The Dragon's Revenge

by Conor Kostick

  [Group] ‘Checking.’ And I paused to cast Read Tracks. ‘No, is it a named mob? NPC? What does it con?’

  [Group] ‘Probably an NPC I think, wearing boots from the marks in the snow. Cons impossible.’

  [Group] ‘Interesting, I’ll come over.’

  It would be a shame to spoil a great night’s progress with a wipe, especially because I wouldn’t even respawn on Fang Island, which would set us back at least an hour before we could get going again. My death would probably postpone the big five-o until tomorrow. All the same, too much grinding made Tyro a dull boy.

  Firstly, I tracked back across the shoulder of the mountains to Raitha, with a wave to the group as I ran past them. Then I cast Read Tracks once more and this time Ketzi was high on the list of mobs I could see, his name in red, to signify he was more than five levels higher than me.

  ‘Shall we?’ asked Raitha.

  ‘You go ahead, I’ll wait here. If he’s lethal, I’d rather leave you to die because you’ll respawn in Golden Valley at least.’

  ‘Wait. That’s odd.’ Raitha had run forward a few paces, then stopped. ‘It ends here. Oh.’ It looked like Raitha had tripped, for all of a sudden he was on his hands and knees. The trail of boot marks began to move.

  [Group] ‘Anyone got See Invisible?’ I asked.

  [Group] ‘I have. It will take a minute to slot.’ This was Sapentia, I ran back towards her.

  [Group] ‘Ketzi is moving south!’ shouted Raitha excitedly. ‘I’m following him.’

  I ran back to the camp, with occasional glances over my shoulder to keep an eye on Raitha’s path as he ran down the slope.

  ‘Set?’

  Sapentia was sitting cross-legged. ‘Not yet.’

  Already Raitha was a small figure.

  ‘Now.’ Our wizard stood up and a flash of white light sprang from her fingers, dazzling me momentarily. Even as my vision cleared, I started running.

  [Group] ‘I see him!’ I shouted. ‘An Elven rogue or assassin. Leather armour. Two swords on his back. You are right on top of him Raitha. Be careful. Wait, he’s stopped.’

  With leaps and bounds over the rocks, I quickly caught up with Raitha and pointed to the Elf, practically touching him. ‘He’s right here. Standing completely still.’

  Even stranger, the rogue was not looking at me, or at anywhere in particular. His eyes had that glazed look that you see when a player character unclips from the game and their avatar remains in place for a minute afterwards. Then he was gone.

  My thoughts whirled around for a moment before settling on the obvious conclusion. [Group] ‘He’s gone. Unclipped. It was a player.’

  Sapentia sounded as confused as I felt. [Group] ‘I saw him too. But what player called Ketzi exists? Higher level than fifty-six?’

  [Group] ‘Someone from Yuno?’ I wondered aloud. ‘A dev?’ Then to Raitha, ‘Let’s go back.’

  As we returned to the group over the snow (the tracking ball admirably emulating the soft impact of my feet) Raitha said, ‘This is interesting. I wonder how long someone has been spying on us?’

  ‘You think he was a spy?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘For who?’

  ‘Let’s ask our friends, for my part, I cannot imagine.’

  [Group] ‘Supposing Ketzi was here to watch us,’ I said, ‘who is he working for?’

  [Group] ‘Aha!’ cried Braja triumphantly. ‘You all thought I was paranoid. I told you the dragon’s intel was too good. That’s what’s been happening. A PC is working on their side and following us around invisibly.’

  [Group] ‘I told you I was not a traitor,’ said Tuscl.

  [Group] ‘Of course, of course. I’m sorry about that.’ By now Raitha and I had returned to the others and I could see Braja patting our shaman.

  Raitha said, ‘It makes some sense. We would never have noticed someone invisible watching us until we had snow and tracking spells up.’

  ‘What do you think, Sapentia?’ I asked.

  She shook her head. ‘I need time to understand. And more information. We must speak to Watson. Who else can access the game? Where and how?’

  ‘Shall we unclip and go see him?’

  ‘Yes. But not now. Let’s finish the reason why we are here.’

  There was a murmur of assent at this.

  For the next ninety minutes we hunted Lynx, Spiders and Eochar, Raitha and I pulling them to the killing spot where we dispatched the mobs with increasing rapidity. Slowly my experience bar edged closer and closer to 50. Yet my previous pleasure in running over the snow of this bleak but beautiful northern wilderness was significantly diminished by the thoughts running through my head.

  Who was Ketzi? A player, obviously, not an NPC. That was certain from the way in which he had unclipped. An NPC might have been able to teleport away from us, but that would have involved the use of a ring or spell, rather than standing vacant and immobile. He was not on the leader board. That meant either Yuno had more players in the game than they had admitted or someone had found a way to access the game. The former seemed very possible, likely even because presumably Yuno team members had been playtesting the game for months before we were brought in. The latter was unlikely. In fact, I’d never heard of anyone being able to hack into Epic, so to be able to do so for an unreleased game seemed next-to-impossible. Sapentia was right, we needed to talk to Watson.

  At last, about twenty minutes after Raitha, at around four in the morning, I hit 50. The cheers from my friends were genuine and lifted my spirits again.

  ‘What now?’ asked Braja.

  ‘We go see Watson,’ Sapentia replied.

  ‘Agreed. First, though, I suggest you go back to Golden Valley to hand in the furs for the cloak and sell the junk drops. Meanwhile, Sapentia could you port me to near Safehaven? I want to skill up my archery to max during daylight hours, so I thought I’d set up in those pirate caves.’

  With the others in accord, Sapentia dropped me off at an ancient stone monument and I ran swiftly north-east through the forest in which I’d been born. Both moons were on the descent and to my vampire eyes, the trees were all silver on their eastern sides. Everything was still, except for the occasional angry, skittering of a partridge as my foot landed too close to a bush in which the bird was sleeping. Then, at one point, I came across a wolf in a clearing, nosing over a dead fawn. He turned large yellow eyes onto me before walking slowly away, with a noticeable limp. Surely he wasn’t the one I had released? I felt almost nostalgic for those early hours in the game, when I had nothing but my trap setting skill to allow me to advance.

  Back at the pirate caves, normal service had been resumed. They had a full respawn, although not, I noticed, with a tiger in the prison. All of the pirates ignored me. I was so high a level that they wouldn’t aggro unless provoked. Unfortunately for them, I did have to provoke one, drinking his blood so as to remove the warning that had started to pop up about an hour earlier. It occurred to me to loot the captain again. Those magical cords could prove handy, even at this stage when all that remained was to fire four arrows at the dragon. There was a journey ahead to her lair and a wind at our backs might help if we were flying, as I imagined we would be. The captain himself was not in his room so I searched the secret compartment, found the box and looted four emeralds and two diamonds. When I went to pick up the rope, however, I got the message:

  Cord of Summon Winds. You may only have one of these items in your possession.

  Oh well, Raitha could loot it later.

  I was about to settle down with my UI and allocate my new attribute points, when Sapentia spoke. [Group] ‘We are all done. Unclipping. See you soon.’

  My UI and my archery training ground could wait until the morning. It was time to find out what was going on behind the scenes in Yuno.

  Chapter 32

  Enter, the Dragon

  When my friends and I walked into the Den, Katherine was there along with two other players I didn’t know. She glanced at the boar
d and gave me a warm smile. ‘Well done. That was quick.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I don’t suppose Watson is here?’

  ‘Oh no. He won’t be in until nine.’ Her face became sombre. ‘Can I help with something.’

  ‘You know the name Ketzi?’ asked Sapentia.

  ‘No. Why?’ Katherine replied with a shake of her head and I believed her; there was no reaction when the question was asked.

  ‘There’s a player of that name, who isn’t on our board,’ I said. I was conscious that there were two other players nearby, listening with interest. Still, I didn’t want to leave the building with my head buzzing with questions.

  ‘That’s…I wouldn’t say impossible but it shouldn’t be the case.’ Again, I felt Katherine was in earnest. That or she was a great liar. I knew plenty of those, everyone in my class, basically, me included, so I knew how well people could dissemble. All the same, I reckoned this news was a surprise to her.

  ‘How is it possible?’ Tuscl took a step forward and placed her hands on the side of the great table, leaning over towards Katherine, her long black hair falling forward.

  ‘In theory, some of our staff would be able to create a character that wasn’t visible on the board. It would be a violation of their contracts though. A disciplinary offense, dismissible even.’

  ‘Such a person might have a job waiting for them at Go Games and not care.’ Braja too came closer, his strong, fit frame tense.

  ‘I don’t think…I mean, we’d notice. There are only so many rigs and if someone who wasn’t on the board was playing the game for a long time…’

  ‘Eureka!’ exclaimed Raitha, silencing Katherine and causing everyone to turn to him. Rather sheepishly lowering his voice, Raitha said, ‘Do we have CCTV here or on the building door? Can we see who left their rig sometime between two and half two?’

  ‘Good idea!’ I gave Raitha a thumbs up.

  Katherine nodded and her smile was restored. ‘We can check that. Come with me.’

  Our whole group followed her out of the Den and I’m sure that the two other players wanted to come too. Down the lift we went, no one speaking in the confined space, and past the trees of the ground floor foyer to a large desk where there were two security guards.

  ‘Hello Kevin, Martha,’ said Katherine. ‘Can you check level fourteen cameras between two and two-thirty please, we are looking for someone who left a rig and possibly the building at that time.’

  Very eager to assist, the middle-aged Kevin got out of his seat and stood behind Martha as she navigated through a large group of camera views and, when satisfied, rapidly ran them backwards in time. We all gathered close around, feeling entitled to go behind the desk under these circumstances and there was a palpable sense of excitement in the hushed conversation and the concentration with which we gave the images.

  ‘Number four,’ muttered Kevin.

  ‘Got it,’ his partner replied.

  The fourth screen showed that at 2:10 a.m., a young woman came out of the Den, used the elevator and subsequently left the building. I’d seen her around but didn’t know her name. At 2:14, the bulky lad who had tried to intimidate me, the Blackridge loyalist whom Braja had brushed aside as easily as a cobweb, came into view walking away from a corridor that contained rigs. He too was shown soon afterwards walking rapidly through the foyer and out of the building.

  ‘My money’s on him,’ muttered Braja, pointing.

  ‘I remember both of these two leaving, Ms Demnayako,’ said Kevin, and Martha nodded too. ‘It’s quiet enough here at this time.’

  ‘I see. Nothing unusual about their behaviour?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Martha replied and glanced over her shoulder at Kevin, who confirmed with a quick nod.

  ‘Flag their passes please and ask them to report to Mr Watson when they come in next. And…’ Katherine hesitated.

  Both security staff looked at her with avid concentration, clearly eager to know what was happening. For them, this was probably the most interesting event that had occurred in months.

  ‘…we have no legal right to detain them but I would very much appreciate it if Mr Watson had the opportunity to ask them a few questions, in the event that they try to leave right away.’

  The older of the security pair nodded. Martha said, ‘Understood. Perhaps it would be best if we said that the passes were out of date and gave them this form to take to Mr Watson.’ She opened a drawer and found the sheets of paper she wanted.

  ‘Perfect, thank you.’ Then Katherine turned to us. ‘There. We should get some answers in the morning.’

  When I got to my hotel room, I didn’t think I’d sleep, what with my desire to find out if one of those two players was Ketzi and if so, what he or she hoped to gain from spying on us. Also, I was starving. Yet by the time I’d typed up half an email to Mum, letting her know that I’d reached level 50 and hoped to finish the project soon, I found myself yawning. Signing off with a quick, ‘love Tom’, I finished up and stretched out on the wide bed.

  During a troubled night’s sleep I dreamed mostly of school. For once the canteen was serving decent food: Chinese dumplings; fried noodles; peanut sauce. Delicious. When I went to sit down, an entire row of tables had ‘reserved’ signs on them, though the only people there were Watson and Blackridge. Since all the other seats in the hall were occupied I put my tray down opposite Watson. With a frown, Blackridge shook his head and a moment later Watson copied him. So I walked around with my food and, as far as I could remember in the morning, never did get to eat that dinner.

  We met in the foyer, Sapentia putting back the games industry magazine she was leafing through and leading the way with her usual defiant stride. We filled the lift: myself, Raitha, Tuscl, Sapentia, Grythiss and Braja. Quite an intimidating group really and I wondered what Watson would make of us. If he were in.

  His secretary gave us a warm smile, clearly undeterred by our solemn expressions, and yes, he was in and could see us right away.

  While Tuscl and Grythiss looked around Watson’s room with interest and especially at the vivid blue sea view, Sapentia walked right up to his desk and leaned forward towards him. ‘We have spy. Traitor!’

  ‘Oh.’ The gleaming white teeth that had been on show as Watson had watched us enter disappeared. Instead of his jovial smile we had surprised anxiety. Neither expression seemed sincere. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Didn’t Katherine tell you?’ I asked. ‘Two people left the building around two a.m. last night. One of them is playing a character who is spying on us and is not on the board.’

  ‘Oh, that. Those two aren’t spies. Or traitors. Or anything but players.’

  Braja spoke next, ‘Are you saying neither of them is Ketzi?’

  Although Watson gestured towards seats (he only had two near the desk but there was a couch further off), all of us remained standing.

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Who is then?’ Braja had on his poker face.

  With a heavy breath, Watson leaned back. ‘Let’s just take stock a moment. Before we go any further, I should say congratulations on level fifty. You’ve done extremely well; better than anyone could have hoped. And with Scarlet at 295 Bowyer skill, we can hope to launch as per our last public announcement.’

  ‘Yes, yes, indeed.’ Raitha was wringing his hands. ‘But we are all agog to know about Ketzi, can you please just inform us on that subject.’

  ‘Agog?’ Grythiss let out a snort of amusement.

  All at once, the tension in the room vanished and even Braja was smiling.

  Blushing somewhat, Raitha said, ‘It is the correct term. We cannot bear to hear about anything other than on the subject of Ketzi. We are agog.’

  ‘What is a gog?’ asked Tuscl, confused.

  ‘It’s a kind of small Orc.’ I couldn’t help myself.

  ‘Tyro,’ Sapentia rounded on me. ‘That is not helping.’

  ‘Sorry Tuscl, I’m joking. It’s an old-fashioned term to mean someone is in a sta
te of excitement.’

  ‘It is not old-fashioned in Kerala,’ muttered Raitha.

  ‘Ketzi,’ said Watson, gaining everyone’s attention, ‘is unknown to me. My guess, though, is that the game’s funders have been monitoring your progress. After all, they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars.’

  ‘You mean Kiro,’ said Sapentia.

  ‘I do, or not exactly. When he was project manager, Kiro’s avatar was called Kraken. Ketzi might not be him in person. But Kiro and his colleagues have access to the game, naturally.’

  For a moment no one spoke and Watson looked from one of us to the next over the top of his glasses, appraising us. Then several people spoke at once, Braja winning out with persistence. ‘That doesn’t make sense though. Someone has been informing the other side about our movements. Why would the investors do that?’

  A thoughtful Sapentia was no longer the forceful whirlwind that had entered the office. ‘Maybe they haven’t been talking to dragon. Maybe they just watch us. Make sure we get our levels.’

  ‘Kiro and friends want you to win, I’m sure of that.’ With an effort, Watson lifted his bulky frame up from his chair and rested his strong arms on the table. ‘All I can add that you don’t know about is what it looks like from here. From this office.’ He glanced at the phone. ‘Back when we began this project to save the game, Kiro used to ring me every day. Wanting updates. Putting the pressure on me to deliver faster. Then, after the loss of our high-level players, the calls stopped. To me, it suggested they were working on their own plan B. Then, after your raid at that ziggurat-thingy, the calls started again. Not daily, but they are very pleased with your progress.’

  He walked over to the window. ‘I have to say, I am too. I rather enjoy this view. And it would be annoying at this stage of my life to find another job. Not to mention the rumours that Blackcoin avail of other forms of reprimand for poor performance, ones outside the usual legal framework.’

  All we could see of Watson was his sturdy, triangular back. I shared a glance with Sapentia, who gave a slight nod.

  The room fell quiet.