Chapter 449

There was only about an hour left before players were going to log in, and James and his friends had decided to call their dungeon runs for the time being. If James was being honest, they should have stopped a while ago and gotten some rest, but he, and the others, had been having too much fun. Plus, they all wanted to grind levels before the players joined in, so they could venture even deeper into the dungeon, with the players.

“This feels like a ghost town.” James commented as his party, minus Ifrit, wandered around the town at the base of his dungeon. Apparently, summons couldn’t be summoned in town. A rule that made sense, considering the literal armies some of the higher leveled pet class players had at their disposal. Other than having your pet mobs follow you around town, the only things allowed in towns, it seemed, were players, and NPCs.

“Even worse than that.” Steve mentioned, as he took a drag from his corn cob pipe. The tank looked ridiculous. Not only had he gotten his hands on the pipe, but he’d also gotten one of the top hat drops from their two battles against the Terminus. Add that to his mismatched steampunk and farm related armor, and the threadbare, colorful Plaython cape he’d gotten, and it was almost too much…even for Steve.

“How so?” Rue piped in. She’d managed to keep her outfit from getting too chaotic, trading around bits and pieces with James when she could, to complete her ensemble. The whole group was in the 40s now, with Steve, who’d died most of the group, a few levels lower than James and Rue. They’d learned, following Steve’s first death, that while their experience did drain back down to zero, James didn’t get it as the dungeon core. Someone on the developer team, it would seem, had the foresight to keep people from exploiting that potential lapse in judgement. Unfortunately.

“I mean,” Steve motioned around wit his pipe, “a ghost town would at least have ghosts. This feels more like a surreal dollhouse. Or, I don’t know, maybe an Ikea?”

James and Rue shared a look and shook their heads. Steve was being Steve.

“Honestly, I’d expected there to be at least some NPCs running about.” James added in as they took a look in the next building. They’d been peaking inside all of the public buildings they could, such as the inn, gambling hall, and even the brothel. All of those, had been completely empty. Elsewhere, there were private homes for the players, which had restrictions in place to allow only those the player’s had added to permissions lists, to enter. Steve had offered to…bypass some of those locks if they’d wanted, but James had refused. Even if it was just a game, that seemed a bit too much an invasion of privacy for his taste. Though, considering he spent his time in DCO literally watching the players, unknown to them, from the moment they entered the moment they left, he was probably in the creeper category.

“Only NPC that would be active right now,” Steve paused, thinking. “Should be in the Adventurer’s Guild.” He nodded in the direction they’d been heading. At the center of town, the largest building of all, save for the Coliseum. The location for players to gather, pick up quests, join parties, and so on. That particular building, established by a group of likeminded… business types in town, had made the owners a literal fortune since DCO’s release.

“Is it Vinnie?” Rue was suddenly excited, her eyes flashing, and James remembered just how interested his companion had been in the bear, and its extremely deep voice.

“Technically yes.” Steve responded. “Not sure where his AI normally hangs out, but the moment there are players present, he will spawn himself at the Warmongers station. We should go say hi.” Steve shrugged. “Considering there isn’t really anything else to do in this town, until the players arrive.”

They’d all been hoping for a drink or two at the tavern, and the fact they couldn’t get any service, had been a rather large letdown. Especially given they’d grown rather accustomed to their royal treatment at the hot springs on James’s fifth floor. Then again, this was the player experience, and James had no doubt, once the actual players logged in, they would all be overwhelmed with what opened up to them. Still, James doubted, luxury wise, they’d be able to compete with what he and the others normally got up to. One of the many perks of being the Dungeon Core, after all.

“Remember, Rue,” James pressed as they made their way past the built-up storefronts, player housing, and even crafting shops, “you can’t give away your identity to Vinnie.”

“He wouldn’t say anything to anyone.” She huffed in response.

“Don’t the other AIs still consider you an AI yourself?” James responded, checking Steve’s reaction from the corner of his eye. The developer nodded solemnly, even as Rue sputtered.

“So…what am I supposed to do?” She countered. “It was hard enough not saying high to Rexy.”

“Just say you’re a developer and leave the explanations to me.” Steve said with a grin. “Besides, I’ve a feeling the interactions with him will be…unbearable. Especially considering we can’t even access his wares.”

James stopped dead. “What? Really?”

“Aw come on James. That pun wasn’t even bad.” He shook his head. “You used to be fun.”

“Your bad pun wasn’t what I was referencing, and you know it.” James said. “What do you mean, we can’t access his wares.”

Steve shrugged, letting smoke blow from his nostrils as he did. Considering his small stature, it looked ridiculous. “Didn’t I mention that? Developer players can’t access the Warmonger. We also can’t travel to other dungeons and such. Part of the whole ‘unfair edge’ that we would have otherwise.”

“Can…can we still take part in Dungeon Wars and Skirmishes?” James pressed. “Or are we only allowed to dive the dungeon with players when those events aren’t active?”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules. I just skirt around breaking them best I can.” Steve chuckled. “But really, with all you do get to do, compared to just living as the Dungeon Core, are you that upset you can’t access the Warmonger? Think about it man, what if you abused your Dungeon Core status to make special gear for your class, available at the warmonger? Not very fair, huh? And I’m sure there are others out there who would love to find more things to exploit, especially developers.”

“You’re the reason for half of these rules, aren’t you.” Rue said with a laugh of her own. “You’re literally that guy, huh?”

“Guilty, and proud of it.” Steve replied with a grin. “But any ways. We can use these profiles to partake in Dungeon Wars and Skirmishes, but we can’t gain actual dungeon essence and such. Essentially, we will be just like summoned NPCs in that regard, or unique AI summons. However, you need to have contingencies in place, during those events, for if your Avatar gets summoned. Meaning, the three of us aren’t allowed to run around as developers at the same time, in those events.”

That made sense. If James was running around as Nyx, and his forces tried to summon the Mad Mage, it would cause some problems. Especially given how much he’d been interacting with his players as the Mad Mage. They expected him, and no matter how crazy and brilliant Steve was, he highly doubted the developer could pull it off. The same, of course, went with Rue and her Mad Beast persona. Meaning, if James was being honest, the only one who could take part of day three and five of dungeon wars, as a developer character, would be Steve. Damnit Steve.

“Figured it out, huh?” Steve offered James a small pat on the shoulder, an action that required the halfling to literally jump up to reach the appropriate height on James’s Archon. “Sometimes, rules are made for good reason. And much as I wish it weren’t this way, there are still secrets and such we have to keep in place, no matter what.”

James sighed and nodded, a smile on his face. While he was bummed about the realization, it didn’t matter. The fact he even got to play DCO as a player, was massive. And nothing could kill the excitement he was feeling about getting to dive the dungeon alongside Z and the others. So what if he couldn’t be Nyx during a dungeon war. Now, at least, he could get almost the entire DCO experience, while acting as Dungeon Core. If that wasn’t a great outcome, he didn’t know what was. And, to top it all off, he got to do it safely, with his friends, without worrying about Xander, or Cyb3Ru5, or anything else immediately pressing. There was, of course, still the mystery of the empty space on his x-ray, but his parent’s last message had implied they knew what it was, and so he wasn’t worried about it. In fact, as far as everything stood, this was probably the closest to perfection that he could find in DCO. And so, he was going to savor every moment of it.

“Right then,” he said, widening the smile on his face as he grabbed Rue’s arm, linking his with hers. “Let’s go visit the Vinnie the Pooh.”

“Oh bother.” Steve said with a wink towards James. Then, the three of them, laughter on their lips, continued deeper into the heart of the town, enjoying the peace and quiet, before the players would once again return.