I headed to Café Oblivion, which is where Emily wanted to meet. When I got there, I could see her along with two men sitting at a table.

“Marty, over here.” She waved me over, and sitting down introduced me to the others. “This is Mike, my boss, and this guy is Frank, the lead developer.”

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Marty.” I said, shaking each hand.

“So.” Frank started. “I hear you have some issues with the heroic dungeons?”

“Yeah. Just finished the first one, and I love the idea but hated some of the execution if that makes sense? That aside, I know when I did my initial week as a monster they changed my dungeon to a champion one. How long have heroic dungeons been around? I don’t think I ever came across any when I was just a regular player.”

"Do you not read the patch notes?” Frank asked, quite tersely. “Heroic dungeons were added in to give a bigger challenge for those players who didn’t want to switch to the monster classes. We haven’t had any issues with them so far, so what could you possibly have against them?”

“First, I think people are going to complain about the level locking, as they are going to be losing experience.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Look, calm it down a bit, ok Frank? I’m here to talk about what people will complain about, I’m not attacking your system. Let me ask you this, experience gained is based on the level of the monster, right?”

“Among many other things, yes.”

“So when you lock the player level until after the dungeon, they can’t get extra experience if they level up in the dungeon. And let’s be honest, if you are fighting in a dungeon with heroic monsters three levels higher than you, you will be leveling up.”

“So what would you have us do? We can’t just lock the monster level, then when people enter and level up after one monster, they will have that much easier of a time clearing the dungeon. That pretty much defeats the heroic portion of the dungeon.”

“I agree, which is why I put a possibility to Emily. What if you just locked the monster levels by floor? If they level up of the first floor, no big deal if they are two levels lower than the creatures they are fighting instead of three. The first floor is the easy one anyway. Then when they go to the second floor, they have to fight creatures three levels higher. The players are going to be happy because they are leveling up faster while still fighting in a challenging dungeon. You are going to be happy because you put out a challenge to players that they enjoy.”

“He’s got a good point there, Frank.” Mike interjected before Frank could speak. “Besides, his fix is what, change three lines or so of code?”

“Mike, it will be a bit more than three lines of code.” Sighing, Frank continued, “But you do have a point, I’ll admit. Ok, so what else?”

“Well, I liked the fact that you only get one clear on the heroic level. I fully intended to go back and farm it for experience several times if you didn’t. I was also glad for the lowered death penalties.”

“No more complaints? I thought that’s what you guys were getting paid to do.”

“I told you already Frank, we pay them to judge how the game feels. Sometimes it is complaints, sometimes it is what we are doing right.” Mike answered. “So what else, Marty?”

“The low numbers in the groups were great for individuals, are those numbers set?”

“Yes.”

“Well, for individuals it is going to be a challenge. Small groups are going to steamroll your dungeon though. You might want to change that a bit, especially if there is a reward for beating heroic dungeons in a group like the one for going solo.”

“Frank?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll think about it. We can’t have too many monsters though.”

“Well, what about limiting group sizes and levels then?”

“I can see group sized, and I guess you are worried about power leveling?”

“Exactly. People are going to do it anyway, might as well limit what you can. I think three levels between the highest and lowest at the start of a dungeon?”

“Wouldn’t a six level gap between a heroic monster and a player be a little much?” Frank asked.

“Solo? Yes. But if you have good equipment and a good group, it shouldn’t be too hard to fight above your level.”

“Ok, I think I see your point. So we have leveling issues, group caps and level compatibility. Anything else we need to address?”

“Not that I can remember. Emily, anything I missed in that email?”

She pulled up her email and started looking through it really quick, before saying, “Dungeon resets. Is progress saved?”

“No. You leave the dungeon and everything resets. I hope you have no issues with that?” Frank said.

“No, I like it, but it brings up another loophole. Do we have a limited number of chances to enter the dungeon on heroic mode?”

“How the hell would that be a loophole?”

“Because if I have infinite chances at a heroic dungeon, what’s stopping me from making it to the final boss, exiting, and doing it again and again?” As I spoke, I thought I saw the light go off in Frank’s head. “You’re getting it now, I think. You could theoretically get to max level on a heroic level 20 dungeon if you do it like that. Sure, it’ll be a long grind, but with no limits you could do it.”

“Yeah, that could be an issue. Damnit. We’re going to have to lock the reward levels too.”

“Reward levels?” I asked.

“Yeah. Right now, those dungeon drops are set to drop level appropriate items. You just happened to come along at the right level range for what we wanted. I’m going to have to go back and enter level appropriate ranges for things. Heck, maybe make a minimum level for some of these so that low level people can’t get escorted to a high level dungeon and clean house.”

“I’m a little confused over the last part.” I said, brows furrowed.

“Think of it like this. Get a guild to escort a group of level 20s through a level 80 area to a heroic dungeon. The low level group clears the dungeon, getting high level heroic drops from fighting mid-level 20 monsters. In this case, I would set the minimum monster level to 83 in the dungeon, so even if a group of level 20s comes in they can’t clear the dungeon.”

“Oh, I can see it now, and I guarantee you just ruined a lot of guilds days with that change.”

“You don’t like it?”

“God no, I love it! I would much rather have people get strong through their own merits than get built up by guilds.” I said with a laugh.

“Oh, ok then.” Frank really seemed disappointed for some reason. Did he really want to just argue?

“Do we have any other issues to address?” Mike asked. “Marty, you look a little unsure?”

“Well, I don’t know if it is an issue or not.”

“Jesus, seriously?” Frank spat out. “What is it now?”

“Calm down, nobody gets anything perfect the first time through Frank, and I’m trying to help here!” I was shouting at the end, but I think Frank got the point. “Now, what I was saying, I think there might have been an issue in the amount of experience I obtained from the dungeon.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I gained five levels from the dungeon.”

“Five? You’re sure about that?”

“Yep. Five levels from the dungeon and another two for completing the Thanatos quest.”

“That. . . does seem a little much.” Frank admitted.

“I didn’t even kill everything, either. I managed to save the enslaved spirit tiger.” I pointed out.

“I think this is more of our department than yours for now, Frank.” Mike said. “We will see what happened, and let you know where it went wrong. Marty, you know we can’t lower your level, right?”

“Nope. Had no idea. What do you do when things like that come up?”

“Well, normally people just don’t report it. In the cases where someone does, we have to institute an experience debt. Basically you keep your level, but the amount of extra experience you gained is subtracted from your total. So you will take a while longer to gain another few levels, but in the end it all evens out.”

“Well, that’s going to suck. Nothing we can do about it, just keep me informed so it isn’t too big of a surprise.”

“Will do. Now, I think we need to call this meeting. Thank you Marty, for your hard work. If you think of anything else, just send Emily an email.” After a round of handshakes, everyone left. I didn’t have much to do, and didn’t feel like logging back in, so I headed over to the lake and laid down to rest.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

An hour or so later, I was woken up by Phoebe yelling. “Annoying ass devs with their hippy dippy clues.” I sat up from my spot near the base of a tree to see her storm through the café to our table and plop down in a seat. I saw Jon and Derrick both trying to remain invisible while simultaneously making her feel slightly less annoyed. Wandering over, I had to see what got her going.

“What’s the problem, Phoebe?”

“Huh? Oh, hey there Marty, didn’t see you. I’m trying to figure out this Moonlit Path stuff, but the first clue is killing me. Don’t they know how much actual folklore there is with the moon? It’s the biggest object in the night sky for fuck’s sake!”

“Well, four minds are better than one, right? We’ve all helped each other out, so lay the clues on us and see what we can come up with.”

Sighing, she started talking while Jon and Derrick were giving me thankful stares with their eyes. “So the first clue has me trying to find a shrine in the heart of the forest. The heart of the great forest, which just so happens to be the forest we do most of our hunting in. Three days of hunting and I found about where the clues led, only to find several hundred different altars.”

“Ok, I can see how that would be frustrating, but are all the altars identical? You might just have to find the one that is different.”

“No, they’re all different. So here’s what I have for the clues:

In the dark heart of the great forest,

A place the sun never sees,

The altar to the moon of new beginnings,

Lies waiting for thee.

So now I need to find the altar to the moon of new beginnings.”

“Phoebe, that’s an easy one.” Derrick said. “The new moon is always supposed to be the one of new beginnings.”

“And just how do you know that?”

“Remember Karla?”

“That girl you dated in college for a while?”

“Yep! Karla was big into being a Wiccan. Said she knew it would be a good idea to date me because I asked her at a party during the new moon. She was looking for new beginnings, and apparently the moon was right for it.”

“See? See!? How the hell am I supposed to figure stuff out like that! I’m not a Wiccan, I don’t believe in crystals or pyramids or essential oils. Unless I want my house to smell pretty, then a little lavender and orange works great.”

“Well, just don’t’ get upset over things like that.” I said. “You have to remember, the devs are taking stories and beliefs from all over the world to get some of the lore of the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point we come across things from anywhere you can imagine. Trickster Coyotes and Ravens, One-eyed men hanging on trees with a spear that can’t miss, the circles of the elements from Chinese myth, anything really.”

“I know, I know. I just like scientific things, that’s how my brain works.”

“I hear ya there.” Jon muttered.

“But speaking of weird things, why do the Chinese have two circles of elements? Shouldn’t there only be one?”

“Nope. They have the circle of destruction and the circle of enhancement. Destruction goes: water, fire, metal, wood, earth. Enhancement goes: wood, fire, earth, metal, water.”

“Huh, learn somethin’ new every day.” With that, we all fell into a companionable silence, everyone simply relaxing and eating dinner. Even after all this time, I noticed none of us had tried the alcohol after the previous incident. After everyone had eaten, I decided to start off the conversation again.

“Well, met with the lead developer today about that heroic dungeon stuff.”

“How’d that go?” Jon asked.

“Not too bad. We got a few things hashed out. Hopefully they will change it so that you can level up in the dungeon. They already have it so you can only run it once before it reverts down to a champion dungeon.”

“Smart, that.” Derrick said, before turning back to a massive slice of cheesecake smothered in a red sauce.

“Good god, what is that sauce and how can I order my own?” I asked.

“White chocolate cheesecake with a red raspberry sauce. It might be better than sex. Definitely better than digital sex.”

“CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” Jon yelled, mashing buttons in a frenzy until he had his own piece in front of him.

“Be very careful how you rule the winner of this ‘challenge’, Jon.” Phoebe said, in a dire voice but with a smile on her face.

Jon took a bite, and hammed it up. Eyes rolling, moaning, he pulled out all the stops. “Oh GOD! You’re right, it is so much better than you are in bed Derrick. It’s got a bit to go before it comes close to Phoebe though.”

“Ha, I shoulda seen that one coming. Well played Jon, well played.” Derrick said, shaking his head. I just sat back snickering at the interactions.

“Ok, we better get off this topic before Jon reveals more of Derrick’s secrets.” I said. “Oh, look at that, the perfect topic! I’m getting ready for a new dungeon, this one called the Bone Citadel.”

“Ooooh, sounds sexy.” Jon cooed. “Phoebe, can my Boner Citadel spend some time in you?” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Dear lord.” She muttered.

“Baby, I ain’t even started ye OOF!” He was chuckling, but that oof sounded pained.

“Whoah, what did you find hidden in that menu Marty?” Derrick asked as my dessert appeared in front of me. He was referring to the six inch high piece of cake drizzeled with chocolate.

“Well, it’s an orange cake with a hidden layer of limoncello cream, drizzled in a dark chocolate sauce. I’m amazed how much orange they actually got into the cake.”

“Oh, what I wouldn’t do for some limoncello cream.” Phoebe muttered in a daze, before shaking her head and ordering herself a piece of the same cake I did. “Oh bless whoever thought to code these, they need to offer this to people on a diet. Come break your diet with digital delights, you can have anything sinfully delicious and not gain a pound. Go back to reality and eat healthy food.”

“You should send that in to the devs, hun. That really is a brilliant market.” Jon said. We all sat back after that, and just enjoyed the decadent desserts on offer.