Ember Wind: Corrupted

The Council's Plan

It was only a few days before a message reached Creoft. Contained in a letter delivered by a house servant from one of the Roleplay guilds within the game, was a message from Tullus.

Creoft, I hope this letter reaches you. I want to regather the council for a strike plan. Today is what? Late January? 25th I think? I've lost track of real-world dates. Anyways, I want to gather the council on the 28th and I want the full guilds here. When we conceive this plan, we'll want to move fast and hit hard. If your reports about the glitches and mob sentience are right, then we have very little time to mobilize. Gather your guild and meet in Swampmaw just outside the city gates. Oh, by the way, don't trust the built-in mail system, something is wrong with it and several higher ranking members have gone missing. Stay vigilant, brother.

Ygdran Tullus

Council of Protectors' Overseer

Guild Leader of the Remnants of Rome

Creoft closed the reader menu and huffed. He opened the guild menu and saw the population count which was just under a few hundred. He turned to the well-dressed roleplayer and asked him, "how do you feel about delivering three hundred and forty-seven letters today"

The roleplayer gulped, "I may need to recruit of few of my partners from House Falinor and House Raglan."

"Then do so swiftly, These must reach their counterparts by today's end."

The color quickly drained from the messenger. "Today? You're surely jesting?"

Creoft shook his head, "I wish I was. This mail is important and needs to be delivered immediately. Rally what friends you need to complete this."

The messenger nodded. Creoft gathered three hundred plus pieces of paper and copied and pasted the generic message across all copies. The messenger took the stacks into his inventory and ran off from town towards a farm in the south.

When January 28 arrived, Creoft entered Swampmaw in the early morning to scout out the gathering area and to his relief, it was clear of enemies. He sat around the area, switching his resting spot every couple of minutes. Tullus was the next to arrive with Elvici in tow. Creoft made his way over to them. "Morning Tullus, Elv."

Tullus shifted his helm under his left arm and shook Creoft's hand with his right. "Good to see you made it, what about the others from your guild?"

"The general gathering should be here, I have my doubts the letters made it to the group up north in Ashua. Speaking of which, what's the reason against the built-in mass mailing system?" Creoft asked.

"I used it shortly after the meeting to inform the rest of the guild of the event. Unfortunately, something happened to the higher ranking men in my guild. I checked the guild population tab just out of curiosity and a bad feeling a couple of minutes later. Four junior officers were shown as offline."

"That doesn't mean the message or mailing system killed them."

"It doesn't but I put your sentience idea into theory and it may fit in. If what you suggest is true then this sentient NPC, A.I., whatever is using the mail system to hunt some people down."

"That's odd and rather unusual. I didn't think in-game locations could be tracked through the mail."

"No one would. That's why it's so perfect for this rogue system to utilize it. If we can deny it information, it can't fight us. In the meantime, we'll need to utilize the Roleplay guilds as couriers or supply our own. Keep anything written down brief and vague. The less it knows, the better."

"Agreed but why the roleplay guilds?"

"They're willing to do it for cheap. I mean a hundred gold for a dozen letters kind of cheap. They may not be combatants, but we can still put them to use."

A group of horses and riders came galloping from a nearby transit shrine. Janik was on the back of his decorated midnight steed. Janik dismounted and the horse faded away into pixels. His personal guardsmen dismounted and their horses faded into pixels as well. Janik greeted the other council members with a smile. "How goes plan?"

Creoft shook Janik's hand, "It hasn't started yet. We're waiting on our guildmates to arrive."

Tullus then added, "We have some important information that'll be shared during the meeting."

Janik nodded and greeted Elvici a kiss to her cheek. "Guten Morgen, Dame."

Elvici mirrored the gesture.

Tullus crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. Creoft took notice and commented, "Feeling anxious?"

"More like eager, I want to end it today and be done with the whole situation," Tullus replied.

"I know the feeling but we still have a long way to go." Creoft placed a hand on his shoulder, "we'll be home in time for Christmas."

Tullus nodded and took a deep breath. "When I get out, I think I'm going to stay far away from gaming entirely."

"You and me both."

"What about your job?"

"To hell with it."

A little past the hour, the various members of the guilds started arriving. By the end of the hour, the last stragglers rolled in; some quite literally. With over two thousand high ranking soldiers, many of whom are in the top thousand in combat ability, present and accounted for, the meeting began. Tullus stood atop a large mossy boulder overlooking the sea of helmets and hoods. He coughed once for their attention. "Brothers, sisters. Welcome to the witch hunt. Before we begin the big hunt, however, I have several important pieces of information that you must all remember. First off, do not use the built-in mail system. Something or someone is tampering with it and killing off the mail recipients."

A faint murmur broke out amongst the crowd. Tullus waited a moment and continued, "In its stead, we shall be using the Roleplay guilds as messengers-"

In an instant, there was an uproar among a few of the members, "Those sons of bitches are useless! They're cowards, how can we trust them to do this if they cannot fight?!"

Tullus, already aggravated, barked over them, "QUIET! Holy shit people. They're messengers, not combatants, be thankful you aren't turning to them for military support. Anyways, for the time being, if you have a message to deliver, either give it to your guild's mail caretaker or to a messenger directly. Being passed around is a letter containing the names of the guilds that'll be acting as our couriers until the mail system is fixed.

"I know you all have been eagerly waiting to go to the next zone and conquer the boss there but the deep snow and blistering cold are extremely dangerous. However, thanks to Creoft and Dailin of the Guardians of the Collapsed, a route to the nearest city has been plotted. Additionally, Creoft will be taking over the duties as leader of the Guardians due to the unfortunate passing of Dailin." Tullus then fell silent and saluted her, fist over his heart.

"When we finish our job here, we'll make our move into the new region known as Ashua. As the final piece of information before I discuss the plan, I want to talk about the glitches. After the council's previous meetup, we've come to the conclusion that an outside force is tampering with the game and has re-awaken old bugs. If someone or you suddenly falls over screaming in pain, do not touch them. I repeat, do not touch them until they can stand on their own. This glitch creates sound and visual overstimulation which will paralyze you due to the excruciating pain. This glitch spreads upon contact like a plague."

Tullus silenced himself for a minute to let the crowd take it in and ponder it. He then continued on, discussing the plan in full detail. "With all other matters aside, it has come to the attention of this council that the guild of Poison Oath is in fact not dead but rather alive through the actions of its counterpart, Poisoned Order. This newly discovered murder guild has been operating as a hitman organization using the idea itself to justify their murders. Using the few prisoners we have, we've traced the lines back to an abandoned house in the middle of the swamp. According to them, the head of their hit squad uses this location as a meeting ground to talk to the contract giver.

"Through the mail system, a hit request has been put in place, one that targets my head. We'll be waiting for the signal and march on this meeting. With some luck, we'll cut off the head of the snake and the body will writhe and die off. If not, then we'll have to hunt them like rats. Guild Masters, configure your soldiers and get ready for battle. I have my doubts she'll be alone."