Somewhere far away from the Raid, Rance blinked against the dull glow of his second monitor.
Faint moonlight leaked under the bottom of his blackout curtains—it was midnight already. His fan spun slowly overhead. There were unopened takeout boxes on the floor ready to be eaten during a break. A stack of energy drink cans behind his chair, and an alarm clock blinking 1:17. He hadn't changed clothes since the pre-raid prep the night before.
Back in the real world, Rance was 24. Third year student majoring in Computer Science from Harvard. He was on his summer break. There were two options at hand during summer: Either Be a Quant Intern at a Big 4 company, or sit at home and play video games all day and be stinky while doing so.
Well, you'd think he took the latter option, correct? But no, this week was just a period of time where Rance, real life name: Robert, had taken a week off from his internship.
In the game, he was Cragthorn, a high-level Juggernaut tank of the guild Lich Spire. The kind of player whose name showed up on Reddit and YouTube after a solo raid clear challenge. The kind that many blueberries(code for newbies), would love to have on their teams. Rance would join random teams along their raids after he'd get off of work. He would usually carry in DPS phases, and would rarely use his microphone, since he'd see it as a hassle to explain why he's running two special ammo weapons, and a Mythical rocket launcher, as opposed to just one Mythical Sniper, Lazarus, which was meta for the previous year. This loadout was good for teams that we're running with full synergy and coordination but since most of the teams would wipe multiple times before locking in, he thought it would be beneficial to his time to run the Rocket Launcher, to maximise his solo DPS and have the opportunity to kill the boss in a single damage phase.
In real life, he was quoted to be "shy", and "untalkative". His colleagues would often ask him to speak up louder. In-game, he would led raids like a goddamn general with his deep monotone voice.
Rance scratched his neck, eyes locked on the screen.
The bathhouse pulsed as Zedek touched the pillar. The ground beneath them grumbled almost as if it were alive. His eyes stared at the minute crack appearing, and it just so happened to form a Y-shaped formation originating from the middle of the space.
"Three different routes we have to go to.", he muttered.
The party followed Cragthorn into the first route. The fog behind them sifting through the cracks in their armor, and their expensive cosmetics.
Rance didn't believe in buying flashy chestpieces for his tank, since he liked to aura farm. He would like to buy mostly cosmetics for Mythical helmet, and swords, that too, saving up currency received from buying the season pass.
The party walked in a narrow 4-3-3 Yourwings, Zedek, Cragthorn, Visage on the front. Lizzie, SoulSnacc, Shrike9 in the middle. June gave company to Tekko and Riven at the back.
The sandstone walls were etched with endless murals that were tragic. Shameful. Faces frozen in the moment of betrayal. Some running away. Dried up blood looking like a hue of black paint was plastered in the lower parts of the walls.
Lizzie stopped beside one.
Two identical warriors, spears drawn against each other. "They're the same person," she muttered.
"They are," Visage replied. "And neither is the hero."
She gasped as a small dagger fell near her feet, making a noise that rung her ears. The party slowly turned their heads towards the ceiling. Far above them, in the vaulted ceiling, weapons jutted downward—hundreds of them. Before the party could form another thought, the weapons fell on them.
-
Lizzie stared as the weapons hit the barrier made by June, each one falling making a loud clank, followed by a transparent circular wave of energy as its pointy tips hit the opaque yet solid barrier.
[June-Level 201- Healer- Guildless]
She grazed past everyone and kneeled down to observe damages.
"I'm fine, Junebug.", Lizzie blushed.
"Still."
-
The group had focused on a particular story on the wall.
"Five weapon types. I'm seeing...spear, axe, bow, dagger, wand."
"What's the pattern?" SoulSnacc asked, bouncing slightly on his heels. "I swear if this is another stupid puzzle—"
"It isn't." Cragthorn cut in.
He stepped closer to one of the murals. A general standing before a throne. Behind him, assassins with wicked smiles reaching their ears crept from the shadows. The crown on the throne was melting.
Zedek's voice crackled over comms. "They're arranged like a sentence."
Tekko, having had enough, pulled back his dagger, with a blue tinge of mana flowing from his wrist, finally dragged it on the hard wall.
[Tekko-Level 155- Stealth DPS/ Assasin- Guild: Lich Spire]
The blue colour almost started to fill it in, like a coloring book. He smirked and closed his eyes focusing his mana, filling one fifth of the wall. Cragthorn, Zedek , Yourwings, and June followed with their respective weapons soon. The whole mural was looking almost animated now with mana. For a moment there after not having any new objective pop up, they thought this was for the secret loot chest that would be useless.
June, held her arm to her chest and thought she heard something, a creepy whisper from behind her. She looked back to see that the first pillar was now glowing.