Chapter 43: The Dark Lands?

The party make it to the opposite side of the city half a day after leaving the house they were using in the city, before leaving the gate as it opens directly out onto the Dark Lands the party made up of one fewer member still has to be vetted against the soldiers that stand guard there. But that process was quickly dismissed after Ami and Arano unsheathed their swords made of the only material known to defeat the Dark King. Once they saw them, they stood down, turned around preparing for the gate to open and signalled the operator who then began opening the gate. The gate slowly rose up into the wall the soldiers stepping forward to send back any forces that might want to try and enter the city, with the immediate area ahead clear the soldiers at the gate stepped aside and motioned for the party to proceed through. Once through and clear of the gate it began to lower once more, cutting the party off from the last bastion before the Dark Lands until their return. Facing forward once again the party set off towards the heart of the Dark Lands and the castle in which the Dark King resides waiting for the party’s arrival.

“There’s nothing here anymore, huh?”
“No, that there is not. It’s been so long since we came up with the design that I forgot we made it look like this, well that and having more important things to think about.”
“Seeing it up close like this. It makes me cringe a tiny bit because all of this is a combination of models that I created, seeing them like this makes me think that they might not be too good.”
“Ah they’re fine Lekly. I just hope that the code for the bosses holds up right. Especially as Isla shouldn’t be here and we set it to be a boss rush at the end of the test so we could test all the bosses out one after another super-fast.”
“Honestly I’m surprised our code has held up as well as it has Arano, I would have thought we’d have come across more bugs, glitches or those debug windows on our journey.”
“Yeah you are right there Ami. But maybe we can’t see any bugs because we got sucked inside the game and therefore shouldn’t be here or something like that.”
“But we saw the debug windows, so I just think we did a good job at coding this game Arano.”
“I guess we did Ami, another set of people who did an amazing job are the artists. Even if one of them is having an existential crisis right now because he got told he was wrong. All the environments, characters and weapons, both magical and regular have been stunning to see this close up.”
“Thanks Arano. But don’t forget Aromi and Lexa’s story, it’s why all the characters sounded the way we thought they should.”
“Yeah, and the twist about the Dark King is still super cool even if we knew it was coming.”
“It’s not that cool, Suieol, but thank you. And Lekly it was Lexa who did most of the characters lines, so when we see her again, tell her that.”
“Why are you all patting each other on the back? You were at my throat over my decision yesterday a...”
“OH! He speaks. I’m shutting you down right now. We were at your throat because you made a decision clouded by your ego and not for the good of the quest. And we’re congratulating ourselves because once we reach that castle, there will be no time for that anymore Ilev. So might as well do it now while we have the chance, because face it this is our game, this is that beta test we were so worried about. We know the game needs better pacing and some more stuff to do, but we know at its most basic level it functions like a game, and all the systems work the way we intended them to work. So, for now, it’s a job well done, and time to look forward to what our next tasks are once we get home and continue working.”

Ilev looks down, contemplating what to say next. When he looks up again the previous leader they know seems to have returned.

“I guess you’re right, but someone make a note of adding a morals system into the game so we can create moments like what just happened. It took a lot of thinking but I can see why you were so against my decision in hindsight, but now on the other side after all that thinking, I want to use that experience and make it into a mechanic that forces the player to think. Just like I had to do, and maybe just admit to themselves that they let their ego get in the way when making an important decision. I am sorry I let Isla get taken, I thought she would be okay. I thought that there would be more danger in Seolford even though I never considered that there were so many capable adventurers there and if they had been stopped what we could have done.”
“That’s all well and good Ilev but we’re not the people who need to hear that most. That would be…”
“Lexa. I know Suieol, I know. But first we have to somehow find her, which shouldn’t be too hard.”
“How in the hell can you say that?”
“We’re all going to the same place, we find the castle, we find Lexa. It’s not a matter of if but when. As we know where she’ll be but not what state, as for all we know she’s already challenging the first lieutenant as we dawdle along. So, let’s get a move on people.”

With Ilev coming around on how his decisions hurt the party’s progress, he now once again shows his skills as a leader that got the others to rally behind him in the real world but here in this world trusting him to guide them out of the sticky situations. And now for one final time they trust his words that Lexa will be waiting for them at the castle, now they just had to battle the day and a half advantage Lexa had over them and pray she was still alright.