— CHAPTER SEVEN —

Soft Disclosure

  -Fritz-

 "I believe you!"

 I blinked. "You do?"

 Faustenburg was surrounded by a curtain wall on its north, west, and south sides. There weren't many places to exit through that wall, so it naturally funneled exploring people to the east side, where the city blended into a forest where the first mobs and tasks were. The neat lines and curves of the streets wobbled as they faded from brick to gravel and dirt. The buildings shrunk and grew further apart as nature began to dominate.

 While heading out there, I started up a conversation with a man - perfectly normal guy in his mid-thirties.

 "Of course! It's exactly the what the CIA would do!" he exclaimed, eyes going wide. "Whipping up our brain activity while keeping our bodies comatose, all so they can harvest the adrenochrome from our blood!"

 "... Oh." I did my best to keep smiling. I was just as crazy as he was, after all. "Why, uh, why would they want that?"

 "It's what the starlings feed on!"

 I thought about dropping out there, but you know what? Why not? "What's a, uh... 'starling'?"

 The man quickly glanced to the side and leaned in a little closer. "They're a race of aliens that crash landed on Earth back in the 30s. They've infiltrated the world governments, drip-feeding us their technology to bring us up to their level and make us more dependent on them! The endgame? Turning humanity into their puppet as they rebuild their galactic empire!" He tapped on his temple. "How else do you think they created these Dive Units? You think this is possible with modern technology?!"

 He had a point on that - these things came out of nowhere. There was nothing close to what they were capable of, then, *bang* 'We cracked it guys - true VR - check out the previews at the next con - it's gonna be the next big thing.' How tightly closed the development was weird, too, but we chalked it up to protecting the tech while they built the flagship game. There were vague promises of opening the system up to other developers sometime after launch, but there were no dev tools released.

 All that being said, I was confident neither me nor this guy knew enough about these things to say how they worked. At least, the people that got to take one apart seemed to think they were using normal stuff you'd find in any advanced electronic device.

 "So why are you in here?" I asked. "Aren't you playing right into their hands?"

 "You have to know your enemy! I'm scouting - seeing what they're trying to implant in our heads - or at least I was. Confarn it, I did fall into their trap!" He opened his menu and smashed on the logout button repeatedly and in vain.

 "We all did, buddy." I nodded and patted him on the shoulder. "So... how exactly do you know about these 'starlings'?"

 He closed out his menu and his eyes took on a haunted glaze. "I saw it. In college, went off trail skiing on Mount Shasta - wound up deep in the woods when I found it. A pitch black thing crawling through the fresh snow - like the sky itself had dripped to the surface!"

 "Did it see you?"

 "No... but they did! They got to me - tried to wipe my memory - but I held on! I know what I saw!" His voice rose frantically as he spoke. He grabbed my arm and looked me in the eye with increasing desperation.

 "I believe you!"

 "... You do?"

 "Yeah! Of course they'd be trying to get at that... sweet adrenochrome in our blood! Listen, I'm gonna keep warning folks not to die in here, alright?"

 The man's shoulders slumped. "They don't care about the truth. They just want to believe they still have control over their lives. And that's how they want to keep them."

 "Well I still gotta try. You stay safe out there, yeah?"

 "You too, friend!" The man shuffled off, disappearing around a corner.

 I blew out a breath and shook my head. Did that count as a win? You know what? Yeah. That was a win in my book.

  \Davi/

 Players started with practically nothing - one combat class and no utility classes. The first thing anyone is going to want to do, I figured, was to unlock those. According to the notes on the class tree, there was a place called the guild office that pointed players to all of their available class unlocks. That was obviously going to be a high-traffic area.

 And because I was too nervous to try and shout to the crowd, my idea was to put up a sign so that anyone going out on a quest would know to be wary of danger! I found a store that offered customizable signs, bought a simple wooden one, and wrote out a message in big bold red.

 'Warning: The respawn penalty is really rough. Do not die or endanger yourself under any circumstance!'

 There! It was... a little more believable than the truth, and targeted something gamers would care about! Now to find a good place for it.

 The plaza that the guild office was part of was just as busy as I thought it'd be - people streamed through in every direction. It was definitely one of the most popular places in the city, but would that work against me? There was so much commotion that it would be easy to miss one dinky little sign. Maybe it would be better inside, where people could see it as they were about to sign up for dangerous situations. Yeah!

 Fighting the current, I swam my way into the office. It was a very open-plan, dome-shaped building. Kind of felt like a convention hall with how the crowd of people clustered around kiosks where the NPCs handed out the class quests. They excitedly discussed class options and skill combos. It also looked like the office handled player guild management with how one group of players was discussing names off in a corner.

 Placing the sign by one of the kiosks would mean all the others would miss it - I needed something more generally visible. Much of the wall space was filled with advertisements and notices for NPC shops and services - restaurant listings and the like. There were blank sections between those, presumably for players to put up their own ads. No one had anything to put up yet, so even my little sign would stick out! It was perfect!

 I walked up to an empty space, lifted the sign, and set it on the wall. A notification popped up, 'You cannot place that decoration here.'

 Figures. You had to buy advertising space, but I didn't have anything left.

 I thought for a moment, then poked around the sign's settings menu and found a 'display stake' option. Ticking that spawned a simple pole beneath the wood board that let me set the sign in front of the empty wall!

 There! I stepped back and checked how well it stood out. The bright red was perfect, but maybe it would pop out more if the text had a border or drop shadow on it? Was I overthinking it?

 As I was contemplating, two men stopped by me to read what I'd put down.

 "How bad is it?" one of them asked.

 I said, "Bad enough that I'm considering remaking my character; I just don't know if I want to go through that intro again. ... Oh, wait! The logout button isn't working, is it?! I guess I'm stuck with... a permanent -1 to all of my stats!"

 "Geez, permanent?!"

 The other man frowned. "Wait, what was that about the logout button?"

 "Oh, it doesn't work." I opened my menu and showed it to them as I tapped on the exit button with no reaction.

 The first man said, "Man, I've got dinner in two hours! How the hell do you release a game with that broken?!"

 "Your wife will probably unplug you; it'll be fine. I live alone though. Hey, if I'm still in here by midnight, come by and shut it down, will you?"

 A wave of overwhelming dread crashed over me. What would happen if we were force-disconnected from the server? The admin seemed to imply there was no way out, so would being unplugged automatically kill us? There was nothing I could do to prevent that. Not even telling the players the truth would help - that man's wife was going to accidentally kill him, and neither of us could do anything about it.

 I could see it - she would come into the bedroom. 'Honey, it's dinner time! I know you just got your new game, but you still have to eat!'

 Seeing him unresponsive, she would unplug the Dive Unit. Sparks fly as it... did its thing, but she wouldn't know what was going on. She just tries to nudge him awake. 'Honey, get up!'

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 But he would remain still. She removes the Dive Unit, shaking him with increasing desperation, more frantic by the second. Why won't he wake up? She'd scream, begging for him to open his eyes.

 Oh God, why? Why was any of this happening?!

 The man in front of me, noticing the fear on my face, said, "Cheer up, bud; you can probably pay to get the debuff removed at a... church or something. Anyway, thanks for the heads up!" The pair of them walked away.

 I needed more signs - we needed to put them up everywhere! But this one cost all of the money I'd gotten from the intro. Why was I too nervous to ask Percival for instructions on how to dupe those starting items?!

 I needed money, and fast. Quests - that's a way to earn cash, right?

 I turned around and approached one of the kiosks, where an NPC greeted me with a generic smile. A menu popped up, displaying a list of all the classes I was eligible for with breadcrumb quests pointing to where I could find the unlock quests. There wasn't time to read them; I accepted them all - I'd look at them while I walked.

 Behind me, another group of guys gathered around my sign. In the middle stood a giant, bear-looking man with a greataxe slung across his back. His nameplate read 'Mortre'. As he read the sign, he chuckled heartily. "Oh-ho! Who's up for a little competition?! Fight to the death - loser has to play with a handicap!"

 The guys around him erupted with excitement and started getting rowdy. I was horrified - how did that backfire so fast?!

 "No!" I shouted, running over to the group. "Please, reconsider that! The penalty is bad - like, reset your account kind of bad!"

 One of the guys grinned. "Hell yeah; playing on hard mode!"

 "That's why it's a punishment!" Mortre boomed.

 Suddenly, Siegfried appeared beside me. "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear. You know the game has a built-in duel system, right? It leaves you on 1 HP at the end of a fight - you can beat each other up without the unnecessary deaths."

 One of the guys scoffed, "Where's the fun in that?"

 "In the sport of the fight!" Siegfried said. "Why not hold a tournament? Level 1 only - see who's the best fighter with only the most basic mechanics available! Open it up the public! The most duel victories by sunset is the grand winner!"

 Mortre nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I like the way you're thinking, but there's gotta be a punishment for the losers! It's not the same if you're not risking anything!"

 "Would a reward not be enough?" Siegfried asked.

 "No, you need that fire pushing you forward! That's where mettle is forged!"

 Siegfried paused for a moment, then suggested, "How about this: the bottom... 10% or so get executed - make them play with the respawn penalty."

 "Now we're talking!" Mortre roared, turning to his group. "You boys up for a league?!"

 The group cheered. Again, I was horrified - how could Siegfried suggest that?! He knew!

 He pulled me off to the side, his voice low, and said, "Look, we won't call the winners and losers until after sunset. By that point, the admin will have made the announcement. It's fine; we just need to keep them busy for the afternoon."

 I nodded. "Oh, good idea!"

 Siegfried called over to the group. "You guys mind running around spreading the word? I'll find a good spot in the fields northeast of the city!"

 "You got it!" Mortre gave him a thumbs up.

 Leaving the guild office together, I said, "Thanks for stepping in there."

 "No problem. Smart idea with the sign - and the penalty thing."

 "Oh! Right, I need to tell the group!" I quickly pulled up the group chat and informed them people were responding to the idea of a 'respawn penalty'.

[Rose]: Clever - we don't need them to believe the truth, just to avoid the consequences.

 As we started through town, I said, "You know, you remind me of my brother."

 "Oh?"

 "Yeah, he always protected me from the neighborhood bullies. He lives across the state, at college, so I don't see him that much anymore."

 "Does he play games?" Siegfried asked. "This one seems - seemed - like it would be good for long-distance relationships."

 "Oh yeah - it was his idea! We were supposed to play together, but I don't know when he'll log on or how to find him - I don't know what username he uses."

 Siegfried frowned. "With any luck, he won't log on at all. But if he does, I'd love to meet him."

  (Percival)

 Faustenburg was set at the intersection of a desert and the plains. The southwestern gate of the city opened directly into a stretch of rolling grass hills fading into dunes like the edge of a beach. Walking just a few steps down that road, it didn't take long to run into some very high level mobs - the map said the zone was intended for level 16-20. No one was going out that way yet.

 North and east of the city was a level 1-5 zone called the Faustenburg Plains. That was the obvious starting point. The first section of that zone - where pretty much every quest that pointed out of the city led - was the forest adjacent to the city. If anyone was going to die to mobs, it was most likely going to be there.

 As forests go, I was genuinely impressed with what they did with the place. In most games, forests are far too open and accessible - but not here. The sky was obscured by a thick canopy with streaks of light dappling through here and there, keeping most of it in heavy shadows even in the day. A thick layer of soft, squishy detritus covered the ground, hiding stray roots and rocks to trip on. Big mossy rocks, fallen trees, walls of ferns and bushes, and steep slopes held together by the root networks made it hard to navigate anywhere off the narrow paths, though they didn't outright stop you from climbing up and wandering free.

 They absolutely nailed the smell, too, for better and worse. The air had that heavy, wet feeling of earth and decay to it. The trees leaned in around you, closing in from every direction, but keeping every side open enough that you could never be sure if that scritching and growling was coming toward you or not.

 The mobs didn't quite follow your normal 'patrol an area until something comes into range, then attack' routine. They'd stalk you for a while, waiting either for you to stop or enough of them to group up, then ambush you. It was alarming the first couple times, but once you caught on to what was happening, it was a matter of keeping my ears out for the extra rustling as I walked, then throwing fireballs out to trigger the attack on my terms.

 The place was absolutely dripping with wolves and slimes, and I killed every one I came across as I wandered around - usually relying on the sword I'd duped in the intro. Numerically, magic was pretty weak - even the basic sword swings without skills were doing more damage than the fireballs. But hey, conjuring fire was still fun! I was holding out hope for better stuff at higher levels. I'd always dreamed about being a wizard. - And now, I roleplay one at a theme park for a living! Who says dreams don't come true?!

 Anyway, my casual genocide of the forest's large predator population was interrupted by frustrated shouting. Pausing to listen, more shouts followed, along with the sound of splintering wood. It sounded like whole trees were breaking apart. I hadn't seen anything nearly big enough to do that, so I ran to investigate.

 I caught myself from going over a ledge. Nestled into a hilly section of forest, a circular arena sat at the bottom of a pit roughly a dozen yards wide and dotted with thin, tall, leafless trees. Sharp spurts extruded from the tree trunks like spears, aimed to impale a player that was running around down there.

 Leonard - an quite plain guy in a swordfighter's gear, his scruffy brown hair ruffled from all the action - wove between the spikes, parrying and dodging as he chased after a trail of blooming ferns and undergrowth that fled around the edge of the arena. "Hold still for a second so I can kill you!"

 The plants sprouted as fast as he trimmed them, and the number of spikes blocking his path was only growing, slowly choking away his maneuvering space as he was led in circles.

 Once I was certain the guy wasn't going to manage it on his own, I shouted, "Igni!" and threw out a fireball at the row of bushes blooming across the field. They caught fire, the flames following the plants as they formed, overtaking and consuming the whole basin.

 Soon, all the greenery had been burnt away, leaving nothing but a floating green crystal the size of a human head. Its nameplate read 'Life Elemental', and it was already down to one third of its health. It turned to either side, seeming confused at its sudden lack of cover.

 Leo cried out in triumph. "You're mine now!" He dropped his sword and dagger and drew a greataxe from his belt, positioning it behind himself to ready a leap.

 The trees lunged for him with their spikes, but they were too slow to stop him as he sailed across the arena. The elemental watched him, frozen like a deer in headlights, as he crashed down on top of it, burying his axe in the crystal.

 It shattered, spraying glittering green shards into the air that disintegrated into blue dust. As it died, the spears retracted into the trees and the burnt underbrush faded into nothing, resetting the arena to a blank state.

 Leo stood up and sighed with relief, putting his axe over his shoulder and wiping his brow as he turned to me. "What was that for, dude?! I had it under control!"

 "I, uh... hear the respawn penalty is brutal. Something like you lose all of your progress on your current level and half your money. It's not worth the risk."

 "Ah really?" he rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, then!"

 Hopping down to the arena, I asked, "What is this place? Home of a rare spawn?"

 "It's for one of the class quests." he explained. "Gotta complete a contract for the swordfighter's guild to become a member!"

 "Anyone that wants to be a swordfighter has to fight this thing?"

 "No, they offered me a bunch of different contracts - you get a bonus reward based on which one you do. People that started Medic have to be able to get other classes, y'know? This one was listed as the hardest!" He chuckled. "I guess I wasn't as ready for it as I thought. I think Mage will be my next unlock; I heard it was weak, but shouldn't've underestimated the utility!"

 "Amen to that."

 Putting his axe away and swapping back to his sword and dagger, he asked, "What about you? What are you doing out here if you're not on the quest?"

 "I'm just... taking in the nature. Does this count as touching grass?"

 "Close enough for me!" he laughed. "Good luck, dude; I want to get through these other classes before I log off for the day!" With a final wave, he jogged off, disappearing into the trees.

 As I watched him go, I wondered if I should have been doing the class quests. I was out in the forest anyway, and they might have pointed me toward the places people would have been in the most danger. It was almost seven - only an hour left until the announcement. Probably not long enough to run back to the city and get them, so nothing for it at that point.

 I could still stick around there - if it was the hardest contract, then it would be the most likely to kill. I climbed back up the rim of the arena and found a sturdy tree that wouldn't stab me, then climbed up to get a vantage point to light fires as needed.

  -Fritz-

 The hiss of quenching metal and tink of hammers resounded through the smoky air on Faustenburg's southern hill. The crest held a plaza surrounded with smithies and shops specializing in blacksmithing goods. But that's not what I was there for.

 I was sitting on the low wall that lined the path that spiraled up the hill's side. It had a fantastic view over the city's wall and into the desert beyond. From there, I watched the clouds of dark sand blowing on the twilight wind.

 Had I made any real difference today? It sounded like several of the other groups had found ways to convince people to avoid dying, but it didn't feel like I'd had any major impact.

 "You! Hey you!" Taco Bellmont - that guy I'd seen climbing buildings earlier - came sprinting up to me, eyes wide. "You're the the dude that told us not to die! Well my buddy, he fell off the clock tower and hasn't respawned!" He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. "I thought it was a prank! I thought he logged out after he died to freak me out, but the logout button doesn't work! Where did he go, man?! WHERE DID HE GO?!" His voice broke into hysterical sobs as he collapsed beside me on the wall, face buried in his arms.

 I opened my mouth but no words came. All I could do was watch.

 "I... don't know man." I whispered, putting a hand on his shaking back. "I just don't know."