Necrobump, senior Lord Wizard for the guild I Like Big Booty, peered cautiously into the hallway from his apartment. He looked to the left. Then he looked to the right. It was only when it was abundantly obvious that the coast was clear that he stepped out into the hallway and closed the door.
The hallway smelt of cat urine. The incandescent light in one of the wall sconces flickered fitfully in need of being replaced. The carpet was dirty and stained.
Necro took out his key and placed it in the door, locking it behind him. Then taking another quick look around, he held up his wizard staff and, drawing some inner power, quickly muttered the ward of protection to fortify his home against invaders. The ward itself was probably unnecessary. This was a null magic zone; spell casters couldn't just tap a nearby lay line and force magic to do their bidding.
Few people bothered to specialize in mana manipulation. It was too much of an esoteric subject, its uses were too limited, especially when mana was so plentiful. On the East Coast of this server farm there were maybe three or four other people who were his equal in the subject. None were better. There were only a handful of people, six or seven that he knew of with lesser talents who could maybe hold their own enough to be useful.
But in the words of the great and wise Yossarian "Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you." Just because there were very few people who had the talent to get into his apartment didn't mean that Necro would succumb to being sloppy and make his home easily accessible.
The wards he cast were as strong as he could make them. It would be hard even for him to take down when he came home after the raid, this was on purpose.
When he was done, Necrobump turned and walked to the elevator. He was wearing his full raiding gear. Custom tailored Saville Road Suit with the bonuses to intelligence, insight, and spell casting.
In his left hand he held his staff aloft -- a synthetic 1000 carat diamond embedded in the head of the staff held more mana than any five wizards could pull and he could use the power in it to temporarily gift an entire lay line worth of power to anybody he chose. It was invaluable in combat, especially in null or low magic zones. It was also a bitch to refill – to get it maxed out took months, and if he ever used every drop of mana in the stone it would shatter – so he hoped, knowing fully well that this hope was futile, that they wouldn't need to use it this raid.
Strapped to his waist was the Glock 19 that his raiding group insisted he carry so that he wouldn't waste his own mana. Shrike would sometimes take him shooting, and he faked being terrible with it to make her happy.
"Ding" went the elevator and just as he was about to step onboard one of his neighbors stepped out into the Hall.
"Alex! I was looking for you."
"What can I do for you Ms. Bee?" Necro said, pretending to be excited. Ms. Bee was a civ – a civilian – basically she was a real digitalized person who for the most part hadn’t bothered to level up.
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"Have you seen Mr. Sulla? He seems to have wandered off again."
"Sorry, Ms. Bee. I haven't seen your cat."
"He is such a naughty boy. Always getting into trouble. Always running away. I seem to have that trouble in this building. The cat's just get out and they don't seem to come back." She said.
"If you find Mr. Sulla I would be happy to reprogram him for you. Make him docile or at least have a healthy fear of the hallway."
"No. No. Thank you for the offer, but cats need to explore and they need to be curious. And I like Mr. Sulla just he way he is. I just hope he comes back soon, Mr. Pyrrhus, Mr. Arminius, Madamn Livia and little Poppaea miss him."
Then as if seeing Necro for the very first time, she looked him over, taking an especially long look at the staff he was holding in his hand and the hand gun at his side.
"Alex, that is some pretty destructive weaponry. You know how I feel about guns. Certainly you don't need all those death gear just to sell some real estate?"
Ms. Bee thought he had a job selling real estate. It was one of his fake persona so that people wouldn't get too suspicious and come and investigate his stuff. You really can't be too paranoid. "Can't help it Ma'am, I'm dealing with gamers and you know just how loathsome those people are."
"Ooooohhhh. Don't get me started." Ms. Bee said. "You know I was out last week buying food for my cats, and those dratted gamers hit me with a ball of fire. I respawned and woke up in my apartment, and I swear Mr. Sulla was eyeing me trying to decide if I would wake up of if he could start nibbling me for nourishment. Bad cat. So I go out again, figuring it was probably safe now, but at the grocery store there is destruction everywhere. It is raining fire, and people are shooting bullets, and the regular customers are either dead on the ground, or running for cover. Alex it was a war zone I tell you. They should ban gamers from this server. Serve them right. Dangerous hoodlums all of them. "
"Ms. Bee. I just had a though. I think I remember someone mentioning during one of the condo meetings, that the cat in 302 was in heat. Do you think a healthy cat like Mr. Sulla might be out investigating and maybe stuck around looking for an opportunity to ahem get a bit of tail?"
"That naughty cat. I betcha you're right. You just wait there, Alex, and hold the elevator for me and I will get my cat carrier box."
"I would love to Ms. Bee," said Necrobump, " but I'm already late. My clients are waiting."
"Well then. You just watch out for those dreadful unreliable gamers. But I hope you sell them the apartment you're showing them. I never really understood why you live in such a dreadful building as this one, you're such a polite, successful, handsome boy. Did I mention I have a niece..."
"I've gotta get going Ms. Bee. I am really late." And with that Necro released the elevator doors sighed a great sigh of relief as the elevator began to head down to the parking garage in the basement.