“Hey,” Lumen asked Aubrey. “You’re a dwarf, so you must have touched a crystal, right? Where’s that?”

“Two actually,” Aubrey said. “There’s one deeper in the mines, past a large group of goblins that doesn’t know what to do against a good porcupine formation. There’s another one to the north-west. Some brigands are guarding it, but they go to sleep at night, so you can walk in and touch it while they sleep if you’re brave enough.”

“Brigands, huh? And they don’t post guards, huh? Hah!” Mia chortled, rolling her eyes at Kyle.

Kyle didn’t respond. “Can we grab that crystal while we’re here?”

Aubrey sighed. “Sure. Might as well. I guess we’re allies now, after all.”

“Wait wait wait…” Mia said. “Did it ever occur to you that hiding in a cave with a crystal in it would be a really bad idea if you’re trying to avoid getting attacked?”

“The beam marking the crystal’s location doesn’t go through the ceiling,” Aubrey said “We honestly thought we’d be safe here.”

“Sadly, it would only have been a matter of time before you’d have been found,” Kyle said. “Eventually, for this thing to be over, somebody’s going to have to touch all hundred.”

“That makes no sense. This one’s really well hidden,” Aubrey said. “Without the beam marking its location, how was it supposed to be found? We figured this one was secret. It wouldn’t count as one of the hundred.”

Kyle shrugged. “Maybe there’s a spell that detects them, or some event that happens partway through the game that reveals them. I honestly don’t know. But finding them’s the design intent. I think.”

“Well,” Aubrey said, “Let’s get you to it. Follow me.” Aubrey started walking down the hallway, The two other players who didn’t run fell into line beside her. Kyle and his group followed. “I’ll try and round up the others,” Aubrey continued. “There aren’t many places they could have run off and hid in; if you go too much deeper, you run into the goblins, and they respawn pretty frequently. I don’t think any of us would have gone in there without the whole squad backing them up.”

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“What’re you a professor of?” asked Mia. “Military history or something?”

“I just like the Romans,” Aubrey said. “I’m actually in computer science. Neural networks and deep learning, specifically.” As they continued down the hall, Kyle saw branching paths, the first splits he’d seen yet. “I was told this game would contain some sort of highly advanced AI, and they used that to lure me in. They told me I could study it. Hey Wyatt!” she shouted down a side passage. “Come on back! They’re friendly! We’re doing another crystal escort!”

Without pausing, Aubrey continued down the hall, still talking. “So far, I’m not impressed. The goblin’s AI isn’t good at all. It’s pretty obvious to me it’s pre-programmed. They don’t adapt, they don’t learn, and they aren’t even all that smart. Typical videogamey junk, giving the field of AI a bad name. Hold on a moment,” she said, then ducked down another side passage just barely tall enough for her stubby dwarven frame to fit in. Moments later, she came back out with another three nervous looking people who eyed Kyle’s group suspiciously. Aubrey resumed walking down the tunnels.

“So far as I can tell, they were just luring me in under false pretenses. They got me in that gray room, and then I’m here in a game. Somehow.” She shook her head, then kicked a smooth section of wall several times. A moment later, it collapsed apart, revealing a couple players, a human and a dwarf, crouching in a small alcove.

“How did you do that?” Kyle started.

The human dusted himself off and glanced at Aubrey. When she nodded, he said, “People with architecture can ‘scavenge’ the buildings they build to get part of the materials back, It makes hiding really easy in these caves.”

Aubrey stopped at the mouth of a large chamber, and waited for a minute or two as players filtered in. Some of them regarded Kyle warily. All of them shied away from Mia.

“Don’t worry, we’ve reached an agreement. They’re on our side now. Thank God. Okay, now form up!” Aubrey shouted. “Let’s take these guys to the crystal.” The players fell into line, forming a circle around Kyle’s group. Spears appeared in their hands as they pulled them from their inventories. Aubrey stood at the perimeter of the circle as well, facing into the cavern ahead. “No torch-bearer this time,” Aubrey said. “The mage is providing light for us.”

“Don’t parties only go up to five people?” Lumen asked.

“Yes, but you don’t need to be in a party to work together, do you?” she said, glancing back with a smug smile. “Mage, stay in the middle and hold that fire high. Careful not to let the people in the back bump into you. They’ll hold the line as long as you don’t mess them up.” She turned to face forward again. “Spears down! March!”