Icalia and Jailen followed me as we went over to the staging area for the Consortium. One of the Commanders by the name of Layla was pointing at a map pinned to a board behind her. About a dozen players were milling about, though few seemed to be paying attention to Layla. Most were conversing with each other, or their mercenaries, as we approached. I tried to stay out of sight near the back of the group, but it only took one player noticing me to create a commotion.

“Holy crap!” a player shouted, pointing me out to his friend. “It’s her!”

I ignored them, examining the map behind Commander Layla. It seemed to be a map of the city’s defenses, split into three distinct regions for each of the player factions. The three sections were color-coded, with the Consortium’s stretch of defenses shaded a navy blue. On one side of the Consortium defenses was the red of the Necromatic Alliance faction - called the Necks by the players. On the other side was green, marking the Coalition of Kamden - named for the faction's home continent of Kamden. Unfortunately, the acronym - C.O.K - pretty much named itself. They were the Cocks, and knowing gamers, that was never going to change. The Consortium was colloquially known as the Cons. The Cons were tasked with the Eastern defenses, the Necks with the Western defenses, and the Cocks with the Southern defenses.

The entire congregation of players were now staring at me, and I noted more than a few actor-enabled mercenaries wide eyed as well. Damien and Git - from the potion’s shop - were part of the group of players now openly staring and discussing the rogue damsel in their midst. I briefly locked eyes with Git, and his face was scrunched in confusion and anger. It seemed he didn’t like being tricked earlier. I winked, turning away before I could see his reaction.

Commander Layla had continued talking over the commotion of my arrival, describing the defensive arrangements even though the map was dead simple. Still, I was interested and strained to listen over the gossiping players.

That didn’t last long though, as Git raised his voice to be heard over Layla. “Who let the damsel out of her tower?” he asked, snorting as he looked to the other players for support.

“More like out of the kitchen,” another player added loudly. Most of the players laughed at that, but I noted a few that didn’t. The mercenaries held their expressions tight - they were too well trained to laugh at a cheap joke like that.

I ignored them, straining to hear Layla as she described a pack of hyena-like mobs that tended to throw themselves on the defenses with no regard for their own lives. Movement caught my eye, and I noticed Git approaching me, a twisted grin on his face. I pointedly ignored him as he came face-to-face with me.

“Let me ask you a question.” He was blocking my view of the Commander, so I stepped to the side and didn’t reply. I noticed his smile fade out of the corner of my eye. He moved in front of me again, uncomfortably close. Despite this, he raised his voice and cast it over his shoulder to be heard by everyone. “Who’d you have to fuck to get this body?” He eyed me up and down now, a leer forming on his face. “I wouldn’t mind a turn or two in this thing,” he said, reaching up to flick my character’s boob. The feeling of invasiveness hit me like a punch. I reacted without thinking, shoving him away like I had BigSword - what felt like ages ago. Unlike BigSword, he didn’t go flying through the air - perhaps due to the level difference. But he did go stumbling back, landing hard on his ass. A warning flashed bright red in my vision:

You are combat-flagged against your own faction. Intentionally killing your own faction will see you branded as a traitor.

That was unexpected. Nothing like that had popped up when I had shoved, and ultimately killed, BigSword. Maybe because BigSword had attacked me first? I also paid careful attention to that word: Intentionally. Maybe that made a difference? BigSword’s fall had been what killed him - environmental damage, I remembered. Before I had time to muse on the ramifications of that, Git was back on his feet, a two-handed sword in his hands. He started towards me, but Commander Layla of all people rushed to stand in his way.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Any further violence between members of the Consortium will see the offending members banned from Hope’s End.” She angled to look at each of us in turn. “Is that understood?”

I ignored the question for the moment, turning to address the crowd of players. “I don’t care what she says,” I said. “Any of you try to touch me again, and I’ll rip your spines out through your ass.” I met eyes with all the players who had been laughing moments before. “Is that understood?” I was bluffing, sort of. I really didn’t want to become an enemy of my own faction, because that would really limit my travel options, and my ability to play with Jeremy when he got to a higher level. But I had to stand up for myself. If I let players like Git do whatever they wanted to me, my life would be a living hell.

The crowd seemed relatively cowed - even Git shifted side to side hesitantly. But then a player shouted out, “You mean like you did to BigSword69!?”

The other players turned to the speaker, then started nodding and grumbling agreement. They fed off each other like an angry mob, shouting and flipping me off.

Well, that backfired.

“BigSword was a twat,” I shouted back. But their combined cries drowned me out. Commander Layla looked between me and the shouting crowd of players, a lost look on her face. Probably thinking: this wasn’t in the damn handbook!

Icalia - who had been standing just behind me the entire time - leaned forward to speak into my ear. “It’s not my place to tell you what to do. But I suggest we move off and let the fire burn out on its own.”

I looked back at her, then back at the crowd of angry players who were now slowly approaching. It seemed they didn’t quite have the balls to get in my face, but the pack was drifting my way one step at a time. “You’re right. Let’s go,” I said with a wave.

I started sprinting towards the defensive trenches that were marked for the Consortium. A quick glance back showed that the mob of players were struck frozen by my sudden departure. Some - like Git - reacted after a few startled moments, and made as if to follow me. But it was clear I was running much faster than them, and as I entered the trench system, I turned a corner and lost sight of the players. Icalia and Jailen also had trouble keeping up, but I was sure they’d find me - they were marked on my minimap just as I was sure I was on theirs.

As I ran, the trench system slowly filled in on my minimap. It was a convoluted mass of trenches that was more labyrinth than proper defense. Completely impractical in real life, but I imagined it was designed this way on purpose. That would make it more likely for mobs to come up behind players once they were in the trenches, and give the players an added degree of difficulty.

I weaved through the defenses, trying to create a confusing path so that the players would have no idea which way I had went. From the map Layla had been showing us before the scuffle, I knew the trench system under Consortium defenses wasn’t that large. But it would mean that any players intent on finding me would have to consider failing the bonus objective if they spent too long searching for me.

I ran at full-tilt for about ten minutes, weaving through the trenches in random directions. I knew I was near the end of the Consortium zone, and didn’t dare tread too close to the Necks region. The last thing I needed was enemy faction players catching sight of me. Regardless of what General Aldara had mentioned earlier, I knew there were some players that would entertain the idea of taking a crack at me - and damn the consequences.

Once I was in the general area near the end of the safe region, I started looking for a good defensive position. The nature of the labyrinthine trench system was such that most of the junctions had a terrible defensive structure. Most of them had paths leading towards the direction of the Scarlet Horde, as well as paths to either side, and paths from behind. If any section of the frontline trenches were overwhelmed or under-defended, I could easily find myself surrounded.

After some searching, I found the perfect spot. It was a two-way junction near - but not at - the frontline. This way, I could have my mercs watch one trench, while I watched the other. I wasn’t entirely sure that the mobs wouldn’t just climb over the trenches and assail us from above - but if that was the case, there wasn’t a solid defensive position among the entire trench system anyway.

After a couple minutes, Icalia and Jailen caught up to me, entering the small circular junction at the same time. I could see their stamina bars on my interface and over their heads, and they were both in the red. But they were filling back up quickly, so I wasn’t too concerned by their heaving breaths.

“Were you guys followed?” I asked.

Jailen shook his head, breathless.

“Not possible,” Icalia replied. “I created a firewall behind us, about a half-kilometer back at a 4-way junction. It destroyed traces of our passage and would block even Consortium members from following for at least twenty seconds.”

I nodded appreciatively. “Good thinking,” I said. That extra gold to actor-enable my mercs was already paying for itself. I checked the quest timer:

4 minutes 41 seconds until event commences.