25 days remain of contest A, Thursday.

“What?” I say, “When did this happen?”

“This is a recent event, miss,” Simon calmly replies.

I run across the courtyard; at the stone I fast travel myself directly to the clan house. There are new recruits here with eyes wide, clearly not expecting a clan house siege immediately on signing up. They most definitely were not ready to see me come charging through.

“Status?” I bark at the clan house manager.

“The attack is done. Five recruiters were killed, though they have revived and are returning. Four guards were killed and will be revived shortly,” the clan house manager, a portly gentleman, says.

At the front of our clan house several of our guards are dead. The others have weapons at the ready and are in a semi-circle in front. I notice arrows embedded in the dead guards. They cannot actually take our clan house, but they could camp in front and keep any new recruits from entering. This could be an issue if they decide to try that tactic.

The revived town criers are already on their way back to the docks and their locations around the town. Criers are simple, scripted NPC’s who will continue around the town attempting to find players not in a clan. They then follow the players around, handing them notes which add a pin in the user’s map to this clan house. Their revivals were handled automatically by my offline fortress script.

I have the guards clean up and I return inside and look around. The clan manager had done an admirable job and used the dagger motif nearly everywhere inside.

I move to my clan leader’s quarters on the top floor, which has a balcony. I stay inside and sit on the bed as I shift my consciousness to Morrigan, who is outside, and I fly around searching for any members of [Art of War].

Finding none, I return to the room. This was a message.

I get a notification.

Region notice: alliance has been formed by [Nightfallers]

Clan [BallzDeep] joins alliance

Eagles Crest fortress is now a alliance fortress.

A new alliance chat channel opens as well as an alliance leadership chat channel. Sauce wants to set up a meeting at the fortress and bring his entire clan. He mentions that we need to set up semi-permanent transport stone to the catacombs they have been farming. [BallzDeep] clan will provide half of the cost for the transport stone. Contacting Kian and Briar, I head down to the transport stone in the clan house. As I walk, I send Sauce a note that I agree on the transport stone fifty-fifty purchase.

Once I arrive back at the fortress, I head to the fortress command center.

Staring at the map, I say, “Simon,” and he trots up to me with an inquisitive look on his face. “Do we have access to semi-permanent transport stones, and how much would they be?”

“A semi-permanent, destructible transport stone will be bound to this fortress and only allow travel between this fortress and the destination.” He idly waves at the carbon-black version of the fortress on the map. “To create one, you will need 250 gold and it must be manually transported to the desired location.”

I request half of the gold amount from Sauce, and I put half of it into the alliance shared bank. I see his half show up after a minute and I press purchase on the transport stone. I see the stone arrive in the courtyard below. Now, I wait for them to arrive. I need to talk with Kian, so I go down to the alchemy crafting house. The inside looks like what I expected an alchemy crafting structure. It is full of beakers and bottles with hanging herbs and what appears to be spices hanging from every possible spot on the ceiling. The trainer in residence is there. She is wearing an apron and thick glasses and is at a long table, leaning over a stack of smoking vials with a familiar figure.

“Kian!” I say, seeing him working on a potion, while oddly wearing chain mail. “I see you worked on the cleric quests.” I inspect him and see he is a level 11 cleric and level 15 rogue now; the cleric side likely gives him some very interesting options to combine classes. “It looks like you have been really busy with that.”

“Esme, I noticed you got that clan to join us,” he says as he finishes up the potion—an advanced health potionsets it down.

“I know you probably wanted to be involved in that,” I say, heading off a potential discussion about clan leadership. “Sauce and his clan will be here in an hour or so and I want you to meet with them. We are going to set up a semi-permanent transportation stone near an instance they have been farming so we can all level up fast. Their whole clan shot past us using it,” I say, watching his face and notice he seems to be waiting to speak.

“I know, but these are older students and are they taking fifty percent of the winnings, that is a ton of money—”

“We will split it with them as a whole,” I break in before he continues. “If there is 100 million, they all split fifty-million among their members and our, smaller clan, splits fifty-million. This game has forced us into a position where the money will be split up many ways no matter what we do. To complicate it further, if we are going to succeed it seems to be set up that we need to use most of the money inside the game to continue.. All the advancements, all the units and fortress guardians and upgrades, everything costs money to do and quests don’t give that much.” With frustration welling up, I continue, “This whole contest is a maze designed to bring us in and fight, make sacrifices, and climb over one-another ruthlessly. I have to bring in more clans or we will be chewed up within the week.”

“I know…” he starts. “And I know you made a hard call; I just wish you had brought us in. Briar feels like you just steamrolled us with this. H-he is off doing his combined advanced class quest for rogue and fighter right now—”

“Wait, how did he make it to level 15 so fast on fighter?”

“We buddied up with some other people—it’s how I leveled up my cleric class so fast as well.” He shrugs and motions toward the alchemy table. “Alchemy really helps with leveling also. I’m sure the alchemy skill book we own will bring more clans to the alliance. That thing is unique, and alchemy is nearly impossible to learn otherwise. We have people coming from other regions who want to learn.”

“I have not had time,” I admit. “After I did my advanced class quest, I have not had a second to do much."

“I see, shadow runner , it sounds like you are a smuggler or something.”

Simon walks in and says, “I would like to report that riders have been seen on the mountain approach,” he says, then waits.

“That will be them.” I motion for Kian to come with me and walk into the courtyard. I see several guards hustle to the battlements, and I follow them up so we can overlook the approach. Looking down, I can’t help but appreciate how defensible this fortress is. There is only one main approach, and it is basically a death trap the entire way up the pass. Of course, there are secret trails, which would be single-file and treacherous, but no army—or even a mount—could navigate those. The trails are the paths of spies and scouts, a maze in the boulders and rocks. During a siege they will need to be closely guarded. I see the group on their mounts approach and notice a flag they are carrying. I cannot discern the colors, so I sit for a second and Morrigan flaps her wings as I take over.

Flying low, I swoop down the canyon and I see that it is who we expect, our friends [BallzDeep] on their mounts with at least twenty-five members. In the front, the one named Dignity hoists a flag, which looks like a … pool floaty? Yes, it’s a reclining pool float. I lose the connection with Morrigan from laughter, and I manage to bring myself to my feet with the help from a startled scout. Kian has a queer smile on his face and looks confused.

“You will see,” I say. “Oh, you will see, come on.”

Sauce and his clan arrive to a raised gate and the curious NPCs of Eagle Crest, who pour into the courtyard. Sauce rides up and hops off his mounts. He looks around, his eyes pausing on the transport stone we will need to move.

“I am just here for a minute; I will need one of you to come with me, as we need to get this stone placed near the instance. Then we will need to get you guys the quests for the instance.” He pauses, then .. “My apologies, I am Sauce,” he says while shaking Kian’s hand.

“Good to meet you. Nightflower has told me a lot about you guys, we are excited to have you,” Kian says. “Sorry Briar is not here, he is working on his advanced class quest, though he has been gone a while.”

“All good. Can one of you show some of my clan here how to get set up with alchemy?” Sauce asks.

“I am not the alchemist here,” I say, looking at Kian.

“Sure, I can do that,” he says.

“You all who want to learn Alchemy, rally over here with this guy.” Sauce hollers over his shoulder and six players jog over.

“Follow me,” Kian wave at them and gives me a wink as he walks off.

“All right, let’s get this stone loaded and head back to the instance,” Sauce says. “We have a lot more than what you saw there set up, there is a cave we cleared out and have been using as a base. It is out of way and anyone just going to the instance will not find it. We can put the stone deep in the cave and come and go as needed without fear that someone will destroy it.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan—” I say, getting cut off as the main fortress transport stone comes to life with crackles and pops. From the prismatic storm walks a fighter in full armor, dark as night, carrying a spear and an impressively heavy-looking shield. The fighter gets his bearings and with electric crackles still clinging to his feet starts walking toward me.

“Esme!” he says.

“B-Briar?” I ask, as he takes off his helmet, I see it is him, he has turned himself into an impressive fighter.

Seeing my approval, he starts, “I’ve been running some dungeons in the city and a few north of Port Yarrow. The party system in town is pretty good, and every group needs tanks and healers.” He beams at me, “Shadow Runner, eh? Sounds like you are a smuggler or something.”

With a chuckle, I inspect him and see that his class is now listed as a Guardian Dragoon. “Wow, you have been busy.” I quickly ask, “Hey, are you up for a quest? I need to go finish up my advanced class quest to get my skills. Can you help our new alliance with this?”

I point to the stone.

***

Back at the guild, I slip down the well under the tree. My tombstone makes me waver around a bit, but I am in no danger of falling.

Without bothering to use hide-in-shadows, I enter the cavern below and I see there are more NPCs here than the last time I came through. The old man is still in his place, and I drop down and make my way to him.

“I see our new Shadow Runner has returned,” he says.

“I have,” I say.

“You have an active guild quest. I believe the ambassador from your last quest was not exactly who he said that he was,” the old man says. “It would be good if you could find out what more was going on. It would be … valuable to us. Your new skills will come in handy.”

I check my advanced class skills.

Adv Primary: Shadow

Adv Secondary: Scout

Bonus: +25% damage at night.

Bonus: Attack speed +5

Bonus: Accuracy +5 (ranged)

Negative: -25% damage during day.

Negative: -15% health

Shadow native skill (rank 1, max 3): Shadow Net, +5-meter radius from player per rank, all players and creatures slowed 50% for five seconds.

Scout native skill (rank 1, max 5): Teleport, +10-meter teleport line-of-sight per rank.

* native skills usable once every fifteen minutes.

* rank = one rank for every ten levels over 15, (level 25=rank 2, 35=rank 3, and so on)

* Additional skills available at levels 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100

Hide skill +1

I check the quest Yarrowland Sabotage and see that I will have a lot of running around to do most likely, as it involves the next region over. I may need to let this one wait, but I can see how far I can get with it before they have the stone set up. Then we need to start doing instance runs on the catacombs to level up before the weekend allows for fortress conquest.

I climb up the well and slip through the small town, stopping in an empty lot to try out my new skills. Shadow Net makes the ground look like an undulating pool of liquid shadow that wraps around anything moving within it. Teleport is instantaneous and leaves an afterimage of me where I teleported from. I appear a second later as the afterimage rapidly fades. Both seem to be very useful skills, though they have really long cooldowns, so they are more hail-Mary kind of actions.

I check the quest again and I see the pin on my map for it—it’s not far away at all. It is on the south Side of the city. On the map it looks like a compound.

Making my way to the location, I circle around and find the front gate and see there are two guards, but no gate. I step forward.

“State your business,” one of the guard says.

“I am here to meet with the Steward of Port Yarrow, Racine Garriott. This is about the ambassador he was to meet,” I say, “I—I believe the ambassador was not who he says he was. Also, tell him that the ambassador is dead, and that the steward should see the proof I have that the ambassador was not forthcoming.”

One guard turns and walks into the house—the distance from the walls to the house was only perhaps ten feetreturns fast.

“The steward will see you now. Do not draw a weapon or use any magic or skills in his presence or you will be killed where you stand,” The guard calmly states as he motions for me to move forward under escort.

Entering the house, I see the entryway is military clean with a table and weapon racks; it could not possibly be used as part of a normal household. I am escorted to the right of a set of stairs going up. We go down a narrow hall, which opens into a larger room with several guards and a man behind a desk who looks up as I enter.

“I apologize for the heavy guard, but there are assassins afoot in the city.” He glances me over, noticing the dagger at my waist. “I understand you happen to know what happened to my meeting with the ambassador.” He pauses. “What information do you have?”

“I have a book,” I say, and I slowly pull out the book I found the ambassador writing into from my quest. A guard takes it from me, inspects it, and then passes it on to the steward, who accepts it and begins to look through the pages. He stops and takes special note of the last written page and looks up at me.

“How did you come by this?” he asks with a serious expression that I can’t read.

“I was tasked with bringing this to you,” I say, hoping my fib won’t be questioned.

“You may have saved my life. You have also allowed time for Port Yarrow to defend itself,” he says. “According to these records, I was to be killed by this assassin posing as an ambassador. This was all to be the first wave of an invasion force. All of our outposts are currently being taken, quietly.”

“W-wait, a what?” I ask. “An invasion force from where?”

“Aradune Mithera, the Steward of Rathe,” he says, and then notices my confusion. “Rathe, you know, the neighboring region? The man I was to open trade negotiations with was a member of an infamous Krewe of assassins. We would call them guilds—anyway, it was all a farce. He is attacking our outposts now.”

“I need someone who can check on these outposts, this entire region depends on it. Are you and your clan up for the challenge?” he asks.

A pop-up appears

Quest: Yarrowland sabotage (chain 2)

Yarrowland is under attack. An assassin pretending to be a trade

ambassador was meant to kill the Steward of Port Yarrow and begin

a war with the neighboring region of Rathe. You have been tasked with

securing the two outposts of Yarrowland on the border with Rathe.

Success: Secure the outposts

Failure: Do nothing.

Sigh. “Yes,” I say cheerily.

I leave and duck into an empty lot and see how I can set a clan quest, an internal kind of quest chain that only members of the clan can accept. I add the sabotage quest chain and mark each of the outposts on the map. The new clan members wanted to do more than the sewer quests in Port Yarrow, so they can help here, as this is more than a one-person quest. Once I am done and point the online players to the new quest, I log off—I need sleep.

Checking my email, I see one from the school.

Dear Students,

Given the abnormal situation with the school contest,

We have an accelerated learning schedule for the following eleven weeks. Our goal is the preservation of The Hillhurst School, and to those ends, we have assigned you and your cohort to the following mandatory Friday classes.

Effective immediately.

8am - Tactics and Countermeasures

9am - International Relations and Diplomacy

10am - Strategy & Warfare

11am - Effective Leadership

Thank you.

- Principal J. Tenreal

Well, tomorrow is going to be fun.

***

“I’m getting older,” Dr. Lloyd Friend stated across the boardroom of Wutani corporation, eyeing three stacks of binders on the table. “I don’t like this kind of paperwork anymore. We have computers to filter these kinds of things so why again do we need to look through these?” He waves a dismissive hand at the pile.

Dr. Reed Roth, turning and frowning, breaks into a smile, “I wanted to have a visual representation of what we were discussing here.” He waves at the pile. “These are the binders of each child in the schools and the progress we have made with them.”

“Point made,” Gus Brodie says, glancing at Dr. Friend. “Now let’s look over what we have so far. The subjects in Hillhurst are doing phenomenal in the early game. In particular, this group of assassins who exploited one of the planted bugs.”

“We want to make sure that the students are not directed toward these and that they are more … organically found,” Reed says

Dr. Friend looks at Gus. “I am sure Reed wants us to be aware that his students have made it the farthest in unification. And indeed they have,” he waves an idle hand, “recruited 70% of the region into one clan which could dominate their entire region this weekend.” He turns to Reed Roth. “But he forgets about the reconciliation rule. They will gut each other—”

“Lloyd, they appear to be forming a military structure as expected,” Reed interrupts. “And the reconciliation should only affect bad leaders, that is its purpose—”

“You don’t know the first thing about people,” Lloyd says. “The money will tear them apart the second they get close. Yours will need a common enemy, a structural force that they will band together to defeat.”

Gus jumps in, “We are doing all this to test the effectiveness of the new SAINT in the schools. We need to know that what we have done is worth the risk, worth the possible public outcry and backlash.” He says. “We have risked a lot.”

Dr. Friend says softly, “Phase two has started. The in-game intrigue has begun, which will tilt the playing field. We will get our data; they don’t realize that they are receiving bits of SAINT-like programming as they play. All the little things to make them better, smarter—”

“We could melt their brains, or those teachers could melt their brains,” Gus says.

“We could,” Reed says, “but that was always the risk. Alright, back to the data…”