“Good riddance,” Elavetha muttered, as the big orc led the other three out of the outpost.

Jessamine nodded. “Quieter now, without all the boasting and bragging. How much of it do you think was because there are two women sitting here?”

“That and his audience.”

“Streamer?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the orc’s a big-name streamer. Silence, I think? Some kind of badass who can bash his way through anything and people pay to watch him do it, for some reason. I’ve heard some stories about that boy’s club he calls a guild and the people he lets into it. Nothing caught by the stream, but harassing female players, that kind of thing.”

“Huh. The orc didn’t actually hit on me out on the road, I’ll give him that, but talk about patronizing...”

“You and Pixie and Glitter don’t exactly look like you belong out here in the wilderness, but it’s none of his business.”

“Exactly.”

“All right, let’s take a look at that map again.”

Jessamine produced the map to their destination from her inventory, and spread it on the table, a safe distance from the bowls of stew they were eating.

“This is going to be tricky in spots,” Elavetha said, tracing out the route with a finger. “We can probably do it, but we need to take it a step at a time. There are places one or both of us could end up dead, despite everything. I don’t want us to get into situations where we have uncomfortable choices to make, either. They may just be virtual animals and all, but killing them... eh.”

“Or worse.” One reason they did so well playing together was that they both preferred quests that involved thinking or roleplaying to quests based heavily around combat or slaughter.

The door opened again, admitting a single figure. Not one of the ironically-named Guild of Silence, however. This one was a woman. Her long, braided hair was a mingling of night-black and amethyst-purple, and she had small curled horns; her skin was pale violet, and there was a stinger-tipped tail peeking out of the slit in her flowing calf-length coat—which was all purple gradient, dark and light and dark again. Fingerless black gloves showed off long purple nails. Under the coat, Jessamine glimpsed black tights and a purple skirt that was longer at the back than the front, knee-height black boots with moderate chunky heels, and something startlingly yellow along with more black and purple. She was carrying a long straight staff of deep grey wood with purple ring markings and pale violet highlights when the light caught it, black metal reinforcing the ends.

Cambion wasn’t a common race, despite the substantial advantages it gave, simply because it included hefty penalties to interactions with NPCs of most races—and some players as well.

Her tag gave her name as NeonLavender.

She gave Jessamine and Elavetha a friendly nod, and approached the counter to buy a tray of food; holding it one-handed, she turned around.

“Private conversation?” she asked lightly.

Jessamine and Elavetha traded glances, and both shrugged. “Not especially,” Elavetha said. “Are you familiar with this area at all?”

“Extremely. I actually quite like it up here.” NeonLavender set her tray down on the table, braced her staff between bench and table, and slipped her long coat off. Under it she was wearing a blouse of a rather astonishingly-vivid deep yellow that contrasted beautifully with her lilac skin and amethyst hair, the front low and her shoulders and collarbone bared by it, with a deep purple leather vest over it that was shaped and laced to enhance her considerable assets, and a very wide silver-studded black leather belt, practically a waist-cincher, over that. Not exactly armour, but then, with Cambion resistance and regeneration, she probably didn’t need much. She sat down and picked up her bread. “I’ve built up enough of a rep with a couple of settlements that I can get what I need, and I can just sort of enjoy the game without dealing with all the guilds and politics and cliques down in the lowlands and big cities. My friends call me Neon.”

“Jess and Ela. Can’t blame you for that,” Jessamine said. “It does get exasperating sometimes, and the ones most into it tend to assume that obviously everyone is.”

“Everyone judges others by themselves, right?” Neon said, with a shrug. “Something in particular that you’re looking for? Honestly, I’m just wandering. Gathering a few herbs, mushrooms, that sort of thing that I can sell. I’ve done pretty much every quest in this area, though, and I can probably give you a hand. Assuming you’re okay travelling with a half-demon.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” Elavetha said.

Jessamine shrugged. “Not the kind of thing my goddess cares about, or that I do, and we could really use a local guide. You’re sure you don’t have anything better to do?”

Neon shook her head. “I just like being in the game, with no stress. You two don’t look like the type who race through everything to get all the gold and all the experience so they can keep min-maxing while actually missing the best bits of the game.”

“No,” Elavetha said. “We prefer to go slower and enjoy the journey. We only start quests on days when we both know we have plenty of time. I’m sure we can pay you for giving us a hand.”

Neon waved a hand dismissively. “Not necessary. I’m fine for gold. Friendly company’s worth more. So, where are you two off to?”