~o~O~o~

** Chapter 2 **

Lord Vincint and the rest of the council members looked around and at each other with stunned amazement after Lady Whisper made good on her “escape”. Lord Vincint caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a matte black porcelain doll mask covering her face while the room’s shadows appeared to stretch and cloak her body. Her form blurred as she moved an uncanny speed that made it hard for the eye to follow. He found it impossible to figure out exactly where she was as his perceptions were misdirected by the shifting shadows. The people in her path felt only the faint breeze that her hurried passage caused as she moved past them to disappear into the night outside the command tent.

“Lord? Should we give chase?” The AI controlled Captain of the Guards asked, looking just as confused as the real players.

“That will not be necessary Captain. She isn’t the enemy. At least, I don’t think so.” Lord Vincint said, not sounding too confident about his judgment. He has known Whisper for a very long time and her out of character action only confused him more. He worried what that might mean for his guild, the Forces of Light and the game world.

I wasn’t expecting to need to be worrying about anything like this tonight. It sure does make for a lot of stress in something that is just supposed to be a game. Lord Vincint or Jim Stiles as he is known in real-life, thought. Jim’s real-life adventures as a full partner of a criminal law firm in Virginia Beach, Virginia causes enough stress as it is. His almost nightly escape into the game world is important to his sanity. Dealing with the depressingly gray and sometimes seedy underbelly in the pursuit of justice sometimes leaves him to craving the simplicity of Good versus Evil that the game GEO provides.

Filling the role of guild leader for one of the largest and most powerful guilds on the server does add some stress to his life, but it’s still an escape from his real life. His wife Julie works as a pediatrician at the Hampton Roads General Hospital and her schedule keeps her pretty busy, but whenever possible, they make time to be with each other.

With a sign, Jim returned his focus back to the virtual world. The guild council members were looking to him for leadership and answers. Lord Vincint had some information to gather and a few decisions to make.

“My Lords and Ladies, I apologize for the confusion. It’s probably nothing, but I will send her a PM on our guild’s message board to get to the bottom of this.”

**

Whisper leaned back against the rough bark of the ancient tree. She crossed her arms against her chest with a petulant expression hidden under her black thief’s mask. Her right leg supported her weight, while the other foot was bent behind her and pressed against the trunk. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a thirty foot drop to forest floor below, one might think she was simply standing relaxed against a city street wall. She growled in frustration as Brian leaned back in his computer chair with a sigh.

I’ve read the damn quest text over and over, hoping that it would somehow magically change to something that made sense to me. Why me? Why not some Evil player assassin? I’m a good aligned thief for crying out loud! I find and disarm traps so my teammates can get the good loot. I scout and when I must fight, I fight in direct support of my team to help take down a tough monster faster. I don’t do murder!

Why does Seramis need to die and why is it so important that I be the one to PK Seramis’s character? It looks like a no-win scenario to me; there must be something I am missing. Surely the game wouldn’t give my character a quest that wouldn’t support the “good” side, would it? Seriously, could you see Marsala, that demon chick from the evil side getting a quest to rescue kids from a burning orphanage?

If Lord Vincint really knew what was going on with this quest, then he would have had to try and stop me right then and there. That might have made things a bit simpler though. I doubt that I could’ve escaped with all of the players and guards in the camp actively trying to stop me.

The bleeping quest reward had better be damn good!

“Oh well, Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I say as I accept the quest. Additional information appears on the quest scroll and two gems materialize hanging in mid-air for my character to grab.

Thank you Lady Whisper,

Your Time of Testing is at hand. The path you have chosen of your own free will to accept on behalf of the Forces of Light will be fraught with peril and hardship.

Once you succeed in neutralizing Seramis, you will be given a five level boost and a new identity. If you fail and successfully escape, then you will be given a two level boost. If you die, then you will be doomed to walk the halls of dead heroes forever more.

The two gems you received are to let our Forces know the status of your mission. Use the green gem to signal Seramis’s death and be ported to safety. Use the red gem to signal your failure to kill her, but that you have made a successful escape. A team will be waiting to aid your extraction if the later signal is sent.

Timing is critical. You have twenty four hours to complete this quest.

“Whoa!” I freaking cannot believe that! I didn’t think that this quest could get any weirder, but as usual, I was wrong. My heart is pounding and my stomach feels like I am on a roller coaster.

That’s some crazy experience! I’ve seen people get a ten percent level boost for a real hard quest. No one has ever received five whole skill levels! The new identity thing was pretty radical too. It would have to let me change everything about Whisper. Appearance, gender and probably even a server move. The gender switch could be nice. I have often wondered how much less of a hassle it would be if I had made Whisper a guy. I’d have to slowly rebuild my identity. It would be pretty suspicious to have a master level thief just suddenly appear when Whisper disappeared. Whisper is a damn good name for a thief though….hmmm. Maybe I could just make a male Whisper? The name isn’t really male or female. Nah, I think that if I am successful with this hit, the name Whisper is going to be pretty darn noticeable. Shit.

Oh well.

“Hmmm…I think Seramis’s stronghold is somewhere west of here.” I say to myself as I open up the in-game map.

Looks like it would be at least two days of hard riding on horseback from here since the quest didn’t port me as part of the deal.

Let’s see here now. I have about an hour before I have to be in bed. I’ve got maybe an hour and half, if I am real lucky and my Mom doesn’t notice me. Even if I could somehow magically get myself there, I would then have to sneak my way through her territory, and then get into her place undetected. Finally, I would have to find someplace inside to hide out during the day while I am offline and at school. Finally, I would need to find Seramis, kill her and escape.

“I am sooo screwed!” I say to myself as squeeze my eyes shut and tug on my hair with frustration. I hate no-win scenarios.

Okay, so to do this in the time limit, I’d have to be able to fly. Right?

I am beginning to think that the GM’s want me to fail.

“Wait a second…” I whisper with building excitement.

Whisper’s eyes sparkle as a devilish grin forms on her face.

**

The AI controlled guard patrolling the stables watched as Lord Vincint entered the stable that contained his flying griffon mount. While the guard never actually confirmed that it was Lord Vincint, who else in the entire camp had armor that was so highly polished and would dare to enter Lord Vincint’s stable? The guard also took note of the fact that Lord Vincint appeared to have entered the stable compound from the direction of the command tent. Finally, five minutes later, the guard turned to watch Lord Vincint take off and fly off to the East and towards the capital.

While the AI was good and probably more alert then a player controlled guard would have been. It still saw what it expected to see and missed the fact that Lord Vincint was still in the command tent. A bored out of their mind, player controlled guard would probably have been more curious. They would have made it a point to walk over to watch Lord Vincint saddle the rare and expensive griffon. While almost everyone in the game had a horse for travel, a griffon mount was the equivalent of a shiny red Porsche or Ferrari. Griffons were so rare and expensive that one always attracted the attention and admiration of the lower level players.

**

Once Lord Vincint and his griffon flew out of sight of the camp, his form began to shimmer and fade to reveal Whisper sitting astride the griffon. She directed the griffon to make a wide circle around the camp area before turning west to reach her real destination. She giggled with excitement as Brian let out the breath that he felt like he had been holding for hours.

Holy shit! I can’t believe that I just pulled that off! Did you freaking see that? I just stole my guild leader’s griffon! I’d always wanted to get a flying mount for Whisper, but my meager savings always seemed to be needed for some piece of gear upgrade or thief tool set. The prices people charge for thief’s tools. I think the tool craftsmen are the real thieves!

The major advantage to flying instead of walking or riding is that you can just point the griffon in the direction that you wanted to go, then sit back and relax. No worries about getting ambushed by random monsters or evil players. No need to constantly adjust course due to terrain. I think that I will walk downstairs and grab a soda. Maybe even take a bathroom break! Whoo Hoo!

Hmmm…maybe I should skip the soda and grab some water instead. It is kind of late and the sound of me opening a soda would probably raise my visibility with my parents. Something I did not need right now.

I double check my map and make a slight course correction, then I just sit and watch Whisper riding the griffon. The view is really very nice from up here. Whisper is silhouetted against the moon and stars. The dark forest and shining rivers far below are a sight to see. I watch her sitting astride the griffon. Her short raven black hair is swept back from the wind. I really like the hairstyle that I picked for her. I can’t tell you what the style is called, but it’s short in the back with long bangs that frame her face and end in points near her chin. Some of the women that take Sensei Roger’s class get that style so that their hair doesn’t get pulled. Sensei just loves to demonstrate just how easy it is for an attacker to use a woman’s long hair against her. Don’t even think about trying to come to class with a pony tail!

I take her mask off and rotate the camera around to look at her face. Her flawless computer generated skin, dark red lips with large almond shaped brilliant green eyes really do look stunning. The wind whips her hair around to expose the evidence of her elven heritage, her ears. They make her look even more exotic.

I’d totally hit on her if she was real! Geez, I am such a loser! Who am I kidding? If she was real and I tried to talk to her, she would just laugh in my face. Oh yeah, then she would probably kick my ass. Hehe

Oh yeah, something to drink. I think that while I’m downstairs that I will show my face and suck up to my parents. Maybe that will make them less likely to check on me if they think that I’m not playing the game.

Okay, the parents are watching their shows and barely even notice me. Oh noes, my parents have been turned into tele-zombies! Arg! Grrr!

Excellent!

I should have an extra half hour to get things setup before I get caught staying up. I run back up stairs after drinking my water. Ahhhh.

Oops, looks like Seramis’s territory is coming up fast. I re-equip Whisper’s mask as I look for a spot to land before I am spotted by a lucky patrol or something. I find an opening in the forest and instruct the griffon to land there.

It only took me thirty minutes to cover the distance that it would have taken me two or even three days on horseback. I really need to get me one of these flying mounts. They make getting around so much easier!

I click the mouse to dismount Whisper from the griffon. Then I spin her around to get a look around the small clearing for any sign of trouble.

I don’t spot anything, so I whisper to the griffon, “Now go fly home, please! That’s a good boy or girl. Hehe”

I am relieved when the griffon takes off and appears to leave in a direction that would take it back towards its stable. Maybe I will get lucky and the griffon will fly back to its stable. Then, maybe it will get back without Lord Vincint even noticing that it was missing. Oh, who am I kidding? Murphy’s Law is never going to allow that much good luck to happen for me.

Lord Vincint is going to be so pissed!

Do you want to know what the real sucky part about me stealing his griffon is?

The real sucky part is that I will never be able to tell anyone! I mean, come on! I just stole Lord Vincint’s personal griffon. The supreme leader of the Forces of Light! I stole it right out from the middle of his own fortified camp! By the gods, when that get’s out, every thief in the world is going to turn green with envy!

The next part would probably have them pissing in their pants though.