MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious (14 page)

“No reason to leave the bugger alive, wouldn’t you say?”

Robert swallowed. “No, not really. Do we check the other ship now?”

At the other ship Rebecca found more or less the same. She moved stealthily past the pirates, only killing Fleetmaster Firallon when she encountered him. Rebecca jumped off the ship and walked over to Gunslinger.

“Let’s go. They must be at the third ship.”

Robert switched back to his own screen and followed Magekiller into the water. Now they were closer, he could see that the third ship was anchored at a little island as well. They set out for the southern tip of the island.

Soon, Robert saw that they had found their quarries. A group of players huddled together at the base of the ship’s gangway. He moved his curser over the group, getting the confirmation. These were members of The Hammer of Grimstone, Drimm among them.

“It’s them!”

“Yes, I saw. Now we have to be careful. You’re going to the other side of this tiny island. Stay well clear of the coast. Hurry up!’

Robert did as she told him, positioning Gunslinger some thirty yards south of the beach, treading water. After that, he switched back to the video link with Rebecca’s computer screen. She was already in stealth mode, standing no more than fifteen yards away from the Grimstones. Two of them were turned in her direction, looking straight through the invisible rogue.

“Are we going in?” he asked her.

“Let’s observe them from a distance first. Just to get some idea of what they’re up to.”

Right at that moment something happened. The group of eight split up, four players moving to the stern of the ship, the other four positioning themselves directly opposite the gangway. When they passed her, Rebecca moved backward a little, so she was standing ankle deep in the water.

“What do you think they’re doing?” Speaking the words, Robert noticed that he was whispering involuntarily.

“I don’t know,” Rebecca replied, also in a hushed tone. “It looks like they’re preparing for something.”

Abruptly, they all started to move. The group of four that was closest to them rushed the gangway and disappeared from view as they boarded the ship. There was a short burst of gunfire. It took little imagination to guess the fate of the crew on the deck. Two Grimstones briefly appeared at the railing as they mounted the stairs to the elevated upper deck. Again, gunfire told the story.

Meanwhile, the other group had split up again. Two were now guarding the lower side of the gangway resting in the sand, while the other two were standing guard at the railing above.

After maybe four minutes in which nothing happened, the four who had boarded the ship first came running down the gangway. They turned right as soon as their feet hit the sand and ran away in the direction of the opposite side of the little island. The others ran in the other direction, coming close to the hidden Magekiller. Drimm was one of them, and Robert could see every detail of his clothing. He was wearing a magnificently colored cloak that billowed behind him as he ran. His shoulder armor looked most impressive, bulging like the protection of an American Football player with some electrical looking spark that pulsed on and off. On his back he wore a huge war axe glowing with a bright white light.

“I definitely think they’re practicing for something,” Rebecca said, reminding Robert of why they were here.

He nodded. “Yes, but for what?”

“Isn’t it obvious? They’re practicing how to attack a ship. The question is, why?”

At that moment, the Grimstones all returned to the spot where they had been standing when they first saw them. They stood close together about fifteen yards from Magekiller. Apparently, some conversation was taking place. Suddenly, Rebecca started to move Magekiller forward, right in the direction of the group.

“What are you doing?”

“I think they’re going to do it again. We’re going to sneak on board and watch the action from close by.”

Robert held his breath as she walked slowly by the small crowd of Grimstones, passing them at a range of no more than five feet. It seemed she was going to successfully sneak on board. All of a sudden, when she was halfway up the gangway, something happened.

It was Drimm who suddenly shot some kind of flare into the sky, almost immediately followed by another flare fired by someone else. At the same time, the group dispersed, fanning out as if a poisonous snake had dropped out of the air right in their midst.

Rebecca reacted with lightning reflexes. Robert saw her click on a button, which increased her speed significantly. A second later she exploded onto the deck. Somehow the stealth of Magekiller was broken, because the Bloodsail Deckhand standing in her path immediately swung a sword at her. Without breaking stride, Rebecca pressed another button, making Magekiller disappear again. A few more steps brought her at the other side of the ship. With a huge jump Magekiller cleared the railing, hanging suspended between heaven and earth for a moment, before plummeting down into the water below. The fall took her several feet under the surface.

“Phew, that was a close call!” Rebecca exclaimed.

“Do you think they saw us?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes players are alerted to the presence of a stealthed enemy by a sound. I think that’s what happened. Call it bad luck.”

“What do you think, did they spot us?”

“My guess is that they didn’t, even though it was a close call. The most significant proof for that is that nobody shot at us or cast a spell on us. That means that none of them managed to actually target us.”

“Right,” Robert said unconvinced.

“Did you see the flares? Those are why hunters are so dangerous to rogues. When a hunter fires off a flare, all invisible enemies in a short range become exposed. Hunters also have the ability Track Hidden, which gives them an improved chance of detecting enemies in stealth mode.”

Robert thought back to what had just happened. “So your reaction was probably quick enough?”

She laughed. “They’re good, really good. Did you see how fast they reacted as a team? That was incredible teamwork and shows that they’ve fought many times together. But I’m at least as good as any of them. Never forget that on my own server, I am one of the three most successful Arena fighters. I think that I used Vanish just in time. That ability allows the rogue to disappear for a short time in the deepest stealth, even in the middle of a fight.”

“But they do know that
someone
was there.”

“Yes. That shouldn’t bother us too much though. They don’t know who, and they don’t know why. There are a lot of Alliance players around.”

She continued to swim away from the ship, only breaking the surface at a safe distance. They looked back at the ship for some time, not seeing any movement.

“You go back to Gunslinger and walk up to the ship. You’re not too suspicious here, a level twenty-seven hunter doing a quest. You’re low level, but it’s not entirely impossible. Tell me what you see.”

Robert activated World of Warcraft again and was back at the view of the still water treading Gunslinger. He swam toward the beach, hesitating a few seconds before actually leaving the safe water.

“What do you see?” Rebecca sounded impatient.

“One moment, I’m almost there!”

He walked up the beach toward the ship. All the Bloodsail buccaneers were dead.

“I see nothing, just a lot of dead pirates. They’re gone.”

“We’re being stupid. Check your social tab!”

Cursing for not thinking of that himself, he opened the Friends window. Sure enough, all the members of The Hammer of Grimstone were listed in other locations. Only one was still in Stranglethorn Vale. It was Caliburr, an Undead rogue. He told Rebecca so.

“Damn! Let me think for a moment.”

She remained silent for over a minute. When she spoke again, she sounded unsure for the first time. “Do you think we should send them a message? Or at least piss them off a bit?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“It’s no coincidence that they left a rogue behind. I bet he’s lying in ambush, to see if the invisible enemy returns. But what if we ambushed the ambusher? It might give away that we’re here, but it’ll also worry them. Maybe it’ll worry them enough to postpone executing their little rehearsal in real life.”

“Can we do that?”

“Sure, we have an advantage. You. Because you’re Horde as well, he isn’t invisible to you. You can enter the ship, pretend you’re just a player on a quest, and tell me where he’s hidden. He won’t see me coming, but I’ll know exactly where he is.

Robert thought about it. “I still think it’s better to remain anonymous to them. Let them guess whether there was someone here or not. And what it meant. If we kill Caliburr now, we’ll alert them to the fact that someone is actually taking an interest in them. We don’t want them to become even more paranoid. It’s hard enough as it is.

Rebecca let his words sink in. “I guess you’re right. Sometimes I’m too enthusiastic. But I still think you should go in and check what Caliburr is doing.”

“That’s right. I’ll do it now!”

Robert walked up the gangway and onto the deck. He saw nothing but more corpses. Cautiously, aware that any surviving Bloodsail buccaneer attacking him would pose serious problems, he entered the superstructure. The two guards were dead. He descended the stairs, coming into the hull of the ship. Large cannons were positioned at the gun ports. Crates were everywhere, as were the bodies of dead buccaneers. Robert saw at least six corpses scattered on the floor. One more was in a strange position, more or less hanging over a cross beam. He tried to remember the layout of the two other ships they had been in earlier, and turned right toward the captain’s quarters.

He saw him in the hut adjacent to the captain’s. Caliburr was in stealth mode, just standing there, a dead Bloodsail buccaneer at his feet. Through the other door, he could see the corpse of Captain Stillwater on the floor. On an impulse, he addressed the level eighty rogue. “Hi, could you help me with killing the Captain when he spawns again? I failed twice yesterday.”

It took a few moments before Caliburr reacted. He wasn’t subtle. “Piss off,” was all he had to say. Immediately, Robert regretted holding Rebecca back from killing him.

“Thanks a lot,” he replied, giving him a wave and a cheer. He walked into the next cabin, turning sharply to the right to stand immediately around the corner and out of sight of Caliburr. He started to use his hearthstone to return home.

“Rebecca, next time you may kill the bastard. Slowly and painfully!”

~~~

CHAPTER XIII

Afterward
, Robert and Rebecca spoke on the phone for nearly two hours. She was adamant about her interpretation of what they had seen.

“There can be no doubt about it,” she repeated again. “They’re preparing for an attack on a boat.”

Robert wasn’t really arguing with her. He had to admit that, until today, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of the Grimstones using WoW as a practice ground. Now the idea was taking root in his head. It wasn’t unlikely that the terrorists were using the virtual world not only for communications, but for training and preparation as well. At the least, it was a scenario that had to be considered.

He just didn’t jump to firm conclusions as fast as she did. On the other hand, there was no denying the facts. The question remained what they were going to do about it. Even if the Grimstones were preparing for an attack on some boat in the real world, what were they going to do about it? How were they going to stop them?

They discussed the question at length. Rebecca thought that Robert should return to the police with what they had discovered so far. Robert didn’t see the point.

“We have no hard or conclusive evidence whatsoever,” he repeated again. “I have nothing new to show them!”

He heard her yawn over the phone. He was getting tired as well. “Maybe we should sleep on it,” he suggested. “Tomorrow is another day!”

“Yes, maybe we should. Hey, Robert-” She stalled.

“Yes?”

“I think we’re a great team. Speak to you tomorrow. Sleep well!”

He smiled. “Sleep well!”

He sat thinking in his chair for a minute. A sudden sound drew his attention to his computer screen.
Drimm has gone offline
he read. On an impulse, he opened his Friends window again. Three of the members of The Hammer of Grimstone were still online in some place called Onyxia’s Lair.

He debated what to do. Should he play on for awhile? Try to reach level twenty-eight tonight? He looked at his watch. It was two o’clock in the night.

“Just one more quest!” he promised himself.

The next morning he cursed his lack of discipline. He had played on for nearly three hours, telling himself time after time he would stop after
this
quest, and then, after the next. In the end, he played on until he reached level twenty-nine.

When the alarm clock woke him, he felt dead tired, just as if he had drank too much the night before. Even the headache felt the same. He shuffled to the shower and dressed in bright clothes afterward, adopting Andy’s tactic for the day after a heavy drinking party. Feeling slightly better, he went downstairs in search of breakfast and coffee. After collecting all of this on a plate, he took one of the
Herald Tribunes
off the rickety narrow table in the hall and went back to his room.

The
Herald
had devoted a whole spread, two pages, to the assassination of the Israeli banker in Belgium. The article provided a detailed reconstruction drawing of the shooting, together with several photos of the house and the grounds. The movements and actions of the attackers had been marked with arrows. It was an informative article that showed exactly what had transpired on that night. Robert scanned the article and emailed it to Rebecca. He sent her a text message telling her to check her mail. Having done all that, he finally had breakfast.