Slom left the conference room after another three hours planning session with captains from a different time zone, it was agreed that the one would follow the many, and since he was one and there were almost two hundred players from the hindy china region in his fleet, he accomodated them on their time.
Not that he ever needed sleep but he had to pretend to hold for a certain time zone to keep appearances or be accused of time splitting which was illegal and brought some nasty trouble to whoever did it.
The girl was gone, he shouldn't care about some random Player who couldn't take a pun and just vanished but she cared enough to find him and tell him about the conspiracy so he returned the favor and had some people watch over her beside the staff and spear that would tell him if anything happened, NPC weapons were rare and hard to get these days, or ever, it was hundreds of years since he tried to make a contract for a new weapon and maybe it was time, before the the new war.
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Stepping back into the conference room before everyone left he announced, "I am going to the thunder island" he said to the room, "I will be there to see the ThunderSmith about a new weapon for this campaign", silence fell at the words, it was the one place in the world where the Emperor was just another man, if he was attacked there it would be him against the natives, the accords were clear about this state of affairs, it was also why he haven't been to the island during their lifetime, or even their parents' lifetime, they all had to go there at least once to become lieutenants, and none of them came back unchanged, the only one exempt from this requirement was the emperor himself and there were things on the island that would make or break any man, woman or beast if confronted directly and the village people made sure you met with every opportunity to die while you visited.
Hardcore dungeons were tough, hardcore open regions were what made characters tough, or killed anyone who wasn't strong enough and without the sovereignity of the accords and protection of the emperor's name and reputation everyone had only their skills and ability to protect themselves against the roaming monsters and gangs of robbers and marauders inhabiting the island.