ShadowRunner led the way, scouting ahead while the other four walked in a tight group.

“You know, when I heard we were going to be venturing into tunnels under the city… This wasn’t quite what I imagined,” said Buzz. “I was picturing pitch-black tunnels, old and decaying stonework, flooding and probably some undead. Definitely not… this. It’s so well lit, and although the floor’s a bit messy, the construction and the walls are so clean and solid. I bet that images of this place could keep a dwarf from seeking my services for years.”

FarShot shuddered at the mental image.

“The architecture and engineering that went into this place certainly are advanced. There’s a lot more to this world than the eye beholds. Their technology and science are rather interesting, and obviously quite advanced. I wonder just how the creators of the Virmo managed to come up with all of this.” Bob mused.

His words were met with silence.

ShadowRunner ducked back toward the group. “Ten drones in that corridor up ahead, digging at the wall.”

“Chunk, shield up and pop around the corner. Buzz, shoot them down from behind Chunk’s shield.”

The two minions moved to follow Bob’s instructions. Chunk’s tower shield blocked most of the corridor, while Buzz started firing wildly at the tightly clustered drones. Even with his less than stellar skills, the drones went down fast in a spray of metal and plastic fragments.

Moments later, the drones were eliminated.

“Buzz, go touch part of the drone remains. It should give you a looting prompt. Accept the prompt, and it should divide it amongst the group.”

Buzz did as he was ordered, and everyone received a handful of Drone Components.

“Well, that was easy,” Buzz said in a light-hearted tone.

“Well, yeah, there were only ten, and they were all pretty small.” FarShot said, a little cattily. “When we came in here with Bob yesterday, we ran into a swarm of thirty or so accompanied by a drone mother. There were drones as big as your torso there, and the drone mother was the size of a wagon bed. It had a gun that punched through Bob’s shields.”

Buzz shrugged and smiled. “That sounds fascinating. Just the small glimpse I had of them has me really interested in how they’re made. I would love to take some apart…”

FarShot and ShadowRunner exchanged a knowing glance. The sister spoke up. “You’re a gnome, aren’t you?”

Buzz chuckled sheepishly. “That obvious, huh? Yeah, I’m an alchemist by trade, but complex mechanisms get my mental gears spinning. Can’t really escape the racial obsession.”

The siblings chuckled a bit at that.

The walk through the tunnels was eventful. The group ran into numerous packs of mutant rats, and a swarm of mutant roaches that nearly overwhelmed them with sheer volume. Surprisingly, Buzz accepted all the harvested parts from the mutants, saying he could use it to work up his crafting skill, Synthesis. The shotguns used by the two new members of the group were invaluable in dealing with the swarms, along with Bob’s turrets.

During that time, the other four each leveled up. Buzz and Chunk chose their first abilities. Chunk chose one that eked an extra point of strength out of the armor’s mechanical enhancements. Buzz chose one that benefited his Synthesis skill, reducing synthesis time by 20% when using a Field Synthesis Kit. “It will come in handy once we start dealing with things that use poisons or spread sickness,” he’d promised.

Drone presence was rather sparse this time and they only ran into a few small groupings, barely enough for them all to get the minimum needed for turning in the bounty.

After a long walk through the tunnels, they finally neared the site of the obstruction.

The tunnel ahead was coated with a hard, bluish-green material that was riddled with openings, and the air stank like vomit and strong vinegar.

“Well, this doesn’t look ominous at all,” said ShadowRunner.

“Chunk disagree. Chunk think it look very ominous.”

“I stand corrected. On second thought, it does look rather ominous after all. Good catch, Chunk.”

Chunk replied by nodding sagely.

“So, any idea what this crap is?” FarShot asked, poking one of the walls.

“No clue,” Bob said. “Why don’t we just try setting it on fire?”

After a few moments of murmured conference, the others agreed. However, Bob had forgotten that he no longer had fire at his beck and call, only a breath away. Luckily, ShadowRunner had an appropriate solution.

“Well, I didn’t really want to use it before, but I have this thing called a ‘thermite grenade’ that is supposed to make a super-hot fire. I kind of bought it on a whim, and there hasn’t really been a good time to use it…” ShadowRunner said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You probably could have used it on the mother drone instead of jumping on it,” said Bob.

“Yeah, I didn’t think about that until after I’d logged off…” ShadowRunner said as he kicked the tunnel floor sheepishly.

“Well, I suppose that will work. Well, what are you waiting for?”

ShadowRunner withdrew a small cylinder from his inventory that had an odd handle on it, then withdrew a metal pin from the hinge where the handle connected, causing it to come off. Then he tossed the cylinder into one of the holes that covered the walls.

“We should probably step back, just in case this stuff is flammable,” ShadowRunner said.

The group did as he suggested. Moments later a bright light erupted from the hole he’d thrown the thermite grenade into, and a wave of heat washed over the party. Then the weird material covering the tunnel walls ignited in a rather spectacular fashion. Bob and the others retreated from the sudden and fierce inferno. The flames gave off an eerie greenish light as they devoured the material, and produced a thick, white smoke which was sucked away into vents in the ceiling that none of the group had taken notice of before.

Bob could have sworn he heard hissing and screaming coming from the holes, even over the roar of the viridian-hued flames.

For nearly an hour they stood and watched as the blazing inferno faded, leaving behind ash, soot-stained concrete, and ragged holes in the walls which still glowed from the heat of the fires burning deep within. As the fire finally died down, they all received the quest update notification.

“You know, I was really expecting something more epic there,” FarShot commented.

“I agree,” said Buzz.

Chunk just nodded in agreement.

Stefano took his place at the head of the table. “Alright, so tell me what we’ve got so far.”

Randell Leaflight, the Vice Minister of public relations stood up. “I’ve taken charge of the investigations into this alleged ancient dragon. So far, the research has proven inconclusive, aside from an old passage from nearly six hundred years ago, referencing a party who made it to the thousandth floor of Deep Thousand, and claimed to meet with an ancient dragon who resided there, whom they called the Crimson Terror. All members of the party refused to speak of what had happened, though it was noted that they returned with powerful artifact-level equipment. Which, assuming the passage is real, means they clearly defeated the thing, even if they resorted to some kind of underhanded methods which they weren’t proud of.

“Honestly, I don’t see why you’re taking this so seriously. There is no evidence that any dragon older than a few centuries even remains in this world. The Age of Heroes wiped out all the Ancients.” The half-elven man sat back down, looking smug.

Levercog Wizzlefidget, Vice Minister of Development and Operations, stood up on the seat of her chair. “I’ve been tracking all the details of the original crystal. It was purchased in Millen, along with one of each of the other available options, paid for in coin. The purchase was timestamped as roughly an hour before the account’s first login. The first counterfeit connected within fifteen minutes of that first session’s log out, and the subsequent counterfeits connected at five minute delays after that. Two of those three counterfeits have since created accounts. One account holder claims to be a gnome, while the other claims to be an ogre.” This last bit of information caused stirring and murmuring.

Wizzlefidget continued speaking, “It normally takes us three days to imprint a crystal with the enchantments. As you all well know, our process simply allows us to do large batches at once. The copied crystal was in the possession of its current owner for no more than seven and a half hours before the first counterfeit came online. Based on the time of log out, and the amount of time before the subsequent copies came online, they may have completely copied the first one in as little as five to fifteen minutes. That speaks of vast magical power with incredibly precise control. Even if it isn’t an ancient dragon, whoever did this is so incomprehensibly powerful as a mage that they might as well be considered on the same level.” As Wizzlefidget continued speaking, the smugness on Leaflight’s features deflated.

The sole Scaled One at the table stood up, Bloodied Talon, the Vice Minister of Investor Relations. “I have made overtures with my clan of birth to arrange an audience with our Grand Patriarch, Filauos Goramen Infernus. As some of you may already know, he is the oldest confirmed dragon on all nine continents and the progenitor of all the Scaled Kin. He is our keeper of Draconic Lore and may be able to shed some light on these investigations. I only need approval to provide the traditional tribute which will be six hundred pounds of gold and twelve hundred pounds of silver.”

Stefano steepled his fingers. “Approved. Keep us updated on how it goes.”

Leaflight scowled. “That is a lot of coin to throw away on some wild fantasy.”

Stefano waved a hand dismissively at the half-elf. “Shut up, Randy.” Leaflight’s scowl deepened, but Stefano continued without paying him any attention. “Talon, do you have the time to take over the investigations?”

The lizard-like man bowed his scaly head. “Indeed. The investors are rather happy at the moment, as sales continue to grow according to projections.”

“Your help, as always, is most appreciated, Talon. How about the support agent who spoke with the account holder, have we got a hold on him yet?” Stefano turned his attention to his aide.

The aide stepped forward from where he stood against the wall. “We have him in negotiations with Personnel Management at this very moment, trying to secure permission for a Memory Play. It took us some time to coax him out of his house. He’d barricaded himself in there once his supervisor dismissed his claims as frivolous and put him on leave.”

“Well, if he feared angering an ancient dragon, I can hardly fault the poor bastard. Notify me as soon as its available. Anyone else have anything to add?”

After a few moments of silence, Stefano dismissed the meeting, and the participants went their separate ways.