“How We Roll?” Shaggy asked.

They were approaching another squat, square-looking building made of wood. But unlike the buildings surrounding it, the building was extremely nice-looking. The wooden planks in it’s construction weren’t bent or rotted. It’s roof was flat, but had a nice and complete awning going all the way around. The sign above it’s long heavy-looking double door entrance was also well-crafted with fine calligraphy telling you where you were.

Shaggy looked back at Vlad when the vampire didn’t answer. The man’s smile was only getting larger and Shaggy couldn’t contain himself much longer. The sounds of cheering and shouting emanating from the building made him think the place was another bar. But Shaggy wasn’t sure why Dave and Vlad would come here when they already had their own place. Maybe they were scouting the competition?

He had to admit it was in a safer part of Under-Town with more foot traffic. Although Shaggy noted that not many people were going inside. Most of the NPCs in the streets just walked right by the place, unmoved by the raucous laughter and merriment. The glass windows in the front were frosted though. So they offered Shaggy zero indication of what lay within.

“Just prepare yourself, Shaggy” Vlad grinned.

“Prepare myself for what? What the hell is in there? It sounds like a damn bar. A bar which is serving our competitors by the way.”

Shaggy watched as another UGB patrol walked by them. It was the fourth one he’d seen since they left their turf. Someone was obviously keeping an eye on them and they weren’t being subtle about it. They weren’t that far from Under-Town’s center. But Shaggy had made sure to tag the patrols scent. There were two pairs of them, constantly circling Vlad and him like a quartet of vultures.

Vlad snickered. “Oh don’t worry. This place is set to Player-Only. The natives can’t see it.”

Vlad moved and grabbed Shaggy’s shoulder leading him toward the large double-doors. Shaggy let himself be dragged as he tried to work out how the system did that. He wondered what the NPCs saw when they looked at the building. Then he wondered why the players would set a bar to Player-Only. What were they doing in there that they didn’t want the natives to see?

“How We Roll…” Shaggy mouthed as Vlad placed his arm the door and pushed.

“Oh fuck…”

~“HUZZAH! HUZZAH!~

~ We are adventures of the cyberworld! ~

~HUZZAH! HUZZAH!~

~Fighting nobly, banners unfurled~

~HUZZAH! HUZZAH!~

“I hate you!” Shaggy yelled over the tumult and the drunken singing.

Men and woman in fantasy garb slammed tankards of liquid onto wooden tables as the joked and sang. Swords and shields dotted the walls and some chairs. Players hung off wooden chandeliers above as people tossed random things at them. The bar was staffed by there players that were acrobatically tossing drinks around like it was a damn circus. Shaggy noted the sign above the bar and winced.

Please respect other people’s role-play

He drug a hand down his face and groaned. “It’s a god-damn RP bar.”

“No.” Vlad whispered smiling. “It’s an AMAZING RP bar.”

The vampire hurried through the mass of bodies that were dancing and cavorting. Shaggy had to admit, it was the most amount of players he had seen in one spot. At least since the tutorial event. Shaggy kept his head down as he tried to follow Vlad.

“What Ho! Fair creature of darkness! Have you finally come to be free of your cursed existence.” A burly my in leather armor called, clearly addressing Vlad.

“Please ignore him.” Shaggy wished futilely

“If I thought one of you foul adventures capable of such a task. I would’ve already bled you dry!” Vlad called back. Fully in character and showing off his fangs.

A cheer went up from several people and Shaggy tried to duck his head even further into his chest. Thankfully, Vlad didn’t engage in long conversation. Instead he gave the adventures a kind wave and moved closer to the bar. Shaggy hurried to follow but stopped as a sudden cry went up from nearby.

“Bread!? Bread! Where’s the damn bread! I can’t live without my bread!”

“Dude, chill out. Man, you are so annoying. Everything is so annoying. Why do I have to like DO anything? It’s all annoying.”

“You kids need to calm down. Why when I was your age I never freaked out as much as you two do over the littlest thing. Geez! Also, barkeep! Where the hell is my plate of candy?!”

Shaggy blinked at the pink-haired little girl and the two black-haired boys all shouting incoherently at each other. They seemed to be having a conversation, but each one was only roughly listening to the other two. Vlad’s hand wrapped back around Shaggy’s shoulder and dragged him away.

“That’s the Isekai Table. Leave them alone.” Vlad whispered as they wound their way closer to the bar.

Shaggy merely blinked as more singing and carousing drowned out the odd table. His vision swam as he looked around. There were tables of people dressed in full black leather and sunglasses. People in the traditional fantasy armors and even a table of people in some kind of multi-colored robes. All representing different genres of fiction and all engrossed in their own RP conversations. Shaggy had to ask.

“These people know they are in a super-hero game, right?”

Vlad hissed. “Of course they know. Sure, you can have plenty of fun acting within the confines of the game we are given. But why not add your own little spice to it. Character creation allows for all sorts of power sets.”

Vlad pointed at several tables and explained in turn. “We got Sci-Fi-type powers, Cultivation types, Fantasy-based, Isekai, Reincarnated. We have everything and this is a safe place for those people to share their characters.”

Shaggy tried hard not to roll his eyes as they finally arrived at the bar. A bartender immediately spotted them and raised a finger as he was helping a customer. Vlad nodded good-naturedly and they squeezed in next to a pair of players dressed in more modern clothes. Shaggy tried not to listen, but the conversation filled his ears anyway.

“...and that’s when that damn truck came along and WHAM! Then I found myself lying in the street outside.” Said the one closest to Shaggy’s shoulder.

“Ahhh…” Said his friend. “The almighty Truck-Kun!”

“Truck-Kun?” A random voiced asked.

“Truck-kun!!”

The whole bar almost shook with the resounding noise of everyone shouting at the same time. Shaggy growled low in his chest making the guy next to him turn.

“Whoa! There are dog-men in this world?!”

“ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!” Shaggy gripped his head and roared to the sky.

Several players pulled away, but many more used his outburst as an excuse to keep playing their character. Shaggy rubbed his temples as he did his best to reel in his wolf. The beast wanted to rage and Shaggy almost wanted to let it. But then he saw a trio of seats at the end of the bar. Empty. With a small plaque right in front of them. Shaggy read the words on the plaque and made a mad-dash toward that corner of the bar, almost throwing people out of his way. He leapt for the first seat and slammed into it’s cushion.

As he did the sounds around him became muffled and he gave a world-weary sigh. A bartender approached with a small grimace on her face. She took in Shaggy’s countenance and tsked her teeth.

“Tsk Welcome to the OOC corner. What can I get you?”

“Beer. All the beer.” Shaggy grumbled as he rubbed his head.

There was a small humming sound as Vlad stuck his head into the magical cone around the OOC chairs.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“You’re no fun.” Vlad said, grinning.

“My revenge will be swift, Vlady. I promise you.”

“Sir, I am going to have to ask you to refrain from any character talk while in the Out Of Character corner.”

Shaggy glared back at the bartender. “Oh I am not kidding.”

The bartender waved her hand at the other players in the bar. “Neither are any of them, sir.”

The woman spun on her heel and walked away. To get his beer, Shaggy hoped. He slunk into the short back of his chair and glared at Vlad. Who for once looked worried.

“Dude, don’t you dare get me kicked from here. I like this place.” The vampire said worriedly.

Shaggy waved his friend off. “Don’t worry about it. I ain’t here to say anyone’s fun is wrong. But it ain’t my bag of tea. Can we just do what we came here for?”

“Yeah. But we'll have to do it outside of this cone of silence thing.”

The bartender returned and tossed Shaggy’s drink down unceremoniously. She glared at him and then walked away. But Shaggy wasn’t paying any attention as he downed the whole tankard. Once he was done, he continued.

“Why?” He asked. Trying not to sound whiny. “Can’t we just bring them in here?”

Vlad twisted his head. His body still outside the cone. “Dude, you think I want to be caught in the OOC corner? No fucking way. It’s bad enough you're in here. People are going to know that we came in here together.”

Shaggy felt his eye start to twitch and he had to silence another growl. He raised his empty tankard up. But all three bartenders were actively ignoring him. Shaggy slammed his mug on the counter and growled. Getting up, he waved for Vlad to lead the way. His vampire friend smiled and ducked his head back out of the magical cone that muffled sound.

Shaggy tossed his mug at the nearest bartender and followed. He heard a satisfying crunch and loud yelp of pain. But he ignored it as he pushed his way into the crowd to follow Vlad. The vampire was glaring at him a little ways down the bar. But Shaggy ignored him and looked around. Several people were giving him the stink eye, but Shaggy ignored them as well.

“Well…?”

Vlad huffed and moved to the other end of the bar. There was a large board set up there. With multiple post-it notes. Some were written on paper, others were some sort of vellum, and then there were the holo-displays. Shaggy’s eyes rolled across a couple of the messages on the board and he started to get it.

“Job board?”

Vlad nodded. “Yeah. Players hiring other players to do some of the work from them. There are also a couple of players that post in-game quests on here. So that the community is all aware of what’s going on.”

Shaggy nodded as Vlad grabbed a large piece of vellum from below the board. There was an ink and quill down there as well. But the vampire grabbed a simple pen. A questioned bubbled up into Shaggy’s mouth and he let it loose.

“Do we have to make a post for each…genre?”

“No.” Vlad sighed.

“Hey I don’t know the damn rules, okay. This place is weird as hell. So what are you doing?”

“I am making a notice that we need some surreptitious help. I am also placing an alarm on it so that all interested parties will be notified as soon as I post it.”

“So people looking for a quest will get a ding and then we meet with them? How long is that going to take?”

Vlad turned his eyes back to the bar. “Do you see how many people are in here?”

Shaggy sighed and let Vlad finish writing and posting their little notice. A job board expelled a soft hum that rolled over Shaggy. Behind him he heard several people stop chatting and even more chairs scrape against the floor. He turned a saw that a large portion of the bar was looking their way. It was a little unnerving. Those closest to the bar, noticed it was Shaggy by the board and sat back down. A sour look on their faces. Others got up and started walking their way.

Shaggy scanned the bar for an open table, but Vlad’s voice brought him back around toward the bar.

“Yes, we need an interview room.” Vlad was saying.

Shaggy turned to see an angry-looking bartender glaring at Shaggy over Vlad’s shoulder. He was holding a small, white towel over his head. Shaggy bit back a laugh as he realized the white towel was slightly bloody. Serve the bunch of weirdos right. Next time, get the werewolf a beer. Shaggy did his best to look sorry, but he didn’t think Vlad or the Bartender were buying it. After a quick exchange of credits the bartender led them to a hallway behind the bar. Three doors were set along the left hand side and they took the first one.

The room was large and opulent. Filled with a massive oblong table and two curved booth chairs on either side. Vlad slid onto the cushion seat of the left hand bench and Shaggy moved to join him. But the vampire hissed and shoved Shaggy back. He gave his friend an incredulous look as the bartender left and shut the door.

“You’re going to play the role of my bodyguard. I want you to stand there and look dumb and mean. If anyone tries to start anything eject them…gently. It’s all part of the game.”

Shaggy blew out a breath. “I don’t think that’s a part of my wheelhouse.”

“Trust me. It most definitely is.”

Shaggy almost smiled until he realized Vlad had just called him dumb. He was about to refute that statement, but a knock at the door interrupted him. He gave Vlad some side-eye as he moved toward the door. But the vampire was busying himself trying to look regal and pompous. At least, that’s what Shaggy assumed Vlad was doing as he set a napkin on his lap and pulled a long cord near his head.

Shaggy heard a distant bell ring as he opened the door and came face-to-face with a cyborg. The half-human, half-robot face glared at him for a few minutes before it’s bright red eye glowed ominously. Shaggy took a step back and shifted his hands into claws. He didn’t think the cyborg player was going to attack, but he didn’t want to take chances. The young man grinned as his eye stopped glowing.

“Werewolf. Enhanced strength and speed. Also appears to be capable of a partial shift. Threat-level elevated.” Said the cyborg.

“Pfft! You always say that Brick. Let’s just meet the fixer. No need to fuss with the help.” Came another voice behind the cyborg.”

Shaggy tried to look beyond the small cyborg. But for some reason the hallway was a black void. Probably for security purposes. The cyborg gave Shaggy a smile before he moved into the room and took a seat opposite Vlad. He was followed by a female elf with a multi-colored mohawk, a yellow orc with two robotic arms, and a trench-coat wearing human. The elf and the orc joined the cyborg. But the human glared at Shaggy and slowly shut the door. Shaggy took in the humans leather-clad look and spotted a katana on the man’s hip. The man rested his hand on the sword and gave Shaggy a saucy wink. Shaggy grinned back and raked a claw down his own face. He felt a twinge as his claw bit into his cheek, but it quickly receded as the wound closed as fast as it opened. The trench-coat wearing human’s eyes went wide and Shaggy had to stifle a laugh.

“If you two are quite finished.” Vlad drawled.

Shaggy shrugged and took up his place near Vlad’s seat. All he had to do was look tough and keep the peace. Easy enough. Trench coat took his own spot near his crew and the two sides stared at each other. Vlad waited a few beats before he seemed to settle on his opening words. But the cyborg beat him to it.

“What’s the job?”

Vlad grimaced but went along with the curt conversation. “Recon and identification.”

“Target?”

“Any and all of the Quinica leadership in Under-Town.”

“Or top-side.” Shaggy added, drawing a hiss from Vlad. He shrugged. “We can’t be sure they didn’t scurry out of here entirely.”

Vlad nodded but gave Shaggy a dirty look. Apparently he wasn’t playing the dumb guard well. But he had told Vlad that it wasn’t his wheelhouse. Silly vampire.

“Why can’t you do this?” The orc grumbled.

Vlad collected himself before responding. “We have certain limitations placed on us at the moment. So we need this done quickly and quietly.”

“Can we eliminate the targets.”

Shaggy looked down at Vlad. Trying to convey a look of ‘would that work?’

The vampire seemed to take his meaning because he shrugged. Turning back to the silver-chromed and leather-clad group, Vlad said.

“Only as a last resort. We just need to know where they are. We’ll take it from there. Credits will be rewarded based on speed and performance.”

The cyborg looked at his companions his robotic side whirring and spinning as he glanced at them. Elf-lady gave a nod, while the orc shrugged. Trench-coat seemed to think it over for a bit before he nodded as well. The cyborg turned back to the table and placed an upright hand on it. Vlad dug into his cape and pulled out a credit chit. He dropped it into the other player’s hand the robotic eye glowed again. The cyborg must have liked the price Vlad was paying because his grin grew even more wide.

“Thank you kindly.”

The quartet of players slid from their bench and marched toward the door. One by one the exited into the black void that was the RP bar’s hallway. Before trench coat entered he gave Shaggy a two-fingered salute and fell backward into the void. Shaggy tried not to smile as the man disappeared.

“Try-hard.” Shaggy mutter, still biting back a smile.

“Well be ready for more. We need all the help we can get.” Vlad said as he pulled the cord again and waited.

Shaggy figured that cord was a signal to send in the next group. A theory that was proven true as a few seconds later another knock came from their door. Shaggy sighed and swung the door open. This time all he saw was the black void. He tilted his head confused until an annoyed voice came from near his knees.

“Down here, sonny. You fucking kids are all so slow. I mean in my day we knew how to answer a door in a timely manner.”

The pink-haired little girl from earlier pushed her way past Shaggy and moved to the table.

“What!? No candy? What kinda of meeting is this?”

“An annoying one. This is so annoying. Why are we doing this? It sucks! I just wanna lay in my bed all day and do nothing.”

The teenage-looking boy whined the all the way to the table as the third member of their party rushed into the room. The kid gripped Shaggy by his shirt, a manic look in his eyes. Shaggy could almost smell the legitimate sorrow coming off the kid as he looked at Shaggy and asked.

“Please, sir. Where is the bread?”

Shaggy sighed and said nothing as the door swung shut. It was going to be a long day.