The road was empty has his horse cantered along, kicking up dust clouds from the dry ground. The knight, NoobSlayer73, had spent the past week clearing out an old dungeon to clear a quest, and was finally able to get back to proper civilisation. Pulling out a pocket mirror, he made sure his hair was in pristine condition, wanting to make sure his triumphant return was perfect. He sighed as he put it away; wishing that it was easier to get back home, since what was the point of being an amazing hero if there was no one around to praise him?

He’d made sure to adjust his character appropriately, and his parents had paid for high quality equipment suitable for a champion of a kingdom, including the mount racing along beneath him. What was the point of playing a game when you couldn’t rub how much better you are in other people’s faces? The best gear, the best mount and the best personal trainers that could be paid for, ensuring he took his rightful place as a top player in the game.

“Excuse me!” a strange voice called out, distracting him from his thoughts. “I'm sure a fine warrior like you would love some of my wares, now on sale!”

Pulling on his horse’s reins, NoobSlayer73 looked around to find a small wooden stall set up on the side of the road, manned by a tall figure dressed in a deep blue robe that covered them completely. Covering the counter of the stall was a seemingly endless number of bottles, ranging in all manner of shape and colour, from huge red spheres, to tiny black teardrops.

Looking down the road, Noob couldn’t see anyone else around, so he decided to sate his curiosity and investigate the stall. Dismounting, he approached the table, and began looking over the items on the table. None of them were anything that he recognized, but that wasn’t that surprising if they were someone attempts to make something worthwhile, since he normally only used premium consumables. Still you never knew when you’d find something interesting that the seller couldn’t see the value in. Picking up one of the bottles, he looked over its attributes, trying to figure out if it was worth anything.

Unknown Potion

Item type: Potion

Grade: Hidden

Effects: Hidden

Creator: Hidden

“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” the figure behind the counter asked.

“What’s with all your stuff? All the information’s hidden.”

The person coughed awkwardly. “Ah, that. Well, after a few…’incidents’ concerning ownership, I came to the conclusion that it’s simplest to keep the information on my products to myself for the time being.”

Noob snorted. “And you actually expect people to buy this stuff without knowing what it is? You’re out of your mind.” he said derisively, turning back to his horse.

“True most people might not be willing to purchase, some of the more...illicit goods, but you’d be hard pressed to find anything like this in a normal store.”

“And you’re actually getting away with this?”

“Well, I have something of an understanding with the local guards.”

“I doubt that.”

“...right, so basically, I understand that it’s best if they don't catch me. After all, it’s not a crime if you don't get caught right? Now, can I interest you in any of my wares? I'm sure I have something here to suit your needs.”

An idea took hold in Noob’s mind, and a smirk crossed his lips. “By all means,” he said. “Show me what you have.”

The cloaked figure began to vaguely gesture to the various bottles and flasks scattered over the table, listing off their effects.

“I’ve got a few various healing potions, a couple of mana potions, both recovery and increased regeneration, as well as a range of resistance increasing items. Along with that I've got a few long term strength boosters if you’re looking for something to give you an edge.”

Perfect, Noob thought, before reaching out and grabbing the bottle the merchant had pointed at.

“Ah, looking to improve your fighting power is it? An excellent choice my friend, now that particular product is-”

“Please, as if I'm going to bother to pay for this.” He said with a snort, stepping away from the table.

“E-excuse me?”

“Like I’d really bother to hand over gold for any of your shoddy or stolen merchandise. Besides what are you going to do about it? You wouldn’t last a minute in a fight and I doubt you’re eager to report this to the guards.”

Ignoring the figures cries of outrage, Noob headed back to his horse with his prize in hand. Wondering whether to use it now or hold on to it for an emergency he decided to put it to use immediately, doubting he’d actually get much value from something he’d gotten from such a fool.

As soon as the potion hit his tongue he knew something was wrong, as a numbness began to spread throughout first his mouth, the quickly began to spread throughout the rest of his body.

“Wha...” he tried to say as his body began to give out on him, collapsing on the ground, unable to move.

Warning! You have been paralysed!

You will be unable to move or take any physical action for the next five minutes.

As he lay on the ground, trying to understand what had just happened, the shopkeeper slowly walked out from behind the stall and squatted down in front of his face, holding up the now discarded and empty bottle.

“You know,” they said, waving the bottle in front of their face. “You might not be aware of this, but it’s considered a crime to steal things from people, and rude to just do it right in front of them.”

“You...p-poisoned me.” He choked out trying to shake off the effects.

“Noooo I think we can safely say you did this to yourself, though I'm surprised you’re able to talk at all after drinking this stuff.” The merchant said, placing the bottle down where Noob could see it.

Poison of Ingested Paralysis

Item type: Potion (Empty)

Grade: Rare

Effects: When consumed, causes full paralysis in drinker, bypassing most resistances. Must be taken in pure form by a willing player.

Creator: Hidden

“I’ve tricked a few people and misrepresented a few things to others, but you can feel proud knowing you’re the first to just grab it and down it on your own.” The merchant said, patting him on the shoulder.

“W-why?” Noob asked, not really caring for the answer. He realised he mustn’t have drank all of the poison before he’d dropped the bottle, since he could feel his body slowly shaking off the effects. If he could just keep this bastard talking a little longer.

“Why? You really can’t figure that much out? It’s simple enough.” They said with amusement clearly present in their voice.

“Tell me.” He said, trying to make a fist.

“Fine then, since you’re being a spoil sport about this. It doesn’t really come up much in towns, since the guards tend to deal with it almost immediately, but theft is a hostile action.”

“So...WHAT!” He shouted, launching himself forward with everything he could muster, trying to strike at the person who’d dared to cross him...

Only to find them sitting out of the way, a blade held gently against his throat, drawing a drop of blood as he swallowed.

“Which means,” they continued, as if he hadn’t even moved. “That any attack I do to you is one in defence against an attacker, and not one that would get me flagged as a player killer in anyway. But clearly you’ve got far more constitution than common sense, so let’s get this over with shall we?”

“N-no, no please wait!”

~~~~~~

It had been a little over two weeks since he’d made his way out of the Blightwoods, and things had...escalated since his escape. The Greycaps, initially designed as little more than a distraction and a deterrent for anyone following him and proven to be far more effective than first expected. Not only had they managed to completely wipe out the hunting party that had come after him, but apparently they possessed a vindictive streak against anyone who’d tried to mess with the woods themselves. Less than a day after their creation, the little mushroom-like monsters had managed to completely wipe out the Woodsman's camp, leaving nothing but a few scraps of their tents and a few tools scattered amongst the newly regrown vegetation.

Jicker had given the Greycaps the ability to manipulate the Blightwoods as a means for them to hunt and move around quickly, but it seemed they’d taken it a step further and declared themselves both its rulers and protectors. By the time the first other players had come to investigate messages about new enemies lurking in the woods, they had amassed their newly created zombie minions and made short work of any intruders, each adventurer being added to their ranks. After a week of watching people do nothing but rush to their doom, several guild and groups of NPC’s had been forced to take steps against the Blightwoods, which hard started to spread at an alarming rate, leaving things in their current state.

A picket line had been erected around the entire area, and was slowly being replaced with a thick stone wall, with archers and casters patrolling its borders. No one was allowed in, and anything trying to come out was attacked with extreme prejudice. After it was found that both the Greycaps and the Fungal zombies were capable of spreading the Blightwoods to new locations if they got out, no one was willing to let them get even close to the perimeter wall. A daily quest had been created for people with enough ranged firepower to start to burn and destroy as much of the forest as they could without getting close to it.

With the natural resistances of the Blightwoods and the Greycaps constantly opposing the destruction of their home, it was barely making any headway, but people believed that they should be able to destroy the woods within a few years. Knowing that it would be a commonly visited place for quite some time, people had already begun purchasing land around the woods despite the risks, and stores and inns were being built. It wouldn’t be long before there was an entire community built around the woods, though if the line ever failed it wouldn’t fair well for those living there.

The attention on the woods and the new Greycaps had also completely covered up Jicker’s escape, and despite all the attention on the area, he hadn’t seen any mention of his actions. In fact he hadn’t seen anything by the woodsmen at all, leading him to believe they may have disbanded after suffering such heavy losses. Whatever agreements they’d made regarding the roads construction had come to a dead stop, and whatever group had been on the other end wouldn’t have been happy with them.

Putting away his knife, Jicker dropped his cloak before letting himself fall to the ground and began unbuckling the stilts he’d fashioned for himself. Being little more than logs with straps on the top, he couldn't move very quickly with them or he’d end up eating dirt, but he didn't need to sprint to catch up to someone lying paralysed on the ground. As the body flashed signaling that it was lootable, he got up and went to inspect his catch.

Once he’d gotten clear of the woods and was confident that no one was still pursuing him, he’d decided to try and get a bit of gold in his pockets, sick of the way he’d been always scraping by so far. Potions generally weren’t the greatest money makers, people preferring to just travel with someone who could cast healing magic, which not only saved money but was normally a quicker effect. But plenty of people, particularly those who played solo, like to be able rely purely on themselves, and so there was still money to be made if you put in the work. Banditry was still a big enough issue even with the Woodsmen gone that it was easy enough to find an abandoned wagon to use for parts to serve for his stall, and the rest he’d picked up piece by piece from those he dealt with.

He’d been playing at dealing with travelling players for the past week now, taking advantage of the increased traffic heading in and out of the area around the Blightwoods. At first he’d planned to do things properly and sell off some his battle drops and other creations, but it hadn’t taken long for him to see that the average player was far more willing to commit crimes when away from civilisation. Once he’d decided that he might start doing a bit of player killing, even by proxy, he’d made sure to trade for the oversized cloak he now used, to cut down on anyone looking for a gremlin that had tricked them. After he realised that being only a few feet tall still meant he would stand out, the stilts were added to the disguise, letting him pass for an average, if extremely suspicious, person.

Since then he’d dealt with dozens of players, and seen a wide range of people though they mostly fell into three different categories. The first made up the majority of the players he spoke to, and were all players with the rare commodity known as common sense. These all realised that a shady looking dealer on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere probably didn’t have their best interests at heart. The second, and most profitable, category was those like poor Noobslayer73, whose body was beginning to steam in the cool air of the afternoon. While most people realised that a deal was too good to be true, there was always a few that thought they could one up crook or just take advantage of the situation. The new poison he’d created worked wonders on these people, and was cheap to produce as well, only needing some water, sugar and salt. The problem was that it only worked if they drank it willingly, so it’s only real targets were people who thought they were smarter than they were.

And finally there was the third category, which made him feel bad about messing with other people. Rookies, new players that had only just started playing after the hype of the upheaval and had no real business being this far from any towns. They were wide eyed and still marvelling at the sights around them which, while impressive, shouldn’t take so much of your attention that you stop looking where you’re going. The first one he’d come across almost rode him down by accident, too busy marvelling at the mountain ranges to the north. Once he’d dusted himself and they’d apologised, he’d begun his speech about his products, only to have them honestly want to purchase some, much to his surprise. In the end he’d given up and sold them a few things they’d find useful at cost along with a warning that they shouldn’t trust random people they meet on the road.

As he looked over the body and searched through pockets he hoped he could find the sword that he’d seen on the man’s belt, but sadly that had vanished on his death, along with the majority of his wealth. What was left amounted to a little under three hundred gold, a bright blue scarf, and a nice shield that was far too large for him.

Embossed shield of resistance

Item type: Shield

Grade: Common

Defence: 18

This Shield has been weakened by the large amounts of engraving and gold plating used on its face to proclaim the wielders greatness. Included in the markings are runes granting 10 acid resistance to the wielder.

It wasn't anything amazing, designed to be more of a show piece than a real piece of equipment, but it should still sell for enough to be worth hanging on to. As he began putting away his prizes for the day, he paused as a thought crossed his mind.

“Hang on a second…” he muttered to himself, frowning at the horse as it ran into the distance. If it had been an owned animal, then it should have vanished along with the rest of the players belongings. For it to still be out and running away, it would have to be...

Returning to the body, he went over it again, this time looking harder for something in particular, and sure enough it was there, stuck in a small pocket of the man’s shirt that had been sewn shut. Carefully cutting away the fabric, he retrieved his prize.

Slate Disc of Ownership

Item type: Marker

Grade: Uncommon

Maximum Level: 60

Current Target: None

This token grants temporary ownership of a suitable Item, Creature or Structure that is within the level range. Loss of this token will result in loss of ownership.

“Perfect!” Jicker exclaimed excitedly. The tokens were mostly used as a way of controlling hired mounts or accessing rented buildings, but they had a number of other uses. The most important one to him at the moment was the ability to turn a tamed wild animal into a temporary mount, which could then be made permanent later. He’d been planning on looking into a mount to make his journey easier, and it seemed like he’d had a decent stroke of luck.

Looking around, he began to hunt for something he could work with, something that could be used to create a creature that could take him where ever he needed.

~~~~~~

“You,” Jicker said as he stared at his latest creation. “Are just the worst.”

His new mount turned to him for a moment at the sound of his voice, before going back to stomping around in the shallow water, splashing water around like a five year old child.

He’d initially been concerned that a unique mount might draw more attention than he wanted, much like the Blunicorn Gabe had asked him to make. But after things it settled down, it seemed to be the general consensus that it had just been a rare drop from one of the new dungeons that had sprung up, or a new quest that required necromancy to be involved. Even before the upheaval there had been a wide range of strange mounts that could be found, tamed or purchased, and things had only escalated on that front since his actions.

No longer worrying as much about getting noticed, he instead went for something that could do what he needed, rather than what he could get away with. Flying was obviously his first choice, but after a few tests, he found that, at least with his current skills, he couldn’t put together anything big enough to be useful. Since he was looking for something that could get him over long distances, rather than sprinting across a battlefield, he’d gone with something with more endurance than agility, and on that front he’d succeeded.

Standing a good twelve feet tall at the shoulder, a thick, pale blue carapace covered its entire form, helping to survive wherever they ended up travelling to. A dozen powerful legs ending in sharp points moved with surprising grace and precision, allowing it to cross any terrain with ease, along with a powerful set of claws to both defend itself and aid in any task requiring heavy lifting.

To put more simply, it was a crab, though a very large and powerful one with a few useful changes. He’d headed towards the river to see if he could find an animal getting a drink, but nothing had been around and he’d almost moved on. But as he turned to go he spotted movement on the water edge, finding a small hermit crab looking for food, giving him both a base as well as inspiration. The normal shell was scrapped, converting its body to a more typical, spidery form instead of one that would drag itself along the ground. In addition, with its body being a wide, flat area received an additional layer of shell in a conical shape over the rest with a gap in the middle, creating a type of chitinous tent. It wasn’t the biggest space inside, but it was still around eight feet wide, and more than tall enough for a gremlin to stand in. It was safe, warm, and dry, a perfect place to sleep and store all his belongings. When he’d first finalised the crab, it hadn’t been quite large enough for what he wanted, but with the aid of his Prime specimen ability he’d gotten there.

You have created the Giant Nomad Crab. Level: 52

This crab, once a singular creature, is now unique.

Special abilities: The Crab has an instinctive sense of direction, and can always find its way to where it wishes to go. Its shell will slowly change in colour and texture to blend into whatever terrain it’s currently inhabiting.

Do you wish to name this creature?

And so Hermes was born, and while he wasn’t as fast as his namesake, he was perfect for what Jicker needed. Or at least he’d thought it was until later, when he realised his mistake. In order to make taming the enormous crustacean easier, he’d done what he could to make it extremely docile, since fighting it would have been difficult for his smaller weapons to handle. It had worked apparently, since Hermes had barely even responded when he attempted to use the Disc on it, too busy trying out its new form and scooping up clumps of vegetation to feed on.

He had finished disassembling his store front and loading it and the rest of his belongings through the opening in the front of the crab's shell when disaster struck, in the form of a small bird. Whether there was a link between aggression and cowardice, or whether it was an old instinct left over from its original shape, Jicker couldn’t be sure. But as soon as it swooped down nearby, Hermes panicked, the multi-tonne monster scurrying away from the sparrow as fast as it could, throwing Jicker into the back of its shell by the sudden acceleration. Unfortunately, it decided that the best place to run to escape the flying terror was back into the water it had come from.

“Stop stop stop!” Jicker shouted as he saw their destination. “My stuff is in your shell, MY STUFF IS IN YOUR-”

Blup

And that unexpected trip into the water left him where he stood now, sitting by a fire in nothing but a loincloth as he waited for the rest of possessions he’d managed to fish out dried off. Watching his clothes dry could only provide so much amusement, and after a while he’d had enough. Getting up and throwing on a few things that were mostly dry he went to talk to Hermes, who was having the time of its life scaring the fish swimming in the shallows.

“Stay here and keep an eye on things. If you do need to leave, make sure to put all my things in your shell. Understand?” he said. Thankfully his evolution stat had given it enough intelligence to understand basic speech, even going so far for it to give him a salute before returning to its fun. Seeing that things were in hand for the time being, Jicker decided to take a break and log off for a while.

~~~~~~

As Matt made himself a meal, he went through his emails and messages, only to have his stomach drop when he saw one from Masquerade Entertainment. Apparently, after all the garbage that had been going on, it was time for him to go in and have a proper check in, to ensure everything was going according to plan. The first ones had been skipped over since August had been taking more of a personal involvement in matters, but now he had to head into town to see them.

Finding a decent shirt and some jeans, he headed out, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible rather than let it hang over him. It was early in the afternoon, and the roads were fairly quiet though he hoped it would be finished before rush hour. After parking his car in the visitor’s area, he’d barely walked through the door before an official came through and rushed him towards an elevator. Apparently they still wanted to minimize their visible involvement with him, even though the press largely stopped staking out the building to get scoops about the upheaval.

Before he knew it he was dumped in a familiar office, sitting in front of several of the same board members who’d been there when he’d first been drafted into this mess. They all looked the same for the most part, all prim and proper business people fancy suits and ties, all looking down at him but the exception was August, who looked... rough. Whenever he’d seen him before, even when he’d come to make threats or even assault him, he’d taken great care of his appearance. His clothes were always immaculate, his beared neatly trimmed and not a hair out of place. Now though, he looked like someone who’d spent too long in the bottle. His clothes were the same designer pieces, but now were just thrown on by someone going through the motions, his face looking haggard and unkempt. His bloodshot eyes looked around the room wildly, jumping lightly as if hearing random noises.

“Now then, Mr Harper,” One of board members said, deciding to move things along. “Over the past weeks, we’ve seen a marked increase in new subscription, though much of that is largely the result of news. So far your actions have-”

“Who is it!” August burst out, startling the rest of the board as he leapt to his feet. He continued as he stared blindly at Matt. “They had the video I thought it was you, but it wasn’t was it? It was someone else, someone else with access with that video, could be lots of people, plenty of smart people with computers. So I have my own smart people try and track it down and guess what happens?”

For a moment he paused in his rant, and Matt was about to try and answer when he continued.

“It vanishes! The source, the trail, even the email itself was deleted from my computer, not a single record of it left! Then a few minutes later, I get a new email, a new video, and this time it’s not of you. They’ve got cameras watching me, must have had them for years. They’ve seen things, things no one should see, things no one could’ve seen...”

He trailed off suddenly, walking over to the window and leaning his head against it quietly. After a few moments the speaker seemed to come to a decision.

“W-well, it seems that Mr. Fronz isn’t feeling very well at the moment, so perhaps we’ll just pass on the meeting for today. Now before you go, I believe Miss Tolson would like to see you, apparently they have a few questions for you.” He said nervously, looking from Matt to August, not sure of what to do.

Also wanting nothing to do with the man, Matt agreed and was promptly escorted down to the IT department, to find Sarah pouring over a table covered in documents and maps, many of which struck him as familiar.

“Hey Matt,” she said, looking up. “You’ve got good timing.”

“Something up? The guy up stairs said you had some questions.” He asked, taking a look at the papers on the table. They were copies of his notes, he realised, the markers and calculations he’d written when he was planning everything out.

“Just trying to get a few details ironed out. We’ve been asked to create an “official” version of the upheaval, something for the NPC’s to understand, and to be used for history purposes. Something with a little more gravitas than “A guy did a thing”.”

”I'm going to get blanked out of things?” he asked, surprised. “I thought when players achieved things, they were added to the history.”

“Normally yeah, but you're kind of a special case. Would you like all your information listed for your achievement, because if you’d prefer that then...”

“Fine, I get it, blanking it is. So, what the question?”

“We’re trying to come with a reason for the attack, which means I need to know why some were spared. Did you have any specific reasons for those?”

“Well, I couldn’t hit every tiny little hamlet or farmstead. I just hit the major ones and every other one I could travel to.”

“But that’s the thing, there’s a couple of big ones you missed, so did you forget about them, or were they needed for something else? Come on, I need this report done by tomorrow, give me something.”

Matt frowned. “I’m pretty sure I hit all the major cities, there shouldn’t have been any that escaped.”

Sarah grabbed a pad of paper and handed it to him. “There are the ones that got through untouched, so was the fallout from nearby blasts meant to wipe them out?”

Shaking his head, Matt pointed to a name on the list. “Macross, major city in the southern kingdoms, hosts the champion games every year. I didn’t just forget to hit a city like that, in fact...” he said, pausing as he remembered something. Looking through the note on the table, he dug around until he found a copy of the page he wanted. “See, it says right here, “Macross: Asteroid impact, complete.” I definitely put something there.”

“I- hang on, what do you mean by asteroid impact?” she asked curiously.

“It was a pain to do, but I felt like doing something special, so I put something a little fancier together. You know the Gideon’s around there?”

“The mountain range? You were going to cause an avalanche or something?”

“Not quite. It would summon a giant mass of stone about the size of the mountain range, travelling at high speed above the city.”

Sarah paused at that, rubbing her face as she sighed. “Of course you did,” She said after a few moments. “So why’d you change your mind?”

“I didn’t, it should have gone off with the rest.”

“Well I'm pretty sure I don't remember hearing about that one, so I guess it didn’t.” She said a note of panic entering her voice. “I don't suppose it was made to last forever, or disarm itself if you didn’t hit the switch.”

“No, they were always armed, but they were all gotten rid of in the patch anyway weren’t they?”

“We were able to stop any future production of things like that, but we can’t change or delete anything that’s already been made by a player, intellectual property laws and all that.”

“So... what then?”

“Best case? There’s a piece of extremely high value magical equipment hidden in the city.”

“And the worst case?” Matt asked with a wince, having already come to the answer himself.

Sarah picked up her phone. “There’s a live weapon of mass destruction sitting in a city with over a million people in it.”