Interlude I
The Ghost Channel
(Five Years of Viewing and Growing)
“To say that people weren’t instantly drawn in by the story of Cassiopeia, AKA ‘The Ghost,’ would be an understatement. At first no one wanted to even bother seeing another retiree throw away their life on an obvious suicide run. But now we are on her five-year anniversary, and we can see that her legend is only growing. Cass is now twelve years old in game, and on her last year of not being able to starve or die of dehydration, a fact she seems to have taken full advantage of in her trainings. In fact, many are considering her to be the go-to leader in how to actively train constantly. Yet it is her increasing knack for solving in depth problems that has many people impressed by her play. Take for instance her most recent contract working for the Thieves Guild.” A Narrators voice says, in front of a time lapsed video segment of Cass, showing her seven-year-old body slowly growing over time and how her clothes constantly change from year to year to meet her body’s enlarging shape.
Finally, the video stops with Cass done up in her full regalia, black cloak, black gloves, Thieves’ Mask on, and her tell tale EGGs on, the lenses now able to shift between three colors. She is now in her contemplative blue lens. Of course, the audience knows that the lens is just her way of conveying what her mindset is. White she is clear of any missions and free to be approached. Red she is on a direct mission and do not bother her. Blue is she is on a mission but can be approached as her current task is nearing completion.
In this particular scene, we see Cass is on one side of a table, with a tall elegant looking woman dressed in a vertically striped suit. On the other side of the long mahogany table is a well-dressed elderly man who many instantly recognize as Mr. Madolf, the head of Roboticus Industries, the premier leader in leisure ships.
Rather than feeling flustered by being outnumbered, the two women appear calm and poised.
“Why is it that you have demanded that I, the CEO of my company be here today.” Mr. Madolf said, smacking his hand against the table for emphasis.
The elegant woman unfazed by the smack began speaking crisply and clearly.
“My dear Mr. Madolf, we are calling you here on account of you reneging on a contract you yourself posted in our guild hall. The task assigned was and I quote, ‘Find out who has been tampering with your equipment.’”
“I am well aware of the tasks I provide and to whom.” Mr. Madolf said, his voice defiant with rage.
“Well then you should know that my client here has claimed to have given you ample evidence to show that it was your own design molding that was the case. That the molding was broken in the seventh sprocket tube. She then went on to find that this break in the molding, a patent you prize yourself on has been evident in every single model of creation you have made since your company’s inception. The only reason this actually became an issue is that you are just now getting to the point where your devices you are creating actually require all eight sprocket tubes to be working in unison.”
“What is the point of all of this?”
“So, to be clear you admit that my client gave you said information, and that you in fact still refused to pay her for her work in discovering your flawed design?” The elegant woman said.
“That is correct, the task I assigned specifically asked to find out who had been tampering with my designs. In all this so-called evidence not one saboteur was noted. Secondly, we believe the only way your client could have gotten this information was by gaining illegal access to our industry yards.” Mr. Madolf said.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“So, to be clear, you do not wish to have this information for the cost of the original agreed upon 150 gold pieces?”
“That is correct. I refuse to pay for this, due to the information not being what was requested.”
At that proclamation the elegantly dressed woman just nodded to herself. “Confirmed, you have reneged on your contract with the guild and will not be able to place a request with the guild directly or by proxy for a period of up to seven years.”
“What this is outrageous!”
The elegant woman held up one gloved finger to pause the extravagant mogul in the middle of his tirade.
“I’m not finished. Furthermore, you will not have the right to bid on this information when it goes up for auction.”
“Up for auction?” Mr. Madolf screamed.
This was the first time when Cass shook her cloaked head.
“One second.” The elegantly dressed woman said, as she turned to her client.
Cass them made a series of hand gestures and signs that the elegantly dressed woman instantly started nodding her head to.
“Correction, this is just a cursory notification that your information that you requested and refused to pay for, will be made publicly available to everyone, for free.”
“For free!”
At that both Cass and the elegantly dressed woman nodded their heads in unison.
“Why I outta’!” Mr. Madolf screamed as he got to his feet.
Ffft, ffft, ffft.
At that three-blow darts flew out of hidden shafts at different angles, one striking Mr. Madolf and the other two striking his hired thugs.
With that both Cass and the Elegantly dressed woman casually got up and made their way out of the room.
“That was just her most notorious shot, an ultimate fist of defiance in the face of overwhelming oppression. From this one transaction that took months of research on the Ghost’s part resulted in a Biprism first, a quest that was declined by the games themselves. This of course had a cascading effect that ultimately made it so every competitor of Roboticus Industries had the ammunition they needed to bankrupt the industry mogul.” The narrator once again cut in, providing a brief clip of headlines showing the different reports that ultimately showed how Roboticus Industries quickly tanked after the evidence of their faulty design process was released.
“This also made it so people didn’t want to turn their backs on the Thieves Guild Contracts, knowing that if they did, they would likely be the next Roboticus Industries.”
“Now as many of her premium viewers might have noticed, the Ghost has appeared to learn to ghost her own channel. As she is now somehow managing to turn herself invisible to the AI’s lenses that are assigned to always watch her. Is this a new skill? A new technological marvel that she has learned to craft, or something else entirely? We don’t know. As a special offer, for those who wish to purchase membership to her channel for a year will now receive a complete backup of her early years. You can see her first time learning to hide in plain sight within the goblin dungeon. You can see her first train heist, where she stole the legendary broach of the ancients, an item that still has not made its way back to its intended owner. A treasure that many believe is either lost forever or sealed away somewhere that Cass will only go back to once her Broke flaw is removed. Is this an abuse of the system if it is? No, actually the game and developers both encourage this type of out of the box thinking. Just think if you can find where she hid these items you too could have a chance at claiming all this great treasure. Items that are worth countless thousands of gold, all waiting for someone to discover where they are currently being held. Are you ready to filter through the years of her past videos to find her secret hiding spots?”
The Narrator pauses for a second, but then continues. “Remember this is only for a full year subscription in advance, no returns, no money back. Also, we do not have any guarantee that she might ever be rediscovered by our AIs or their tracking features. That said, there could be money made if you are able to either replicate her actions or find ways to counter her current obfuscation techniques. That’s right, five plus years of videos showing the Ghost at work training from her first days, to now all can be yours for the low low price of…”
Click.
Jackie Cruise, a fifty-seven-year-old mother of four, turned off the channel and just stared at the blank screen. Pausing for a moment, she just shook her head. “Momma, I hope you’re okay.” She said as she pressed her hands to her face and let tears fall.
Seeing her mother up on the big screen every day had been her inspiration for these last five years. Now that her inspiration was gone, she didn’t know what she could do. All she could hope was that her mother would eventually get picked back up, that whatever she had done to block her presence from the game’s logic would stop. Then she shook her head, no, if that happens then others could start making plans against her.
“Momma, if you are going to do this, then you must keep your head down and never again appear on the server’s radar. That is the only way you can continue to remain hidden.”
Jackie of course never even knew that her mother had retired. Well retired wasn’t the exact wording, forceful ending of employment due to time served and medical expenses. Basically, her mother was too sick, and the government felt they would save money by forcing her to retire than they would by paying her full salary while getting treatment for her illness that she clearly got while working for the government.
At first Jackie had been mad that she wasn’t told of her decision to enter the game that took Memaw and Popop, but after thinking about it she couldn’t blame her. By all accounts her mother was living her best life and appeared to be having fun. Finally taking a deep breath, Jackie let out a sigh and said almost in a prayer “good luck.”