— CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE —

  The Morning After

  |Ace>

  Cherry and I woke up in a pile on top of each other in an inn in the red light district. Neither of us thought anything of it at the time, but it's quite the situation out of context.

  The first thing we did, since we were in the area, was head over to the player market and bought some weapons. I wanted a gun, but we were too broke to afford one, so I went for a half-decent shortsword and some pepper spray, and Cherry got some spiked knuckle dusters. The second thing we did was swing by the office and dropped off the artist article for Reggie.

  The third thing we did was head back to the Protectorate's library.

  Leonard was at the front desk again. He glanced up as we approached. "Oh, hey guys! Back again? Need the letter room key?"

  "No, we've got a couple new names this time." I pulled up my UI and flipped through my photo album to the drone pictures I'd taken of the people in the canal. I zoomed in, squinting at the blurry nameplates. "Uh... Basilard and... Narulu. Can you help us find anything on them?"

  "Sure thing! Let me check the records."

  He led us back to the records room to find their files - and, surprisingly, they both had one! We brought them back to the library and laid them out on a table.

  The file on Basilard was particularly thick - the guy sent in regular updates with very thorough notes on everything he came across. Even sketches of mobs with easy dismemberment points highlighted.

  Looking at the files, Leo mumbled, "Basilard... Basilard? I could have sworn this guy was Protectorate." He stood up suddenly. "One sec."

  He jogged off into the library stacks, leaving Cherry and me to examine the other file. Narulu's contributions were different - primarily focused on crafting. Their submissions contained materials lists, quality benchmarks, and recipe modifications for various items.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Maybe someone at Ethanolics Anonymous knows them?" I suggested.

  Leo returned waving a folded newspaper. "Yeah, I went to this guy's funeral!" He laid the newspaper on the table. "He was a rumor hunter - died delving into the ice chasms in the Frozen Wastes."

  Cherry and I exchanged glances. The newspaper had a small article on the second page commemorating Basilard's dedication to gathering information for the Wiki. There was even a photo of a memorial service held in the Academy's yard.

  "Sorry to tell you." Leo said, scratching the back of his neck. "What, uh, how did his name come up?"

  "Um..." I hesitated. "Just something listed in some old reports."

  Cherry leaned toward me and whispered, "Who the hell was that last night then?!"

  "I don't know," I whispered back, "but I think they were going to turn us into more of them!"

  Leo watched us with growing curiosity. I cleared my throat and tried to sound casual.

  "Hey, uh... keep an eye out. Maybe don't trust everything with a player's nameplate."

  Leo's eyes widened. He glanced around the library, then leaned in closer, lowering his voice.

  "Do you mean the numah?"

  Cherry and I looked at each other, then back to Leo. "You know about them?" I asked.

  "I met one." he said, his voice trembling slightly. "It was a perfect copy of me. This was down in the Underground Woodsea. We found a font of corruption and, while looking for its source, ventured into a cave. I got lost in the dark tunnels and found it. It attacked me - I think it was trying to kill and replace me. I haven't told anyone because I feel... crazy. But that's what you're talking about, right?"

  I leaned toward Cherry and whispered, "Did you incept the game into making all this stuff up with your dumb creepypastas?"

  Cherry's eyes gleamed with excitement. "I told you we were the real protagonists! It was our story that brought these things into this world, and it's going to be our story to take them out!"

  I turned back to Leo and nodded. "Yeah. We, uh, met something that may have been these people."

  Leo looked back at the files on the table, his face pale. "Wow. Where?!"

  "Right here - in the city!" I said. "The story NPCs up at the Citadel have been following them - apparently they started appearing after the Stonehearth attack."

  Leo frowned. "Are you sure that's right? The Vanguard started the infiltration of the Citadel's keep only a few days before Stonehearth - could that have started it?"

  I glanced at Cherry. "Wasn't that also when the Prince announced he was coming to the city?"

  "Yeah!" Leo confirmed.

  "The entente spooled up their operations at the same time this started." I said. "It has to be related."

  Leo shook his head. "But the story has been limited to the Citadel so far. Coming out into the city - the world, going off those patches of corruption we've found - and targeting players... What do they want?"

  "Nothing good." I said. "They tried to lure us in and zombify us last night."

  Leo's face drained of what little color remained. "What do we do?"

  "We're reporters!" Cherry declared, slamming her palm on the table. "We report on it!"

  "Yeah, we need to make this known." I agreed. "But I want as much evidence as possible."

  "What are you thinking?" Cherry asked.

  "Let's call in the boys."