My legs were tense as I glanced around me, looking for an escape route. Most of Cavey’s guild members were still far enough away that if we made a break for it back up the hill from where we’d come, we could probably make it to the woods and none of them would be able to catch us.

Well, none of them would be able to catch me. I was significantly faster than D, having eight levels on him, which would mean I’d have to stay back with him. And if they caught up to us, that would mean another fight.

“Jack?” Xavier replied, sounding shocked. “You’re—you’re the one?”

“I’m not Neo—”

“He is Neo,” D interrupted. “And if you guys don’t drop the tough guy act right now, he’s gonna do his Superman thing and tear this town to pieces.”

“Is that right?” Xavier snarled back, taking an attack stance. Instantly, my sword was in my hand.

“Easy, Xavier,” Cavey said, stepping in between us. “Everyone just calm down, there’s no need to fight. None of us mean Jack any harm.”

Cavey’s men muttered around us, obviously on edge. A few of them had begun to form a circle around us.

“We have to get out of here!” D hissed. “They’re surrounding us!”

“No one here will hurt you,” Cavey said, addressing the statement to his guild mates. “We are a peaceful guild. Our only goal is to protect this town and make it safe for those who live here. If you don’t want to hurt us—we don’t want to hurt you.”

“Yeah, right,” D replied. “You know that killing Jack will get you a one-way ticket out of here, and you just want us to let our guard down so you can do it!”

“I promise you that is not the case,” Cavey replied.

D had his eyes fixed on Cavey. He was much less inclined to put up with people than I was, and it was one of the reasons he always went Red in every other game we played. D wasn’t just not bothered by confrontation. In fact, he relished it.

After our recent ambush, I was finding it hard to believe that a group this big was actually friendly and weren’t looking to jump me, but I couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of trust for Cavey.

“Everyone put your weapons away,” Cavey said loudly, returning his staff to his inventory. Slowly, his men followed suit. Xavier took longer than the rest of them, but finally put his halberd away. Cavey approached and extended a hand.

“Welcome to Stoneburg.”

I didn’t take his hand right away. I turned to D to get his reaction. I could see he wasn’t thrilled about putting our safety in the hands of others, but finally, he shrugged. I turned back to Cavey and shook his hand.

“Thank you,” I told him. “I’m Jack, as you know, and this is my friend D.”

“I have to ask you. How is it you don’t know who Bleed or Sinful are?”

“Why would we?” D asked. “What are they, celebrity guilds or something?”

“Sinful is a PK guild that raids Stoneburg from time to time,” Cavey replied, a sadness in his voice.

“And they actually kill players?” I asked.

Cavey nodded. “They do.”

“Wow,” I replied, genuinely stunned by the fact that anyone would pick up the PK lifestyle, knowing full well the finality of their actions.

“That’s why Xavier was so… on edge,” Cavey said with a smile in Xavier’s direction. “We’ve had more than our share of conflict here.”

“And Bleed?” I asked. “You mentioned Bleed.”

“Zerg guild,” Xavier spat. “Biggest on the server.”

“Started with the idea that if we all united into one huge guild, we could share resources and level up quickly and go against The Ripper together.”

“And then?” D asked.”

“There was a change in leadership,” Cavey replied. “Now they’re just a huge group of thugs that go around taking anything from anyone not in their guild.”

“Why would anyone join them?” I asked.

“Their recruitment policy,” Xavier replied.

“Which is?”

“Simple,” he shrugged. “Join or die.”

A silence hung in the air between us while D and I processed everything. I’d never questioned our decision to stay away from town. I was famous and basically had a big target on my back. I could understand why some players might be able to rationalize killing me when it meant getting back to the real world and their loved ones, but I never thought there would be people going around killing other people just to gain a slight advantage.

I guess the virtual world isn’t too much different than the real one.

“So, you guys needed to sell and resupply?” Cavey asked.

“D needs arrows pretty badly,” I replied. “And I have a bunch of trash loot to get rid of.”

“Our general merchant will take all of that,” Cavey replied, pointing to a friendly looking NPC standing behind a counter a few yards away. “The Bowyer is just over there beside the Blacksmith.”

“Speaking of which,” I replied, eyeing Xavier’s plate mail with admiration. “I could use some plate. Do the blacksmiths sell anything good or is it just low-level junk?”

“The NPC blacksmiths sell junk,” Xavier replied. “But our Blacksmith makes great stuff.”

“His name’s Gehman,” Cavey replied. “Go and see him. He’ll be excited to have someone of your level to craft for.”

I opened my mouth to thank him, but before I could, something moved in the corner of my vision. I whipped around just in time to see a man leap through the air at me. He was completely nude, except for his loincloth, had no weapons, and just started raining down on me with his fists, swinging faster than anyone I’d ever seen.

“Give Og fish!” he grunted, pummeling me with blows that barely registered on my health bar. I pulled my sword and looked to Cavey and Xavier, but they were just standing there watching. In fact, Xavier was smiling.

“Give Og fish!” the man repeated as his fists flailed harmlessly against my chest.

“Give him a fish!” Xavier roared, bursting into laughter. Quickly, I checked my inventory.

“I don’t have a fish!” I shouted back.

“Here.” Cavey smiled, stepping up beside me. He was holding out a fish, and I quickly grabbed it and practically threw it at the man attacking me.

He snatched it out of the air, looked at it intently, then with a low guttural grunt, turned around and sprinted away back up the hill.

“What the Hell was that!?” I said, shocked at what had just happened. Cavey was trying not to laugh, but Xavier was practically falling over.

“That’s Og,” Cavey explained. “He’s our resident role player.”

Xavier managed to speak between laughs. “Takes it very seriously.”