot to pitch their tent and getting some much-needed rest. If they slept the afternoon away, they should be ready to leave for the desert by nightfall.
Now that Louella had her Creature Communication back, she had told them the horses were complaining about the long hot hours. Nika didn't want a mutiny on her hands. They needed the mounts far too much for that.
They split into just two groups for their explorations and each headed a different direction. As luck would have it, Nika, Evan, and Louella were the ones slated to check out the jeweler's shop. Or then again, maybe it was a touch of fate.
The door to the shop opened with a little jingle, and Nika looked up and smiled at the tiny little bell hanging from a hook on the back of the door. The sound was much less annoying than some of the buzzers the outside world shops used. But the end result was the same. It alerted the shop owner that he had customers.
When the man walked out from the back of the store, Nika's breath caught in her throat. The man was tall and slender with a full head of dark hair and a smile that would light up any woman's heart. Nika knew that smile all too well.
She was running to him even as he was hurrying to close the distance between them too. Jumping into his arms, her hair flew out to the sides of her face as it always did when he twirled his baby girl around in their traditional greeting.
After the quick twirl, he stood her back on her feet, but she still clung to him, not daring to let him go. Plus, she didn't want him to see the stream of tears freely flowing down her face.
"There, there, child," he said. "I know it must be a bit of a shock, seeing me here so unexpectedly, but I just couldn't pass up the chance to put myself into the game, now could I?"
"Oh, Daddy," Nika sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm so glad to see you." And feel you. And talk to you. And be with you. Even if you are just a construct and not the real thing. But that she didn't say.
He smoothed her hair with his hand and gave her a minute to calm herself, then held her out at arms' length. "You don't have to tell me," he said. "I can tell from your reaction to seeing me, so save yourself that."
She swallowed and nodded. That did make it easier.
His smile was a touch sadder, but it stayed in place. "I hope you don't mind that I took a few years off my virtual age. I figured why be an old man if one didn't have to be?"
Nika smiled and dashed the tears from her face. "You were never old, Daddy," she said. "I always had a hard time keeping up with you."
His head leaned back, and he laughed. "That's only because being with you kept me young, Sweetie. Still," he motioned down his body. "You can't deny this package looks much better than my last, right?"
She gave him a closer look and then started to notice the ti
ny differences. Changes that wouldn't matter a single iota to her, but might to a younger NPC. Her father had always been overly fond of anything sweet and his middle had been a bit more pronounced when last she saw him alive. And yes, the hair on this younger model was full black instead of the salt and pepper she'd grown to love.
"To be honest, I think you should have left the gray," she said. "At least in your sideburns. It made you look distinctive."
He turned to the mirror behind the counter, running a hand through his silky hair. "You really think so?" he asked.
"Yes, but I'm sure the new look will grow on me too."
"I do hope so, dear," he said. Then he leaned down to whisper. "Because the ladies here in town do seem to appreciate the younger me."
She laughed. "I bet they do at that." It was so good to see her father happy. Maybe this was his heaven. It would be nice to think that finally, after a life of striving for perfection, her father had learned to relax and just have a bit of fun. And if the ladies here could convince him of that, more power to them.
He looked over her shoulder at Evan, still standing with his mouth open staring at them. Moving past Nika, Cameron Logan held his arms out to the man. "Well, don't just stand there like a lump, come give me a hug."
Evan did. He always did what her father asked of him. Always had for as long as Nika could remember. Though she was a tad surprised that her dad even recognized the tiger-man Evan had become.
Once his greeting with Evan was over, he looked at the pixie and smiled. "And just who might this breathtaking beauty be?" Nika could tell he was puzzled by the pixie's appearance there. As he should be, considering he had never once, to her knowledge, considered putting a race of pixies into the game.
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