"They should get here in a few hours"׳ Kyatha said to Allen and Meroa, "with the pass empty", she explained, "the distance from the Andorians is only about twenty hours"
"Did you fly in circles?" RedFox21 asked Allen.
"I was curious about the roads not matching the map", Allen defended his tardiness.
An amethyst scaled paw smashed his snout to the floor, "you mean you could have been here hours earlier?" Meroa growled.
Struggeling to open his mouth, "I didn't know you needed help".
Lifting her hand Meroa looked despairingly at her incompetent benefactor, "ok breath in breath out", looking at Kyatha, "if you were watching", she asked, "why didn't you come in sooner?"
"The Andorians were stalling our party", thinking about something, "probably buying time for that murdering bastard to get back and steal my drops".
"Julian did come to take the loot with his party right before we left", RedFox21 intervened again.
"We got the clearance when he was brought in by two parties of badass clanners with a bunch of legacies that were acting like a police force", remembering, "then they offered to escort us to the pass and we didn't think to refuse such austere company"
"Do you know if the others are coming too?" Allen asked Kyatha.
"What others?" Looking puzzled, "I didn't go in because my level was too low for the pass", sighing, "I would have died if a goliath took a stern look at me from a distance"
"My other customers and employees", came out completely innocent.
"Your what?" Kyatha and Meroa asked at the same time.
"The people escorting Julian out of the dungeon were my security employees", totally natural, "and I was hoping they would bring the others with them when you said they were coming"
"How many 'employees' do you have?" Meroa couldn't stop herself.
"Four parties of security personel", was a small guild but nothing to scoff about, "another party deals with human resources", strange name but reasonable, "three parties for customer services and two more in aquisition and delivery", still a small guild in the grand scheme of things.
Remembering something else, "how many legacy avatars are in your employment?", the description from Hatula's telling of the two 'security' parties had her intrigued, "just the number", she added quickly, "I don't care what department they work in"
Seeing the diamond dragon actually thinking about the question Kyatha had to wonder, "there can't be more than the seven I saw", adding, "seven legacies are a major political power", looking at the amethyst dragon, "if he pilfered those from existing guilds the whole alliance will be in an uproar"
"Nineteen legacy avatars", after considering only his employees.
"But there were over a hundred people in your group", RedFox21 interfered again.
"Most of them were customers", the obvious answer came about.
"That isn't distinguishable in guild politics", the foxman explained to the daft creature.
Looking at his display again, "then I have a hundred and thirteen customers", adding, "twenty eight of them are legacy avatars", after recalculating "and seventy two employees of which nineteen are lagacy avatars".
Gaping in shock at the declaration Kyatha announced, "I need to log off right now", sat down and closed her eyes remaining immobile.
"I should probably be there too", Meroa sounded less enthusiastic at the prospect and logged off too.
"You are batshit crazy Allen", RedFox21 complemented him, "the best dragon in the whole wide world".
Logging off Meroa was left to get off the rig alone for once, rushing to the great hall through the empty corridors until she heard Hatula screaming "call in everyone"
Someone was foolish enough to ask "who?"
"Every guild in the alliance and beyond", her sister's icy voice ran shivers down her spine, "and drag that idiot headmaster of the Andorians in here personally", adding, "this conference starts the moment he gets here", then turning to the people watching a replay hologram from the siege, "put our delegation to the pass live now" she ordered.
"We are watching here you can't just take over and push whoever you like", one of the younger cousins complained, meeting the utter shocked glares of all the elders in the room, "coming in here and screaming doesn't give you the right to bully us", Meroa thought she could see steam rising from Hatula's head.
Before anyone could recognize the speaker a group of elders watching the replay rushed the protesting youngsters out of the room, "please change the hologram to a live feed from the expedition", someone said in a calm voice from the side and the hologram showed a sea of avatars.
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"Who are all these people?", someone asked.
"That's Lisholamut", came an exclamation, "the main legacy of Rishka's marauders"
"I see Sutul there", came another voice, "the avatar was just passed on to the youngest daughter from the Death's Door guild about a month ago" hushed silence fell as more legacy and paralegacy avatars from every main guild in the area of the goliath's pass and other regions was sighted.
"What is going on?" Their father finally broke the silence when the listing ended with only about fifty unrecognized avatars two of which were unknown legacies, "who collected all these children"
"Allen collected them", Meroa answered, "they are his 'employees' and 'customers' meaning they are in deep debts to him and effectively either his guild members or debtors to such a degree there is no distinction".
"How is that even possible?" aunt Eden asked and Meroa blushed.
"Apparently the Andorians were running a secret robbery ring", Meroa explained from what RedFox21 told her in garbled sentences when she first logged in at the siege "extorting the children sent to train in the dungeon and hiding it as just bandits hitting some parties"
"Why haven't we heard about it?" Uncle Kavul wondered out loud
"Because they are children", adding, "there would be a double coverup of their shame by both the Andorians and their own guilds"
"We have to call everyone", her father breathed out and fell in his chair, "don't bother bringing the Andorian here", adding, "get admin arbitrary court to mitigate" he said looking at one of the guilders who immediately lost focus as she was activating her implant, "call all your contacts in and out of the alliance", sighing, "this backstab will cost us the war with the pirates but we can't wait".
"The arbitrator will be ready in three hours" the guilder said.
"Then we need everyone ready in two and a half", Hatula took command again, "ignore time zones and call in everyone".
The whole room fell deathly quiet as every man and woman in it started calling on their cranial implants.
Spoiler: short summary of the meeting
something like this upcoming gathering was unheard of in a thousand years of history, not even the creation of the free guild alliance brought representatives from so many guilds, that it was done in an intermediary space meant there will be no direct consequences in the game so each could bring any avatar they wanted without fear of ambush or other violent acts as offlife actions lost you nothing but time.
Sometime during the conference the children will get to the castle in the pass, that moment will be absolute pivotal as the AshMourn guild will be accused of abducting and carrying them to an undisclosed location in a high level lethal dungeon and they will either have answers or the others might join forces to wipe AshMourn out while their most powerful legacy avatar was away and it was known they lost a powerful paralegacy avatar a few days ago.
"Welcome esteemed representatives from around the world", Hatula opened the conference, "we have a grave matter to discuss and therefore asked that you all come here"
"Get on with it" an older man from the fourth row shouted.
"It has come to our attention that many guilder children and legacy avatars", pause for dramatics, "have been robbed and extorted in the goliath's pass over the past few years"
"It's a children's dungeon they are supposed to get robbed there", someone cried from the back rows.
"It has also been brought to the AshMourn guild's attention", another pause, "that over a hundred children and fourty legacy avatars formed a new guild in the pass last week"
Coughs followed by shouts of indignation and demands for an explanation on such a ludicrous announcement were silenced by the arbitrator who simply denied their speaking and stared at Hatula, "what?" his eyes wide in surprise.
"A new avatar gathered the assaulted children and formed a new guild he calls 'the dragon's bank' with the phrase 'your hoard our vaults' and either loaned them money or outfitted them with powerful artifact while helping them form parties to protect themselves inside the dungeon"
A man asked to speak and was given permission, "my daughter is singing that stupid sentence over and over for days now", and sat back in deep contemplations.
"Thank you for the input reverent Eshem", the arbiter indicated that Hatula proceed while removing the silence, now that everyone were in rapt attention.
"The children are now headed deep into Afriat's path to a newly constructed castle surrounded by indestructible walls and mounted by cannons"
"The Afriat third agreement sais no cannons are to be brought into the mountain", an ancient crone croaked, "whoever broke that agreement will pay dearly for their stupidity when the giants start bombarding them with giant sized cannons"
Moving on, "in a few hours they will reach the castle and go offline", closing her eyes, "we hope that by that time we will all come to an agreement about how to treat the new guild and there wont be unnecesary bloodshed"
"Are you threatening our children?" A young man stood up, "I will not hear your demands", shaking a fist, "release all the children at once".
"Who is the headmaster for the new guild?" A mother of one of the children Hatula spoke to before the conference started asked.
"It's a starburst dragon avatar named Allen", Hatula wanted that information floating to see different reaction.
The most unexpected reaction came from the arbiter, "are you fucking shitting me?" the burst of anger wasn't in Hatula's range of experiences from system officials, "is your information accurate?" he finally asked fixing his jacket.
"Absolutely", Hatula quickly replied, "we have recorded testimony directly from him and others and a recording of most members of the new guild", seizing the moment, "the orb in front of you contains all the relevant information we gathered"
The room hushed when everyone started looking at the evidence and lists, some of the children's names were called out and calls were made on cranial implants.
Seeing most of the gathered people were done Hatula continued, "the AshMourn guild has representatives already on the ground and is making preparations for a complete teleportation circle in the castle that will be operable tomorrow", adding, "our main legacy avatar Kyatha is already there and I am its new operator"
"More threats?" Coming from the front row, "the kings don't forget your betrayal in the underway raid"
The hatred emanating from every word took her by surprise, "that was a thousand years ago"
"We will never forget the AshMourn betrayal for a few trinkets", he declared, "you will not catch us off guard again"
"How much will it cost to use the teleportation circle for more experienced Players that want the shortcut?" Broke the ensuing silence From somewhere in the middle.
"There will be no overcharge for anyone over the next month and we can discuss terms of services in private after the meeting is over", Hatula knew now was the hard part, "I and other AshMourn guilders will gladly answer all your questions", looking at the arbitrator, "our host graced us with refreshments in the adjacent hall and I hope you will all join me in discussion while we wait for the children to join us".