— CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE —

  Economy and Politics

  - Oct 9 - Day 17 -

  {Lucy}

  As had become my routine, I woke up and checked my messages. Excalibur had gotten back to me on the innards of the Trade Union's ordering system. Looked like they were operating it like a stock market. Excellent news - I responded with a proposition. With the remains of my share of the cloak sale, I would make the economic calls while Excalibur, with her easy access to the main office, managed the trading.

  While that plan was cooking, I went out and retrieved my morning paper, then went back inside. I had some eggs, bacon, and toast I'd made the other day sitting nice and fresh in the cupboard, perfectly hot despite the age. I sat down to read.

  The Green Book Manifesto: What Is It?

  If you've passed through the less-busy public spaces in the past few days, you may have seen or heard one of the soapbox orators that have been popping up across the city. Or maybe you have heard wind of or even gotten a copy of a blank green notebook that has been making its way around the underbelly.

  The Guard usually shut down the speakers as a public disturbance, insisting that such discourse should be kept to the weekly town hall meetings. And while, to our knowledge, they do not have an official restriction against the book, there are individual reports of Guard patrolmen confiscating copies, and we have confirmed the World Guard have objected to the Protectorate preserving a copy in their library.

  So what is this manifesto, and why does it have the World Guard on edge? Well, as you may have guessed, the source is one of their detractors.

  The group in question is a guild called the Black Hand, and the principal cause for their dissent is what they are calling the undemocratic policies of the World Guard, namely the lack of direct influence that the people have over the policy-making process. This is not an uncommon criticism, with prominent community figures such as the Protectorate's Pascal making similar claims. However, the difference lies in how this new group respond to the problem. The Black Hand are calling for peaceful non-recognition of 'self-imposed' World Guard authority.

  The World Guard's stance is that these activities, while well-intentioned, serve primarily to cause baseless worry and fear among the player base. "We are as transparent and open about our operations as always." an official commented. "There's a difference between expressing opinions and actively calling for resistance. A political system only works when people participate in it, and we encourage anyone with ideas or objections to voice them in a productive setting."

  What do you think: free speech, or nuisant fearmongering?

  -Editor Reggie

  I... honestly didn't have strong feelings either way. The Guard had been quite reasonable and attentive so far, but I saw the need to set good precedents to maintain that status. As long as neither side started to interfere with me directly, I had no horse in the race.

  Anyway, I had not received any special instructions on what to do for the day - no key fights to watch, no news on getting a new group. That meant it was another miniboss day. Just as I was preparing to head out, however, I got a guild notification. There was going to be a meeting regarding the raid group for the next boss kill later that day, held in the Resistance camp after garden patrols were recalled. Given my lack of action on part of not having a group, I couldn't imagine I would be needed, but I figured I'd go anyway. It would be just as productive as watching the same fight over and over.

  And I was right that it was a dull day - I was doing oversight on one of the small, repeatable miniboss fights that dropped dungeon-grade loot. It was well-trod ground; everyone had done it a hundred times. There was nothing more to learn from them, except maybe to experiment with dealing physical damage to the mob's bodies - which I had been recommending for a week now and received no response on whatsoever.

  As the sun began to set, I made my way out of the Citadel. Early on, after the courtyard gates had been opened, the Resistance and Loyalists set up camps on the motte outside the Citadel. They didn't do anything to help the players inside; they were simply there to 'prevent that mad bastard from sending anything into the city'. It gave the Vanguard places to organize ourselves before heading inside, anyway.

  On one side of the road was a haphazard collection of tents stitched together from mismatched swatches of blue fabric. Makeshift fortifications of salvaged wood and scrap metal ringed the perimeter. The banner of the Resistance fluttered overhead, the fabric snapping in the evening breeze.

  Tempest members were slowly trickling into the center of the camp, where the NPCs normally pored over maps and charts and discussed the logistics of getting reinforcements and supplies into the city. I found myself a spot with a nice view on top of a stack of crates at the edge of the clearing. The crowd got fairly thick. This would be Tempest's third boss, and everyone was eager to claim a piece of the glory. I couldn't bring myself to care.

  "Hey, Lucy!" a familiar voice called out. I glanced over to see Matt working his way into the camp and lean against my crates. "What have I missed?"

  "It hasn't started yet." I replied. "Any news on my group assignment?"

  Matt grimaced, shaking his head apologetically. "Sorry, but I don't think they're going to listen to me. If it makes you feel any better, they've had me stuck on administrative... bologna for the past week."

  "Is that where you're coming from?"

  "Yeah, we just had a meeting with the Guard." he confirmed. "They want to open the gardens up to the public, let them see what's going on. Outreach and exposure and all that to get the public more invested in what's going on up here, get more donations. And they want the Vanguard to offer protective services, kind of like how Shake Spear does those escort contracts for Ethanolics Anonymous."

  I nodded. "That could offer a significant source of income, as well as generating fresh interest in the cause."

  "Yeah. My idea is to set up a 'containment breach' and let a mob get up close and personal with the visitors. Picture it: 'Ah, no! Look at this giant, scary monster! Run for your lives!' And of course, it's just a regular trash mob, completely under control the whole time." He chuckled at his own cleverness.

  "What is this, a theme park?"

  "Well, that's essentially what they're proposing, isn't it?" he spread his hands wide. "Charge admission to see the attractions. May as well go all the way and turn it into a proper show!"

  Before I could respond, a hush fell over the crowd. I turned my attention to the front, where Wulfric had taken the stage. His expression was... between disappointment and frustration as he made his announcement.

  "I know everyone has been excited to hear about the next raid - it's what we've been working toward for weeks. However, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up here. Preparations are being put on hold for the time being. There's been a competing claim for the same boss by Steel Rage. For now, everyone is to continue grinding for life crystals and gear in the dungeons and focus on securing the gardens. We're handling the issue; we're working with both the World Guard and Steel Rage to sort this out. Just hold tight; we'll have more news soon."

  A wave of disappointed groans washed over the crowd. Another setback, another delay in our progress. Well, disappointment was my norm, so it was on with my life.

  - Oct 16 - Day 24 -

  The ping of an incoming message woke me up. I'd put curtains up to stop the light from shining in my face, so my room was still dark. Rubbing my eyes, I pulled up my menu. The message was from Siegfried, asking if I would be doing combat oversight on his fight today. That I was.

  As I typed out the confirmation, I noticed the time. Half an hour until the raid started - and that was about how long the run across the city was.

  "Bob Saget!" I flung off the covers and ran out the door, switching from my pajamas to business outfit as I ran. Grabbing the paper out of the first mailbox I came across, I quickly stopped in at Hero Hero. I really shouldn't've - it was expensive, and that cloak money was getting thin. Hopefully Excalibur and I would start to turn a profit soon. Still, I deserved it.

  I sprinted through the gardens, getting to the observation stands as the raid was preparing. Matt was there, so I sat next to him, shoving bites of sandwich into my mouth and glancing over the paper.

  Citadel Open for the Public!

  For those of you who haven't been keeping track, the Vanguard have been progressing very smoothly through the Citadel gardens. In total, six bosses have been brought down with three more located and awaiting resource unlocks from the Trade Union. But have you ever been curious what that looks like? What it's like to walk through the garden's maze? See how large these monsters they're fighting are in-person? Well you no longer need to be content reading the reports and living vicariously through our pictures!

  In conjunction with the Trade Union's management team, the Vanguard has announced that they will be offering tours to the public starting this Friday - in two days! The World Guard has assessed the Vanguard's security and judged the place to be perfectly safe. They have teams roaming the labyrinth, culling the respawning mobs, and all paths have been labeled according to the Vanguard's navigation system.

  Come see our finest experiment with mechanics, fight minibosses, or simply admire the beauty of the gardens - every plant in the game is here in one place, from the volcanic depths of the Line of Fire to the gargantuan redwoods of the Woodsea to the luminescent neon nightscape of the Fungal Valley - it's a way to explore the world without taking weeks off work or worrying about overleveled mobs. And our tip: Make sure you take a picture of the sign that explains the Vanguard's navigation system - it's a big place.

  The Citadel gardens will be open from 9 AM to 9 PM every day. Admission is 1.50 marks per person, .50 for minors, for a day pass. All proceeds go to the Vanguard guilds and help to finance their gear, consumables, and the resource gates to continue progression.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  -Ace reporter, Cherry Keane

  They did it. They actually did it. Naturally; we needed the money to gear up the lower-performance people to boost them up for better dungeon grinding. They'd also set up a contract with Ethanolics Anonymous to harvest the gatherable herbs in the gardens. From what I understood, there were random, slow-spawning nodes that could be any plant in the game, even those from the max-level zones.

  I trusted they had arranged for sufficient security. The additional personnel needed may even mean I was going to be reassigned to help. ... But what if they made me a tour guide? And what if one of the tutorial crew came by and saw me? 'Oh, hey Lucy! So... you give tours now?'

  'Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing tours now. ... Ah, a giant, scary monster broke loose! Run for your lives!'

  I tossed the paper down. "You hear about this?" I asked Matt. "They take you up on that monster thing?"

  "It's too much of a 'safety hazard' ..." He smirked, "So, you know, not 'officially'. Oh, looks like we're starting."

  The raid today was the first mixed guild group - a coalition of the smaller guilds had banded together to make a joint claim against a boss. Siegfried, who had chosen to remain a free agent, was helping them. The group was composited from Ruin, Hermann Park Vacancy, and the FUN Rangers.

  The arena was a long loop of desert sand and rocks that spanned across several floors of the gardens like a racetrack. The boss was not currently visible; only the rocky caves that dotted the course and a suspicious tuft of dark tentacles sticking out of the ground in the middle of a bulbous crook in the circuit.

  The tentacles waved in the wind as the group split up around them and approached carefully.

  Suddenly, the ground erupted in a geyser of sand and stone. The boss burst forth, a monstrous kangaroo rat, its yellow eyes blazing with that possessed light most of the monsters had. Shadowy tentacles whipped the air in place of its whiskers, and its fur was encrusted with chunks of rock to provide armor.

  The creature moved quickly, hopping erratically around the arena, evading the tanks and the group's melee fighters and seemingly ignoring the threat table. At times, the ground rose up to encase the beast in a hardened shell. It rolled along the track like a ball, scattering players. Then it used the burrow network to vanish, only to ambush stragglers at the edges of the group. It was the most generally chaotic fight I had seen yet, but the raid countered it with impressive coordination.

  Beside me, Matt frowned. "Hermann Park is supplying about half the personnel, but it looks like they're the least prepared."

  I had noticed that most of the people getting caught out by the boss' burrow attacks were Hermann Park members.

  "I was worried about that." I said. "Their leader's not rallying them - it's Siegfried holding them together."

  Matt nodded. "Now FUN, on the other hand, they've clearly got the most individual skill, but there's only six of them here. They'd do better with a group that can make more room for them."

  I had to agree. There may have only been six FUN Rangers, but they were consistently the ones rescuing the ambushed people. As I watched, two of them, a girl with a gun and another with a bow and a tiger pet, laid out a rope across the track. With the help of two heavily armored men, they yanked it taut right in front of the boss moments before it could leap. The creature stumbled, tripped up by its own momentum, and fell to the ground with a thud that sent dust billowing into the air.

  Before the kangaroo rat could recover, the other two FUN members - mages from the looks of it - joined in. They encased one of its spindly legs in ice. As the boss struggled to break free, the girls tied the rope to a large rock, effectively chaining it to the ground.

  With the monster prone, the melee fighters of the raid closed in and hacked at it for some real damage. The corrupted whiskers whipped at them as if they had a mind of their own, but otherwise the beast was unable to retaliate.

  It did eventually break free by warping the stone of the cliffside and causing a small rockslide that dislodged the rope. But while it didn't end the fight, that clever trick had bought them about a quarter of the boss' health.

  "Yet again, there's a way to neuter the mechanics." Writing it down for my report, I mumbled, "And the chances anyone will care are still zero."

  "Who cares about the tactics?" Matt said with a shrug. "The chances of the same exploit working in multiple fights is low. Remember what that admin said? Don't get stuck looking at what worked before."

  "What are we here to do, then? This is a tactical analysis position!"

  "We're identifying the meta composition the competition is using and identifying individuals we could use to solidify our groups."

  I was about ready to throw my pen and paper down in frustration. "Is that why no one listens to any of my advice?! Why didn't anyone tell me that's what we're supposed to be doing?! Good god, this is even more of a waste of time than I thought!"

  Some fellow observers glanced over at my outburst, so I quieted down. Taking a breath, I tried again. "Are we not trying to beat the Citadel in the most efficient way possible?"

  "Sure we are." Matt said, infuriatingly calm. "But in order to do that, we need a foundation."

  I nearly choked on the word. "Foundation?! Is that where their heads are still at?! They've been at it for a month! The cement's already dried; you can't even put the steel beams in anymore!"

  "It's nothing to freak out about."

  "Freak out?! I just realized I'd been doing my makeup wrong this whole time! It's me; I'm the clown!"

  I sat there, stewing in shock for the rest of the fight. Good gravy.

  Marvelous work by the minor guilds there, by the way. Their teamwork truly put Tempest and Steel Rage to shame.

  - Oct 24 - Day 32 -

  I woke up to darkness, my bedroom blinds blocking the morning light. I struggled out of bed and twisted them open. Bright sunlight flooded in, blinding me momentarily. I shut them again with a groan. Glancing at my messages, I saw a note from Fritz about mob spawns changing due to player actions. Interesting, but I hadn't ventured outside the city walls much lately.

  Walking outside, I grabbed my newspaper from the mailbox. Breakfast? ... Nah. Instead, I read the headlines as I walked up to the Citadel.

  Sweet, Sweet Sound!

  What's up everyone? It's another Thursday and we're coming at you with the biggest bomb of the season: Live concert performances are here! Those of you that went to last month's Summer's End Beach Party know what that means! (Wait, it's been a month already?) And if you didn't, you're going to have to trust me - you don't want to miss this one. The energy - the life - the music! It's a spiritual enlightening.

  A collection of musical performances originating in Celestia Grand's street talent scene have announced they will be doing a series of live shows throughout the world starting on October 28th and leading up to Halloween night, where they will be playing Syzygy Square! We're talking Ernie and Finkelstein, Bzeech, Feb, Dubois and the Blocks, chlorinE, Funkalicious Stottlemeyer, and no lineup would be complete without my main girl Mila Ezra.

  They'll be playing two shows a day split across both starting cities, the three major cities, and Celestia Grand itself. Times and locations are listed down in our Happening Now! column. Only the Syzygy and Park performances are free of charge, so remember to get those tickets!

  You can catch me in the crowd!

  -Courtney

  That sounds nice. I'd have to check the time for the show in the Park.

  In other news, the guilds had cleared out most of the garden labyrinth. Excluding Oxtongue and the Sentinels, seven bosses had been discovered down there. Five were already dead and another was expected to fall soon. That only left the disputed claim between Tempest and Steel Rage hanging in limbo.

  Precious little was left to actually do in the gardens, but they were more active than ever. Tourists swarmed the courtyard in droves. The major guilds were hard at work patrolling the place and keeping it safe for them. So now, in addition to watching the fights on loop, I had a constant flow of sightseers coming and going on their rotation to see all the minibosses. They were awed by the bravery and theatrics of the Vanguard. Wow! Look at them valiantly fight that same thing for the fifteenth time today!

  By the end of the day, my notepad was completely empty. There was nothing of value left here.

  With a sigh, I wandered out through the turnstiles and ticket booths, past the excited line of night tourists eager for their evening monster show. From the courtyard, the city sprawled out below me, dyed a cool blue in the dusk. Cheerful NPCs busied themselves putting up Halloween decorations. Sorry - Festival of the Hallowed Stars decorations.

  I turned off the boulevard into the Resistance camp. Inside one of the tents, Archibald was going over a pile of collected reports from the day. I dropped my blank notepad onto the stack.

  Archibald glanced at it, then fiddled with his pen. "Lucia, your performance in oversight committees has been slipping."

  "My advice isn't used, so why bother?"

  "We can't use everything we get - that would be counterproductive and sometimes paradoxical."

  "But you don't listen to anything! And is there any news on my request to transfer out of oversight?"

  "Well..." Archibald fiddled with his pen again, the silence stretching uncomfortably. "You are falling behind most of the groups in level; there isn't really a place for us to put you right now."

  "But I'm falling behind because you put me on oversight duty! And then you don't even take my feedback!"

  I had been trying to grind in the sewers in my off hours to keep up, but there simply wasn't enough time in the day. I wasn't getting anything done, and they weren't giving me any way to work out of this hole they'd shoved me into.

  "... I want a vacation." I declared.

  Archie's brows rose. "It's only been a month."

  "Well, I need some time to grind my own levels if that's the problem!"

  "Christmas isn't too far away; perhaps around the holidays-"

  I shook my head, cutting him off. "I-... Then I guess I quit."

  "Lucia-"

  "No, just... no one will even miss me, so who cares? No one wants me here; I'm just another carnival attraction." I laughed bitterly. "'Hey, look here, we've got one of the people that killed Oxtongue on our roster!'"

  "Lucia-"

  "'Join us and you could become that famous!'" I mocked, throwing my hands up. "I'm only here because of that stupid medal! I'm just something tacked onto the accolade."

  "Lucia-"

  "Tell you what, I could even give you the medal! You can pretend you were there! No one will check; no one remembers my face!"

  Archibald sighed heavily. "If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you. But think for a second - do you have a plan?"

  "I've got no future here, so what's the difference?!"

  "You're frustrated." he said. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep on this? Come back tomorrow?"

  I took a deep breath, steadying myself. "No. No, I've... been stewing on this awhile, and right now, this is the best I've felt in weeks." A manic smile stretched across my face. "I'm done. I'm out! I'm... gonna buy a car and just drive! Command Sharp: Guild: Quit!"

  A glowing notification popped up in front of me: 'Are you sure you want to leave your current guild?' And I was. I absolutely was.

  Archibald nodded in understanding. "Then I wish you luck... finding something."

  "Oh, I already have!" I turned on my heel and strode out of there giggling my head off. My laughter echoed through the encampment all the way down to the city and down North Boulevard.

  At Syzygy Square, I collapsed onto a bench. Above me, the wide, deep blue dusken sky stretched out into infinity.

  What the hell was wrong with me? What the hell was wrong with this world?

  And as I was coming down from my fit, it set in.

  What do I do now?

  Anything! I told myself. I can do anything!

  Well, how about getting out of the city, for starters.

  I opened my friends list, and scrolled through it. Aside from the Vanguard people, I had... Flora and Excalibur, who worked in the city; Davi and her brother, who were probably on Shake Spear business. Did I want to sign up with Shake Spear? Davi seemed to be enjoying it... No, I needed time alone.

  And then... there was Fritz and Percy. I wonder what they're up to? I was under their level... but they always seemed to be tackling content way above their level anyway. Would it make a difference for me?

  It was worth asking, at least. My fingers hovered over the holographic keyboard, and I started to type, the UI glowing a bright blue against the fading night sky.

  ---

  Next Time:

  What are the boys doing when they get Lucy's message? Searching the wild blue yonder? Watching amber waves of grass roiling in the fading light? Resting under the boughs of a Woodsea Redwood? Who can say what's going on in that wide, wild world.

  Episode 7 - Fritz and Percy Kill a Man