CEO Sepp Krüger leaned back comfortably in his leather chair and watched the presentation on the huge screen with his hands folded in a pyramid shape. He sat at the end of the large conference table. At his sides were the members of his board of directors.
He nodded with satisfaction. A new building, several additional employees with the corresponding costs, but a lot of virtually free positive publicity in return. The plan presented was risky. The costs were high and would only be recouped through a significant increase in turnover. He would also hardly be able to lower prices if one of his competitors took advantage of the situation to start a price war.
Everything depended on winning the goodwill of customers through its employee policy. He hired an unusually large number of people instead of replacing them with AIs like other companies. A very open personnel policy was also planned. Diverse groups of people would get a chance here. Risky, but if his competitors imitated his method, it would improve the entire labor market. Which in turn would be down to him as the pioneer.
A small flashing icon appeared at the edge of his field of vision. A message he had been expecting. Only important messages were allowed through by his AI secretary during a board meeting. He raised his hand. The moderator fell silent and paused the slideshow. With an apologetic smile, Sepp called up the message. He was expecting a positive report from his followers in the virtual world. In addition, a confirmation that he had completed his most important quest and, of course, information about the rewards he would receive. Apart from the XPs themselves, Nistrul had not yet defined them precisely.
"Master Umbramar..."
Sepp Krüger frowned after the first two words. OrcSlayer never addressed him formally unless he had bad news. Very bad news. He read on quickly. He ignored the fact that the board members were getting restless.
"...just logged out. About half of the cultists survived, the rest will respawn tomorrow. The average level of the group is 7, which will drop a bit due to the respawn deductions. On the other hand, most of the combat skills have risen considerably. I've already been able to fit in a few training sessions along the way. The cultists have potential. To be honest, I'm really pleasantly surprised, as they were mostly dumb bastards when we started."
The frown deepened. OrcSlayer was beating around the bush. Something must have gone really wrong. Had the dryad escaped? Had the duskgnomes turned into a new tunnel and the chase was still going on?
"Unfortunately, I have to report the mission as a failure. The duskgnomes played us for fools. While the rangers stalled us, the little buggers dug their way to a higher tunnel level. By the time we realized it, their druids had summoned a bunch of rats and a minotaur and then bored an underground river or lake. They blocked the escape tunnel with a rock. No chance of catching them. We went up to the plain and then on to Mulnirsheim. On the way we received official information from the Nemesis AI that the quest had failed. At the same time, all players were informed that the duskgnome race has survived in-game and is now available as a character class for compatible player genotypes. The new duskgnomes will spawn underground in newly founded player cities. The location of the surviving duskgnome clan has not been revealed."
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Umbramar looked ahead of him for a while with a deadpan expression. His plans for advancement in the virtual reality had been set back a long way. He didn't need to log in to know that his magical abilities were massively impaired. Without the benevolence of Nistrul, necromancers were a completely generic character class.
He pushed the message aside with a gesture that was visible to everyone: "Unfortunately, someone has beaten us to it and is planning the same concept. There's no point in being the second benefactor. The project is dead. We're replacing the two existing call centers with AI bots and will use the freed-up budget for a normal advertising campaign. If we then go straight on the price offensive, we might be able to ditch our competitor before they can get started with their concept."
He stood up and walked across the room with a sad expression on his face. At the front, he put his hand on the shoulders of the completely shaken project manager: "Mr. Müller-Kampski, you have put your heart and soul into the project and done an excellent job. I will propose your promotion to head of a new subsidiary for call center services. We will then outsource our call center employees to this company instead of laying them off. Think of a good name and a concept for it. I have every confidence that you will make it a success."
He said goodbye to the rest of the board and walked out. Before he had even reached the elevator, he had arranged the promotion with the HR department. He then informed his project team that they should set up a subsidiary. Including staff changes and a budget for one year. After this time, it would either have so many external orders that it could live off them, or it would go bankrupt. But under a different name and with a well-timed advertising campaign that would divert attention away from the mass redundancy. The last time it had been enough to have several film studios and students at the various academies produce and distribute cat videos.
Alone in the elevator to the underground car park, he wrote a reply to OrcSlayer as a voice message:
"I am quite utterly discontented. But there's no point in complaining. We have to look to the future. You and your cultists will get a small bonus. After all, you kept up a chase for days under very unusual circumstances. I have to give you credit for that, despite your failure. In return, however, I expect you to continue following me. I already have a new mission: find the NPCs who helped the duskgnomes. I need them alive. We have to find out where the duskgnomes have gone. Even if we have to torture every single NPC in Mulnirsheim to death for weeks. We will find the duskgnomes. Then we'll sacrifice every single duskgnome to Nistrul and turn them into undead. That should get me back in his good graces."
He left the elevator in the underground car park and went to his limousine, where his chauffeur was already holding the door open for him. In the car, he opened the monitor and keyboard. He could write messages with his implanted computer, but he still preferred the normal physical way. He composed an e-mail to Jezebel:
"The quest has failed. The cultists are searching Mulnirsheim for information on the whereabouts of the duskgnomes, but this will take a while. The NPCs involved probably haven't even arrived in the city yet. The tunnels may also end behind the Border Mountains. I will recruit more cultists in the hinterland and instruct spies and informants to keep their eyes open. The two of us will pass the time in other ways. For now, I have to work off my frustration. This failure has messed up all my plans. Without Nistrul's favor, I can't consecrate a temple and become an Arch-Priest. Instead, we'll do what you jokingly suggested recently. We'll wipe out a goblin village. Or several. If we can get away with it undetected, even one full of NPC humans. Let's take a look. You can train your combat skills and I can replenish my undead army. We'll meet at the agreed spawn point in two hours."