Ben had given her directions to the NPC's house, a short walk outside of Oakridge. He had also given her the two gold coins she needed to get out of the stables. After paying the guards and seeing the Magistrate about her travel papers, she decided to log out for the night. Her fatigue level had already gone past 80% at that point, so she was dreading having to go back to the real world. Before logging out she paid five silver to rent a room at the tavern for a week. It was the most basic and the cheapest room she could find. There was a bed, a cabinet and a large wooden trunk where she could keep her belongings. That was it. At least she wouldn't have to resurrect at Ralph's cabin if things went sour in the morning.

Before going to sleep she spent a while browsing the forums and blog posts again. She wanted to get more information on the PvP tournaments and the contested zones Ben had mentioned. It was way too much to take in for one sitting. Everything he had told her was correct. Nobody knew where the PvP tournaments would be hosted, but they were usually in desolate and out of the way places. They were not supposed to be public spectacles inside the game. They were serious fights to the death between players and the tournament organisers preferred to keep everything private in the in-game world. Team members in the audience would stream the action live for people in the real world to see, but by the time the location was made public the fights would be over.

The contested areas were composed of border skirmishes between opposing factions. Players could align themselves with certain NPC factions, and by fighting in their favour, they would gain reputation points that could be traded in for valuable PvP gear and weapons. Just like anywhere in the game, it was hard to find information about how to get to these areas. Most maps were out of date by the time they had been acquired. One thing was certain though, the action took place on different continents. She had figured out that the continent she was on was neutral territory. This meant she had a long journey ahead of her wherever she needed to go next.

The first thing she realised when she logged back into the game the next morning, was how grumpy Beth was. Her bear wasn't allowed inside the tavern, so she had walked downstairs and gone straight to the back of the tavern to check up on her. Beth greeted her with a grumble and a look that made it clear she was unhappy at being left alone. She was starving, so Anika promised her they would go find some food before taking care of the NPC.

With Beth's breakfast taken care of, courtesy of some wild sheep in the fields outside Oakridge, they set off to find the cottage. Anika just hoped that it would be worth any trouble they might get into. She hoped that Ben was true to his word and that he could find out where Ted might be.

They found the cottage they were looking for. It was a short distance off the road and it had a cute little path leading up to it, and a colourful selection of flowers at the front. Anika had a look around, there were no guards nearby and no other NPCs to be found. When she was sure that there was no way she could be spotted, she entered the cottage and found a beautiful room with fabrics and cloth of many colours, and a giant loom and various tailoring equipment.

There was a second room at the back of the cottage, but after a thorough search, the NPC she was looking for was nowhere in sight. Chances were good she had not respawned yet. The only thing Anika could do was to stay there and wait. She wondered if the quest giver would put up much of a fight. Ben had seemed confident she could complete the task, so she hoped that killing her wouldn't be a problem when the time came.

After waiting a short while, Anika heard voices outside. She peeked through the windows and saw a small group of players making their way up the path towards the house. These players were here to complete their quest. They would not be impressed with what she was planning to do. She wondered what the consequences would be in case she succeeded. Still, there was no turning back. If she managed to do what Ben had asked of her, there was every chance he would help her find the location of her son. At the same time, she didn't fancy waiting around with this group of players nearby. If the only purpose of the quest giver was to give Mages their quest, they would figure out she had no business there.

She left Beth inside the second room and told her to lie down in a corner so as not to draw attention to herself. Then she left the cottage and was planning to get some distance between her and the other players.

"Hey there!" One of the Mages coming up the path had spotted her. He waved his hand in the air and walked towards her.

"Hi, I'm lost. Is that Oakridge up ahead, along the road?" She lied, hoping that they would just think she was a beginner, and not there to kill the NPC they all relied upon to complete their quest.

"Yep. You're almost there." He kept walking towards her, so she stopped. Turning her back and walking away would seem too suspicious.

"Hey. Stick around for a while. You're level 4, we might have some stuff you can use. Just waiting around here to complete a quest, then we're all going back to Oakridge as well. Come and hang out with us."

That was nice. These guys saw she was a low-level character and were offering to help. She wished she didn't have to do what she was planning. They had done nothing to upset her and they were being friendly. It just wasn't an option to return their kindness. She knew what she had to do and was worried that she would give it all away if she stayed to talk.

"Thanks, but I'm okay. I just need to get to Oakridge, see you guys later."

Anika left them to it and pretended to make her way back to the main road. This would get tricky. She wasn't sure if she could rely on Beth to take care of the NPC when it spawned. She needed to be there to give the command but couldn't be seen anywhere near the house. On top of that, there was every chance that the players she had just met would see Beth hiding in the back room. That might throw a spanner into the works.

It became clear that she needed to get close enough to the house to spot when the NPC spawned. She would have to stay hidden from the other players and just hope they didn't see Beth at all. When the time was right, she would get Beth to take care of the NPC. If everything went according to plan, she could get out of there before they realised what had happened and that she was the one responsible for ruining their day.

By activating her stealth and camouflage abilities, she could sneak around the back of the house and stay hidden right under one of the windows. The other players were at the front of the house, chatting to each other. She could hear them talking about their little encounter with Ben and how he had prevented them from completing their quest the previous day.

"What a dickhead. Why would he even bother? He will be working off his punishment in the stables for a long time, and what did he get out of it? Once we get this quest over with, I will go and see him at the stables. I want to see his face when he knows we've all got our rewards, and he is stuck doing those shitty chores."

They were all in agreement that Ben was an idiot and they were planning to gloat at him when their quest was complete. She wasn't sure how to feel about it. Under normal circumstances, she might reconsider doing what she was about to do, but she had bigger things on her mind. This was just the game to them. Although both sides of the argument had reasons to be annoyed with each other, they were just like kids in the playground. Her focus was a matter of life and death. She would have to be ruthless and put her morals aside.

She checked on Beth from one of the windows at the back. Her companion was laying on the floor where she had left her. When she took a peek through the window, Beth looked up as if waiting for a command. She tried communicating her plan to the animal, but there was no sign that Beth had any idea what she was thinking. They would both have to wait and make sure they didn't miss their chance when it came.

After waiting for what seemed like a long time, Anika heard the other players shouting with joy.

"She's here, let's go!"

Anika looked through the window and could see that an NPC had appeared inside the cottage. The other players were almost inside, so she didn't have a second to lose. She gave Beth the command to attack and got her bow ready. There was no way for her to shoot the NPC without breaking the glass, but she wanted to be ready in case that became necessary. Beth went straight for the throat and took a massive chunk of the NPC's health bar off with one-hit.

"What the fuck?"

The other players were shocked at seeing a grizzly bear attacking their quest giver.

It looked like Beth would have no trouble taking care of the NPC by herself, so Anika ran away from the cottage and into the fields at the back. Looking over her shoulder, she realised that she hadn't planned this far. She also hadn't given Beth any additional commands. Her faithful companion was now leaving the cottage and making its way back to her after a job well done. The trouble was, the other players were following Beth to figure out what the hell had just happened. They were all coming straight for her, furious and shouting obscenities as they ran.

There was no way she could hide what had just happened, it was obvious to everybody involved. Although she knew they couldn't attack her, she didn't feel like having a confrontation with them. She ran as fast as she could back to Oakridge. Not knowing what to do or where to go, she headed straight for the stables. Chances were good that staying in the town would not be much fun. She had made enemies now, so she wanted to speak to Ben and get on her way as soon as possible.

Ben was at the stables, working away and he was happy to see her. He was even happier when he saw the other players whose day had just been ruined arrive shortly after Anika. Before she could start the conversation with him to get the news, he might have of her son, the other players had entered the stables and were making a scene. This was not a good time for them to talk and she didn't want to be involved in what was about to happen next.

"Ben, I did as you asked. I need to know what you found out, but I'll come back later." He agreed and got back to the shouting match that was erupting and was no doubt enjoying his moment immensely.

Anika was pleased that none of the players followed her, but she went back to her room at the tavern to stay out of sight for a while, anyway. Despite the stress and confusion of that morning, when she reflected on what had happened, she felt that everything had gone well. She hadn't been caught by any guards, so technically she had got away with murder. The only thing that remained was to get her reward from Ben.