Kyle couldn’t find the words “It’s…It’s…” his left brow twitched uncontrollably “A shit hole…”, not literally a sewage but the smell, dimness and amount of rodents was about the same. The underground hideout was built all around a huge cavern, wooden houses built off the cave’s wall looking like they’d fall apart from the slightest touch, the sound of creaking muted out by the sound of drunks, brawls and haggling. Beneath the hideout where the cave’s floor should have been there was pitch black water instead, if one looked close enough they’d see strange movements within.

All around the cavern a makeshift road encircled the wall like a very long balcony connecting to the houses above, bridges were built off the road to houses built out of the cavern’s roof hanging around with a lot of rope…a LOT of rope. Regg simply laughed at Kyle’s reaction “Come now adventurer, it’s not all bad!” he took a step forward only for the wooden floor to break getting his foot stuck in the process.

Kyle gave him an unimpressed look “Not all bad huh?...” he looked over the hideout again, it all looked ready to fall apart.

Regg managed to pull his foot out “Ah..From the broken planks we call floor to the dangling death traps we call houses and the deadly serpents beneath, this is what we call home!”, Regg continued on rambling with some fancy speech but Kyle had lost him at one point (“Deadly?...Serpents?...”).

They walked down the wooden path full of hardened thieves, sly assassins and forgotten warriors. Each turned away from what they had been doing to glare down the new guy, after all there was a simple hierarchy in a band of thieves, the leader, the officers, the useful and the freeloaders. Kyle remained on alert since although he had nothing on him of value, they did not know that. “Don’t worry adventurer, you ain’t a member yet but unless it’s a brawl nobody’s gonna do anything to ye. Nobody except for the boss if ye don’t do as told...” he let his meaning trail off letting Kyle’s mind fill the blank.

The cavern was long like a ravine although most of it was really wide there were some parts where the path connected to the other wall directly creating a much wider platform, after a couple minutes of walking through Kyle was sure he couldn’t map out the hideout no matter how hard he might try, everything felt random and unplanned as if they just built what they came to need over time. They reached what seemed like the end of the path, carved into the cavern wall was a large brick building with reinforced doors and windows along with multiple long balconies with high walls and windows.

“A bunker…inside a cave’s wall..” he couldn’t help but speak his thoughts aloud, as they walked over Kyle glanced back at the two paths built off each side of the fortress taking around the cavern wall, any archer posted here would have multiple seconds of clean shots to who ever tried to run over(“And a mage would…very easily destroy those paths…”).

Regg glanced back when he reached the fortress’s entrance to see him staring back “Come on adventurer, I don’t get paid by the hour but by how many I recruit!” he said before knocking on the metal door, Kyle walked over curiously looking over each part of the building.

“We call this Fort Dusk, you can imagine why” he said before the door screeched open, a young hooded woman stood inside with an annoyed expression on her face “What ye want Reginald? We’re busy unless ye got some shiny new fighter for us to make use of!” she had short blonde hair with a single strand of red to the left of her forehead and wore matching black leather amour with dark red studs.

Reginald cringed at his actual name being spoken “Aye got some fresh meat here for ya, his title should be enough to account for what ye asked me to look out for”, Kyle resisted the urge to palm his face (“Titles are automatically selected?...Guess I’m a madman now…”).

Reginald moved out of the way for the woman to see Kyle, she inspected him as one would look at a new toy “Him?” she glanced at Reginald who nodded then looked back at him. “And what’s your price then? Robbin a guild bank ain’t exactly what members sign up for around here” she stepped out and moved closer to Kyle as he tensed under her calculative glare, Reg was about to speak but Kyle cut him off (“If she’s the boss, I don’t need or want anybody talking for me”) “What can you offer? I was told the minimum is membership and dominion citizenship or have I been lied to?”.

The woman looked startled at Kyle’s price and turned to momentarily glare death at Reginald “Come inside, the boss will pick the price for you” she stomped through the doorway “Reginald, go back to your post”, the man in question glanced back and forth between Kyle and the entrance with a speechless expression which then turned into resignation as he slumped his shoulders and walked away.

Kyle shrugged and walked in with a grin, the woman was waiting for him inside waiting by another metal door to the left, two large armed men stood by each side of it. The inside of the fort was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the hideout, smooth black floors, trophies of what Kyle could only guess of lootings stuck to the walls and white crystals embedded into the roof giving off perfect lighting. If Kyle didn’t know better he’d say this looked more like a noble’s house, he walked over the red carpet covering most of the floor to the woman’s displeasure and stopped by her side.

Her crystal blue eyes glared him down earning her an amused grin from Kyle, she knocked on the door and entered “Boss, the rat’s found another volunteer for the job”. Kyle walked in after her and inspected the room, looking more and more like a noble’s office the room held multitudes of trophies pinned to the brick walls, stands of different kinds of armour lay in each corner while opposite to the entrance was a smooth dark wood desk loaded with scrolls, books and papers.

“Shirley, the man’s always been a good member, you shouldn’t disrespect him so casually!” Kyle now looked at the speaker who sat behind the desk, obviously being the leader of this army of misfits. The woman looked to be taller than the average human male with long silver hair and dark grey eyes that seemed to gleam with energy, she wore similar armour to the woman he now knew as Shirley except the red studs, instead the studs were just normal iron while surrounding them were small sheets of dark metal.

Kyle noticed something peculiar about the woman, not only did her eyes have a certain glow to them but her ears were slightly longer than a human’s and ended in a small point, unlike elves hers weren’t so obvious but held a similarity Kyle recognised (“A half-elf…meaning that she’s older than she looks…”) indeed the woman looked no older than Shirley who seemed to be in her late twenties.

The woman gestured for him to move closer “And who might you be?”

Kyle didn’t move but spoke back “For one to ask another’s name they should speak out their's first” he said a bit sarcastically (“I could get used to the whole RolePlaying thing”). Kyle could feel Shirley’s glare as he stared with an amused smile, the boss on the other hand simply chuckled.

“Ah yes…where have my manners gone” she stood up “I am Fiurj’a , Leader of the DuskBlades and the sole remaining Dusk Elf”, she spoke proudly emphasizing the last part.

(“Too easy”) Kyle thought as he stepped closer to her desk “Kyllix mercenary for hire” (“What did Birse call our chatgroup again?...Ah right..”) “member of the BloodPack mercs”,

Fiurj’a frowned at his introduction “A mercenary? I suppose you have fixed prices then?”.

Kyle shook his head “We leave the price blank to be agreed upon with our clients, I was told membership within your fine band and citizenship with the dominion is the minimum. Maybe we can come to a fairer bargain?”

Her expression grew annoyed as she glanced back at Shirley who simply nodded, she sighed “I’m afraid you misunderstood, the price you mentioned is what we can offer for this job. If you do not wish to accept it, my assistant can show you out”

(“Now to lay the bait”) Kyle thought as he spoke out again “Oh is that so? And I expected so much from a group called after the great Dusk Elves, then again I really shouldn’t have seeing as the only member who is an actual Dusk Elf is nothing more than a mere halfblood”.

Shirley gasped at his response and reached for her daggers but with one look Fiurj’a stopped her “I thought you smarter than to insult an Elf’s blood line” she seemed to remain calm but the anger in her eyes would have been obvious to the densest, “Leave our establishment and I will allow you to live, linger any longer and I won’t be held responsible for the…damages” she stared at him coldly.

Kyle did no such thing and simply smiled wider as he spoke “On the contrary, I am here to make a deal and until then I shall not leave. You requested a job and I accepted it, now all there is to do is bargain a reward for when I complete said job”

Shirley began to lose herself to her anger as she answered “You shall regr-” but was cut off by Kyle .“I wouldn’t be so feisty if I were you” he chuckled as he continued to speak “Not only do I know the entrance to your little hide out, I know exactly how to walk in, the make of your defences and the numbers you hold along with the exact position of this room right here” her eyes widened as blood rushed to her face in pure rage “You could kill me now but what would that accomplish other than bring me closer to whispering a couple words to the town guard…I wonder what would befall your pitiful hideout if such a thing happened”.

“You…you…” Shirley couldn’t continue her sentence as she glared daggers at Kyle’s grinning face, suddenly her hands lashed out, a blade in each as she stepped forward and stopped inches from his neck. She glared into his eyes while holding a dagger to his throat and a dagger to his right eye, Kyle hadn’t moved a step more because he didn’t see the attack coming, a drop of sweat found its way down his back.

“Enough…” Fiurj’a spoke with more than a little anger in her voice “Shirley back off and you, name your price”, Shirley stepped back but never sheathed her blades as she continued to glare at Kyle.

“For the job? Whatever you were offering others along with officer membership and dominion citizenship, for keeping my mouth shut? A detailed map to the whole continent, any islands off it’s coast and other continents if possible, also I suspect you have some very skilled assassins at your command? I require their expertise…”. She clenched her fists and sat back down in resignation but couldn’t help but ask “Why do you want this job so badly?”, Kyle laughed at her curiosity “It’s a quest as far as I can tell, one that can earn me entrance to a bank and experience. Now pray tell, what are the two most valuable things to us adventurers?”.

She looked up from her desk and stared at him in horror “Coin and Experience…you don’t mean to…we only want an artefact from one of the vaults!”

His laugh chilled her to the bone “What? Planning to rob a bank but not to take the spoils? Were you expecting to hit and run with a single item? For a band of thieves you truly have little desire! You will get your artefact, I will take the rest. Don’t worry I will make sure nobody outside this room knows who really started the heist, of course I will require aid. Your assistant here seems handy with knives, she should do” he left no room for argument “So…which bank are we talking about here? Any routes you can suggest or plans you have already made?”.

Fiurj’a momentarily stared at him with a blank expression, unsure if she should be angry, scared or else “Robbing a bank is enough to get one hanged, for an adventurer you will be blacklisted from respawn points and killed on sight! To rob a bank of every val-” she stopped there as he stared at her with an amused expression, she held her face within her hands “Shirley give him the job, assist him in the heist and make sure you acquire our prize”.

Shirley was about to protest but her boss’s glare shattered what defiance she was about to show “Y..Yes aun-Boss…”, with one last glare at Kyle she stormed out of the room. “So who do you want dead?” Fiurj’a asked nonchalantly, “Regg knows their faces, couple gate guards” he turned around and walked out after Shirley “Make sure to leave a message for me, ‘The Soul Thief has arrived’” he closed the door behind him (“Would have been cooler if I actually used my old character name but oh well…it will serve as an alias”).

Quest recieved!

Acquire an ancient artefact of untold power from the mage guild bank!

Rewards;

153 Experience points (Lvl 3 {30%} after quest)

100 gold coins

Dominion Citizenship

Faction Officer Rank

Map progress

***

Real Life, CGP main development office

Kanye sat facing the rest of the room, his desk stationed above the rest like a podium. The room was long with long desks on each side lined with computers, monitors and people manning them, he sat facing his own computer with multiple monitors, still taking part in the stream being broadcast on his middle monitor. Amy had asked several questions so far, an hour into the stream.

“Kanye have you anything interesting to share with us so far since the launch? I am sure the EU launch is going as expected but has there been any entertaining happenings?” Conrad asked mostly out of his own curiosity while also hoping to see his son and friends taking part in something interesting, this was also previously agreed upon as CGP would be keeping an eye on the playerbase for their own entertainment anyway.

“Quite the plattera of entertaining happenings actually, I’m not completely sure where to begin!” he switched his camera’s view to his right monitor which was streaming multiple perspectives in-game, “Just a couple minutes into launch for example and this happened!” he exclaimed as he opened the video and began explaining “This player had just spawned into the game after character creation, as per normal he’d fall from the sky and experience dying in-game for the first time”.

He played the video “But this player did not die after some very lucky events! Please watch for yourselves!” they watched as a pitch black hole opened within the clouds and a figure came falling out, he descended at great speed as suddenly a flock of large birds appeared into the scene. The player crashed into one of them slowing down his descent momentarily, Kanye paused the video here “We have gone through and fixed this as we had never dreamed of it happening but what happens next is truly much more entertaining!” he resumed the clip as the player shook off the bird and continued his descent upside-down. Before the player crashed into the snow Kanye quickly paused the clip “Do you see it? Here let me..” he moved the clip a second later “Do you see him now?”.

Both Amy and Conrad’s eyes widened in surprise “Is that…another player?” Amy asked.

“It indeed is! Watch!” he exclaimed excitedly and resumed the clip letting the player crash into the other who was simply taking a leisure walk, after a couple moments the player that fell from the sky got up and looked himself over before staring at nothing in particular. Kanye stopped the clip “The newspawn got a kill on the other player who was a level above him, he also gained a skill from the wrestler class called reverse flying press”.

Amy seemed to be squinting her eyes trying to make something out “What did this player do afterwards?” she asked, Kanye closed the clip’s window and went through a series of other windows before opening the player’s camera view and skipped until he saw something other than snow and trees. “Ah, here we go. Wait…Is he?...” he first moved the clip away from the stream so he could validate it was worth making public

“Ah right, you have to check the clips before we can show them…” Conrad spoke to fill the void in the conversation. Suddenly Kanye entered a fit of laughter but then tried to compose himself, “I assume there’s more to this player’s clip?” Conrad asked now even more curious.

“Oh yes, there surely is! Watch for yourselves” he moved the clip back into the monitor being streamed and started it from a specific time. The player was now standing on top a pitch black pillar larger than the average skyscraper, the camera zoomed in on him and Amy’s expression significantly paled. “Someone was monitoring him after the strange incident so the camera should zoom back out momentarily” as Kanye said the camera zoomed out fully to show the pillar in all its greatness and began to circle around it as a focus point.

When the camera’s view switched to the other side of the ethereal wall Conrad couldn’t stop himself from frowning “Is that a monster?” he asked.

“A Lesser Demon to be exact, the muscle of the lower ranked demonic monsters. They cannot cast magic and their ranged attacks are limited to throwing terrain but that is also limited by their size, this one in particular is quite large but their intelligence isn’t very notable” Kanye explained as the demon walked up to the pillar and slammed his fists into it only to receive a shock as backlash. The player then suddenly leaped off the pillar while turning to orient his body, both Amy and Conrad stared in shock as the player’s descent gained speed while a blueish aura grew out of his body. The demon roared in defiance and waited with its mouth open, it’s thin black tongue salivating it’s fangs ready for the meal. After a couple moments of falling and gaining speed the player crashed into demon’s head shattering its skull and sending most of its blue flesh flying. The player’s attack did not stop at the head as he went straight through and crashed into the ground while carving away at the demon’s chest on the way down, the player instantly died on impact and his body began to disintegrate into the air.

They all watched as the demon slumped down to its knees while trying to hold itself up with its arms, blood falling down its face and chest as its body began to convulse violently. It looked as if a powerful canon ball had been shot from the sky and went straight through its face and torso, its heart completely visible through torn flesh and shattered ribs while what remained of its brain poked out the front of its shattered skull. Amy stared mouth agape while Conrad hunched over and laughed his heart out joined by Kanye who laughed some more. After Kanye calmed himself down a bit he spoke “The demon didn’t die from the attack, the player wasn’t lucky enough to destroy its heart and health doesn’t regenerate without magic in the game which is also true for monsters. Lesser Demons have no magic to speak about so healing is out of the question while regeneration does exist within their kind they aren’t powerful enough to have it. This Lesser Demon will lay there half dead until a guard patrol finds the time to finish it off or another demon devours it”.

Conrad was still trying to catch his breath while Amy snapped out of her astonishment “So he…the player got nothing for that? How was the player able to even do that at level 1?!” she asked.

Kanye momentarily considered her question “Well we pride ourselves in rewarding players for their ingenuity and although the player did not get the kill he did indeed get two things out of it, first is an easy respawn since he didn’t die from the first fall and second he got a title for dealing damage to an opponent 50 levels above him. That title will change how NPCes react to him while also giving additional stats, all in all it was worth it” he explained matter of factly.

“And what is this large wall we are looking at here?” she was now intending to switch the attention away from what she recognised as her son.

“This would be the First defence station; Helix, it is completely off the road from the starting town FrostHold so that player was very lucky to come by it” he was about to start explaining why there even is a wall but Amy trailed off.

“Oh the starting town? Can you show it? I’m sure there is something going on there!” she really wanted to change the conversation away from Kyle, Conrad had recuperated from his outburst “I don’t think we will be seeing anything stranger than this though, although I could be proven wrong!”.

Kanye messed with some windows off-screen then dragged over the camera overlooking the town's entrance “There we go this is FrostHold’s front gate, where most players will be entering and exiting from. I highly doubt anything intere-” Suddenly the two guards at the front gate took multiple bolt shots to the body, they instantly died. The snow beneath their corpses began to turn red as the guards inside and on the wall rushed into defensive positions, Amy, Conrad and Kanye stared at the scene in confusion.

“What just happ-” before Conrad could end his sentence a large explosion could be seen within the town.

“I think…the town is under attack?...” Kanye said as multiple people rushed to the computers behind him.