Fifteen minutes had passed by the time Riemann had finished talking. Tantalus was smoking a cigarette and taking notes on the small notebook he had requisitioned several hours before. Pixie was watching Felix Walker with rapt attention, and Redgrave laid on the sofa with his eyes closed and his hands intertwined. Upon completing his speech, Riemann looked at Tantalus expectantly, and Redgrave opened a single eye.
Tantalus looked down at the notes he had written down during Riemann’s speech. “You’ve given me much to think about Dr. Walker,” Tantalus sighed, exhaling a long stream of smoke. “Needless to say, your words have caught my attention. While I cannot be sure that you are Felix Walker, it is clear that you have insider information regarding this game. I’ll have to confirm some of the things you said. For now, however, I believe you. Now, here’s my question: How certain are you that GM is artificially increasing the enemies we’re facing?”
“I’m almost entirely certain,” said Dr. Walker. “This early in the game, we should only be facing goblins armed with swords. And, may it be noted, ‘orcs’ and ‘goblins’ are the same species. Orcs are just goblins that have undergone the Ritual of Desecration, and the Ritual turns their skin grey.”
“And what factor does the presence of ten S-rank players have in GM’s decision to increase the difficulty?” Tantalus asked grimly.
“It is my understanding that ‘S-rank’ in Ninth Oasis is granted to the top five thousand players. There are ninety million players of Ninth Oasis, meaning that one in eighteen thousand Ninth Oasis players are S-rank. In this city, one in one thousand players are S-rank. Statistically speaking, there are at least eighteen times as many S-ranks in the Osiris City of Server 3 than one would expect to find. I’d say that this statistical improbability has certainly affected GM’s decision-making.”
Tantalus gripped the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. “Thank you, Dr. Walker,” he said, “I have no further questions at this time.”
Riemann snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. He said, “I just remembered the incantation for the spell ‘Fire Bolt.’ If I may, I’d like to test the spell out.”
“Go ahead.”
Riemann turned toward an empty concrete wall and pointed at it with his index finger. “Sen. Drast. Ignis.” By the second syllable, a spark had flashed over Riemann’s hand, and this spark flared into a mote of burning flame. Upon the completion of the incantation, the firebolt shot forward with immense force and exploded against the wall. A three foot wide scorch mark was left where the firebolt had struck.
“Impressive,” said Pixie.
“The NPCs can do that!?” Redgrave gasped.
“Yes,” said Riemann. “In fact, that was a particularly weak version of the Fire Bolt spell. I only put five mana into that spell, and high level sorcerers can alter the amount of mana they want to use. A two hundred mana firebolt would detonate with the force of half a ton of TNT.”
Tantalus’s eyes were closed as Riemann explained the Fire Bolt spell. As Tantalus opened his eyes, he said, “Sorry guys, I have to leave.” Tantalus stood from his chair.
“What’s happening?” asked Redgrave.
“Ashcroft called a meeting. The NPCs have been harassing him, apparently,” said Tantalus.
“Has Ashcroft shot any of them yet?” Redgrave asked.
“No. That’s why I have to leave,” said Tantalus. “Pixie, Redgrave, you guys hold down the fort and get Dr. Walker settled in. I need to prevent a civil war.” Tantalus sighed heavily.
The second meeting of the High Command was held in an abandoned building just north of the Chasm. When the meeting started, the sun was getting low in the sky, and the sky was a dull orange color. Tantalus arrived in his red pickup truck and saw two women standing in front of the old decrepit building. One of the women was wearing a red knee-length skirt and a long-sleeved black shirt while the other was dressed in the standard blue uniform. The skirt-wearing woman wasn’t visibly carrying a gun, so Tantalus was initially convinced that she was an NPC. As he got out of the truck, Tantalus recognized the woman in the uniform. She was [ScaryClock], the ex-Scion. ScaryClock’s hair was an unnatural bright red color, and her uniform was absolutely covered in dirt. Her uniform was not stained with blood, however, so she was in a better state than Tantalus, at least.
ScaryClock turned toward Tantalus and, with a smile, said, “Is that you, Stonewall?”
“Don’t call me that, Clock,” Tantalus grunted as he closed the door to his truck. “I’m sure you remember what happened when Recursion accidentally called me that during a tournament: two weeks of HR-mandated sensitivity training.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Clock. “This is [ConcreteBeats].” Clock gesture to the woman standing next to her.
The skirt-wearing woman stepped forward and offered her hand to Tantalus. With a smile, she said, “My friends call me Cordelia.”
“Tantalus,” he introduced himself, grasping her outstretched hand.
“Do you have a real name, Mr. Tantalus?” Cordelia said, smiling. In that instant, Tantalus realized that there was a quality to ConcreteBeats that made her incredibly dangerous: natural charisma. Tantalus had spent much of his adult life surrounded by people with strong natural charisma, and he had learned how to ascertain the subtle differences between charismatic individuals. Whereas Ashcroft’s charisma was the result of an overwhelming presence and unstoppable force of will, Cordelia’s charisma was much subtler. Ashcroft could motivate a group of soldiers to lay down their lives in pursuit of his goals, but Cordelia could convince you to do whatever she wanted and make you think it was your idea. When Cordelia asked for Tantalus’s name, it was impossible to interpret her words negatively.
“Vincent Blackwell,” said Tantalus, “but nobody’s called me that for ten years.”
“Ooh, interesting,” Cordelia said. “You’ll have to tell me that story sometime.”
“Trust me, the story isn’t that interesting,” said Tantalus.
At that point, another car pulled into the parking lot around the derelict building. The car was a two-door sports car, which resembled a Mercedes Benz. There was the symbol of a crown on the hood of the car. The lights flipped off, and Mander stepped out of the car.
That moment was the first time Tantalus had seen Mander’s avatar in person. Mander had short side-swept hair that had just begun to turn grey. He was clean-shaven, and his skin was lightly tanned. Mander’s posture was rigid, and his body language was that of a proper English gentleman. It was clear that Mander highly valued dignity in himself and others.
“Hello everyone,” Mander said. “Would any of you happen to know where Ashcroft is?”
“He’s on the second floor,” Clock said.
“Much appreciated,” said Mander.
As Mander began to walk toward the entrance, Tantalus stepped forward and said, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mander. I’ve been a big fan of yours since 2013.”
Mander gave a wide smile before saying, “Well, that is certainly gratifying. That I may count John Tantalus among my fans is an accolade which I will not count lightly. You must be older than you look if you watched my content back then.”
Tantalus laughed openly. “My real body is half a foot taller, twenty years older, and a hundred pounds heavier. You know my name. Have you heard of me?”
“Naturally,” said Mander. “I saw you in the Large Group finals in 2028, 2029, and 2030.”
Clock and CB looked at one another in confusion. Tantalus had a significantly larger following than Mander, so it was strange that he was speaking to Mander with such reverence. Much of Mander’s content was political in nature, so he was considered controversial in some circles. To Clock and CB, Tantalus’s behavior was certainly unusual and, considering Mander’s reaction, he was also caught off-guard by Tantalus’s behavior.
“Good, good,” said Tantalus. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? I got the sense from Ashcroft’s message that it would just be me and him at this meeting.”
“I’m afraid your information is incorrect, then,” said Mander. “Ashcroft told me that he wanted all of the major players of Osiris to be here.”
Tantalus sighed and said, “Okay. Thanks for the heads up.” He then turned to the two women in front of the building and said, “Is there anything I should know before I go in there?”
“Ashcroft said the meeting was for the purpose of determining if we want to kill the NPCs at the other two Gates,” said Clock.
“Now why would he want to do that?” Mander asked with a slight chuckle.
“I don’t know,” said Clock. “Ask Ashcroft.”
The four players then entered the dilapidated building and took the stairs up to the second floor. On the second floor was Ashcroft, Emile, FullDan, and several NPC military officers. The NPCs were looking at Ashcroft with vitriol as he leaned against a wall with a wide smile on his face. Ashcroft appeared to be entertained by the presence of the NPCs rather than frightened.
Tantalus felt his hand instinctually twitch toward his pistol before he remembered that the Zoning rules prevented him from committing any violent act.
“Hey, Tantalus,” Ashcroft said while still looking at the NPC officer that seemed to be in charge. “I did as you asked, but the quest-givers won’t leave me alone.” He gestured at the NPCs. “I might be offended if their leader wasn’t so easy on the eyes.”
“Ashcroft,” said Tantalus. “Just let me do the talking.”
In response, Ashcroft theatrically drew his hand across his mouth as if he was closing a zipper.
The NPC officer in charge was a woman with long waist-length blonde hair. At her hip was the same kind of officer’s saber that Emile and Ashcroft had looted from the dead NPCs at the North Gate. Based on her epaulets, Tantalus could tell that the woman’s rank was Brigadier General.
“You must be Private John Tantalus,” the female NPC said. “Colonel Dozok told me you threatened to massacre the West Gate unless we followed your demands.”
“You have my sincerest apologies, General,” Tantalus said with no contrition in his voice. “I’m just trying to salvage a difficult diplomatic situation.”
“Diplomatic?” the General asked. “You speak as if the Revenants are a foreign nation.”
“In a manner of speaking, we are,” Tantalus responded. “If I were to try to explain the situation to you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me,” she said. The General spoke with a level of neutrality that Colonel Dozok lacked completely.
“Alright,” Tantalus said. “Just keep this in mind: everything I say is the truth as the Revenants see it. This whole world is a video game. Hundreds of thousands of people from our world logged in for the purpose of entertainment. Do you have video games here?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” Tantalus smiled, “then you’ll have a basic idea of what’s going on."
