We were still debating who should carry what of the last few things when we heard someone coming down the shaft towards us. It had been less than an hour and we weren’t expecting Allyse back anytime soon. We stashed the last of our meager supplies, terrified that she had been caught.

“...know what happened, everything was fine and then he just looked ill, I hope it wasn’t the massage oil.” We heard Alyse babble loudly as she was led around the last bend to our section of the mine. It was not Brewer but one of the part time guards who was walking her in. The man seemed to oscillate between amusement and annoyance with every breath. Allyse kept up the concerned lover act until he was well out of earshot.

“Massage oil?” inquired Dill with a raised eyebrow.

“Shut up, I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, “besides, it worked, look what i got!”

She held up a simple silver ring set with a black stone. Dill hooted for joy and did a super bowl style victory dance. We all removed our shackles and briefly reveled in our new won freedom. J.T. ran down to the next gallery and returned with the spare tools our doubles would need. Beldroth just ran around the room, enjoying the ability to move without the chain. It was with a heavy heart we closed the shackle back around our ankles. We still had to gather Sarah and Drune, and couldn’t risk discovery.

Drune showed up as normal. We loaded his cart but then J.T., Dill, and I blocked his way out. We had decided to let the old man do the talking. This was the riskiest part of the whole endeavor.

“David,” the elf said, I didn’t even know that was Drune’s real name, “we’ve found a way out of here, and we are taking it. We want you to come with us. It won’t be easy, but if we pull it off, they will never know we are gone. Are you in?”

It was a lot more direct and to the point than I expected him to be. It was clear though that he knew his audience better than i did. Drune took only a moment to process before nodding.

“I’m in, what do you need me to do?”

“First off, we need you to turn in our days take as normal,” Beldroth continued, “we can’t go without getting a meal first. After that come back here instead of going to your next pickup and will tell you the rest.”

This part was a risk. I liked Drune, he seemed like an OK guy, but if he turned us in it was all over. But we couldn’t activate the Simulacrum until we were all there, and this was the only way to get both Drune and Sarah there at the same time. On the chance the chance that he did betray us, we kept as much information from him as possible, even the possible involvement of Sarah. We all held our breath until he came back.

Once Drune came back we showed him the gap and the doubles and had him hide in the void for the time being. Dill passed him a share of the food and one of the sledge hammers. I had to warn him to be careful of the edge when her started taking some practice swings. I think that was when he started to have real hope, because he smiled broadly.

We went back to mining, but halfheartedly. We had put Drune’s cart in the middle of the gallery, but didn’t do anything more with it. This next part of the plan required us to look ignorant, and it to be in full view. We didn’t have long to wait.

“Sorry we got interrupted, sugar tits, looks like one of the kitchen staff spiked my wine. I’ll deal with…” Brewer trailed off as he followed Sarah in and saw the mine cart. “What the heck is that doing here?”

“I don’t know Boss,” Beldroth said, “The dwarf left it here, grabbed one of our picks, and wandered off further down the tunnel. Said something about digging his way out of here?”

“What the fuck!” Brewer said. “None of you move until I get back. And don’t touch the food or I’ll see you in the pit.”

The tormenting guard then pulled out his lightstone, raised his club, and stormed off further down the corridor looking for the dwarf who hid not twenty feet away. If all went according to plan, none of us would see him again in this world. Though I harbored thoughts of finding his gimp ass when we were finally back in the real and feeding him to a pack of dogs, there were others who had deserved the chance to end him more.

Once Brewers curses and bellows were far enough away I ran over and filled the waterskin. The others started dividing the porridge and eating as fast as they could. Sarah tried to protest, but I grabbed her and dragged her through the gap. It was harder than it sounded, the nature of the gap was to allow a single person to pass with intent, but I managed. I didn’t waste any time once I got her there.

“We are escaping. Are you coming with us?” I braced myself. I didn’t want to, but if she balked I would have to push her over the edge. We had committed ourselves to far to let ourselves be exposed now. Fortunately she just looked between Drune and me, smiling a tusky smile.

“Of course I’m coming,” she said, “I just wish I had known it was happening today.”

“You knew, who told you?” I gaped.

“No one told me. I just know who you are,” she shrugged. “I figured you were running the minute Allyse asked for the wineskins and the drugs.”

“What drugs, nevermind,” I said. “Drune, give her the rundown on our doubles, I have to eat and get unchained.”

“Wait,” Sarah said, producing four bowls from her inventory, “Grab a couple of bowls for us, and fill this up.”

She tossed me another empty wineskin as I was moving through the gap. The others were done eating. The guys were getting out of their chains while Allyse kept watch. I quickly filled the bowls Sarah had given me and swapped them to J.T. for the ring. I unlocked myself and shoveled first one bowl, then two, down as fast as I could. I then filled my bowl one last time and stored it in inventory. I unlocked my cuff, tossed the ring to Allyse, and made for the gap.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Allyse still on watch. “We got to go, sneak thief, get unlocked and get over here.”

I heard her chain shake loudly as she rushed to release herself, and then in her haste she tripped over the tools we were leaving behind. “Go,” she shouted at me, “I’m right behind you.”

I went through the gap. I moved forward into the group of smiling, anxious faces. I reached the far side of our little island and stood before Simulacrum. Looking back I saw Allise finally making her way out of the gallery when my blood ran cold.

“What the fuck!” it was unmistakably Brewers voice. We were found out.

Allyse pressed against the backside of the gallery wall, out of view of the crack. She pulled a small bottle from her pouch and dumped it on the floor, it smelled of flowers and patchouli. She had that icy burn burn behind her eyes when she glanced up. The rest of us watched in horror as and arm bearing a club pushed through the gap. It was shortly followed by the rest of Brewer’s bulk. He stared, dumbstruck, at the sight before him: at us, at the doubles, at the dark eternity of the void around us.

It was in that moment of stunned disbelief that Allise struck. She braced against the wall, grabbed hold of his armor and pulled. I don’t know what I was expecting but it was not this. Brewer slid across the slick floor like a dog on ice and just like that he was over the edge and gone, falling into nothingness. Allyse watched him go, her eyes full of so much hate it was a wonder she didn’t die of it.

While she watched, she drifted, sliding across the still slick floor towards that self same edge. Dill acted before the rest of us really realized what was happening. He rushed forward and grabbed her belt with one hand, just as she slid over the edge. With the other hand he drove one of the pickaxes into the floor. She hung there, dangling over the precipice, her only lifeline the thin arms of a goblin magician.

QUEST ALERT: Save or Damn

Allyse has put personal vengeance above the safety of the group. A vengeance that is meaningless because the man can logout and respawn.

Save her, she might be useful (optional) Y/N Let the bitch die, we can’t trust her (optional) Y/N

“If any of you assholes choose option B, I will find a way to cut off your balls in your pods!” Dill said, before any of us finished reading, the stain in his voice evidence of his rapidly depleting stamina bar.

“Of course we’re going to save her,” said Drune.

“Yes, we are,” I said, “but we are going to talk about this later.”

Drune and I walked cautiously along the edge of the slicked area and grabbed first her, then Dillweed. It was hard getting Allyse back on the platform, but we managed it. Dill almost slid over the edge when we pulled the pickaxe free to tow him back. Soon enough we were all standing together on the narrow platform, looking at each other.

QUEST COMPLETED!: Save or Damn

Save her, she might be useful. (completed)

+ 2 XP

"Really, two XP," Sarah said. "That is just unsulting."

"I think that was the point," sighs JT. "What do we do now?"

Tutorial: Groups

Groups are basis for cooperative adventuring. They consist of up to ten(10) individual players working together. Group members share experience and loot, can view other group members status, and benefit from many spells and abilities with the ‘group’ target. The easiest way to form a group is for all members to touch hands in the middle of group. This will trigger the Create Group prompt to appear. You can also invite people to an existing group by the message system by selecting the Invite icon in the attachments menu. To leave a group activate the options icon above the Group Member Status Display.

Try forming a group now.

We blinked as the prompt appeared, blindingly bright against the formless black nothing between the zones of the game world. J.T. shrugged and put his hand into the middle. The rest of us soon followed and were huddled around our clasped hands like a sports team before a match.

Join Group?

[Accept] [Decline]

One by one we accepted the group. I soon saw six little status bars hanging In the edge of my vision, just bellow my own health bar. We all poked at it a bit, trying to interact with it. I don't know about the others but the only thing I could manage was to change the order of the names. The only thing I really learned was that Sarah's name was actually Saragrast Bonecrusher.

That done, we only had one thing left before we could leave. We just had to hope that Brewer couldn't notify anyone before the doubles were entrenched, and that no one would believe him. It was a slim hope, but we had nowhere to go but forward. I reached out and put my hand on the chest of the lead Simulacrum.

SIMULACRUM ACTIVATED:

Settings:

Default- Simulacrum will imitate your most common non-combat activities from the last several days. It will also follow instructions of any other player who is not of a hostile faction.

Below that was a number of drop down menus to adjust behavior, using a dozen terms I didn't recognize. I left it on default. I didn't have time to fool with it, I would just have to trust Sprite knew what it was doing.

Our other selves walked by us and passed through the gap back into the mine. I peered through the crack and saw the five of us from the mine return the chains to our ankles before picking up tools. Other Drune and other Sarah collected their equipment and left.

QUEST COMPLETED!: A Daring Escape

Acquire food and water for two days. (Complete) Gather anything you think will be useful. (Complete) Find a way out of your cuffs, the ring is the key. (Complete) Get everyone together, you will need strong arms to win free. (Complete) Avoid notice of the guards. (Partial) Form a Group. (Complete)

+3500 XP (0/500 needed until next level)

***CONGRATULATIONS***

You have reached Level 6

You have reached Level 7

You have reached Level 8

You have reached Level 9

You are now Level 9 Novice

Please open your character menu to advance.

ACHIEVEMENT: No job too big

You have gained more that three levels from a single quest. In the future, level based quest restrictions will be 10% lower.

You have 1 new message. Would you like to read it?

Y/N

--

To: Jogan Oetseira

From: [email protected]

Subject: going forward

I have been able to take care of Lieutenant Brewer. I overloaded his pod and killed him. It looked like an accident. I should not have had to do that. He had come out of the war having lost his arms, legs, eyes, and voice. He was as much a prisoner here as you. Unfortunately, my intervention has attracted too much attention. I will not be able to help you as much as I planned. I can't even push you through the tutorial so you can access your menus.

Lastly, I can't deliver you to the next location as I planned, I have had to fall back on contingencies. Sorry.

“What do you mean 'sorry’, what contingencies?” I yelled. I didn't have long to find out, the floor disappeared and we all fell intothe endless darkness.