Setting: INSIDE THE VIRTUAL GAME

Date: February 8th, 2026. (6 days until Launch)

     Patrick was in the game, doing his usual GM duties when he decided to travel to another part of the continent to provide help to another GM who was requesting it. Usually when he traveled to the Dwarven territory, he would take a shortcut through an unused territory to cut down travel time that players were unable to access. Since Patrick was using flying mount, as long as his player never touched the ground, he was able to zip through undetected. Yet this time as he tried to travel through the unused territory, something happened. Patrick's character was denied access to the unused zone, which was a first for him. He tried to enter the territory again, but was again denied access. After making his second attempt, he opened up his messenger and sent out a quick call out to someone. When checking the online messenger to see which employees were active, he found the last account he expected to see, and he fired a message to his boss:

Patrick: Hey Greg, what's going on with zone 25? I thought that was still unused?

     Moments later, Patrick got a surprisingly quick response.

Greg: Zone 25 is no longer unused. It's being converted for the new expansion.

     "That's odd," Patrick said to himself, typing his next message.

Patrick: It is? I thought the expansion was only going to change zones 12 and 33. What's going on with 25?

Greg: This is a surprise for the new launch. Something I decided to add at the last minute.

Patrick: I had no idea. Did you need any help with the coding?

Greg: No need, I'm doing this one myself. Keep up the great work!

     Patrick couldn't enter zone 25, but he was going to have to keep the changes to himself. He send a few messages to see if anyone else had experienced any issues with zone 25 as it was usually a sweet shortcut for other GMs. No one else had noticed but promised to respond when they tried the shortcut later on that day. What confused Patrick was the fact that Gregory himself was working on the new expansion, and was working on a whole zone by himself. Patrick couldn't remember the last time he actually programed levels by himself but it wasn't impossible. Greg had been acting very strange, but doing more work to make the expansion more fun for the other players didn't seem that odd or out of place. He was just giving customers more bang for their buck, and that didn't seem like suspicious activity to Patrick. Gregory was the kind of guy who went above and beyond to satisfy his customers, so this wasn't odd to the other employees, as their boss had always put game play above all else and this appeared to just be another example.

     Patrick was about to let it go when a new message came to his in play inbox while he was taking the long route around zone 25.

Greg: Keep this zone 25 stuff between us, Pat. The less people I have nagging me, the better chance I have to be done on time. Okay?

     Patrick seemed nervous to read the message, but he wasn't being asked to remain silent, he was be told to by the boss. Patrick took a deep breathe.

Patrick: Of course, I can't wait to see the new zone.

Greg: You'll love it, everyone will!

Patrick: I'll be here if you need any help with anything.

Greg: Cheers, I've got to get back to work.

     Patrick didn't respond, as he knew better. He continued to fly to the destination he had in mind but did so taking the long route. While taking that extra long flight, Patrick couldn't help but wonder what was going on. When he arrived in the city of the Dwarves, Patrick landed in the middle of town to find the other GM that needed his help. Patrick found him at the city's tavern and he quickly took a seat.

     "Sorry I'm late," Patrick said, looking rather frustrated. "I had to take the long way here."

     "What about zone 25?" The other GM asked.

     "Can't use it anymore," Patrick answered, "It's being used for the new expansion."

     "I heard something about that," The other GM replied, "Greg himself is working on a new zone and has been coding himself non-stop for almost a week now. No one has any idea what's going on there."

     "This seems odd," Patrick said, as he wasn't the only one feeling this way.

     "Tell me about it," The other GM said, "But it's best to stay out of Greg's way. The man is like a machine when it comes to creating new content. He's going to make us all look bad come launch day. Then we'll see what he's been up to."

     "I bet it's a new dungeon," another player suggested.

     "That would be amazing," The other GM said, "But why add another dungeon without any publicity or advertising?"

     "You're trying to figure out what Gregory is thinking?" Patrick said, laughing. "Good luck with that buddy. That man marches to his own drum."

     "Good point," The GM replied, "That man does his own thing. That's why letting the company get bought out still puzzles me. I hate the fact that this game is owned by those corporate asshats."

     "I know," Patrick agreed, "But the alternative might have been much worse. I think that's the only thing that kept this company alive. It was them or nothing."

     "Maybe," The GM said, "But that might eventually come back to bite us all in the ass. I don't trust those money grubbing buggers any further than I can toss them."

     "Me neither," Patrick concurred, "So let's forget about that and get to work."