New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

***Meanwhile, inside New Eden***

A group of six players were currently standing before a building inside of the principal cities of New Eden. These six players were all dwarves and gnomes, and if Astaroth or Phoenix were present, they would recognize them.

These were six of the twelve players who had attempted the dungeon at the same time as Astaroth and his party, but failed. The same people that had been brutally PK’d three times by Astaroth.

The building they were standing before was the guild building of ‘Aces High’, Azamus’ new guild. They had heard he was recruiting powerful players and that players with a grudge against Astaroth were all welcomed.

“Boss. Maybe the others were right. Maybe we shouldn’t put ourselves in the middle of a feud we can’t handle.”

“Shut up! The others are pussies that can’t handle a bit of hard work. Tying our wagon to this man will guarantee we become some of the most powerful players in this game.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” the gnome said, giving up.

There was no way to change their leader’s mind at this point. So either they stuck to him, or left as the other half of their party had.

The dwarven leader didn’t give them time to think about it, and walked towards the entrance to the guild building. His mind was set.

They entered the building unimpeded, and walked right up to the front desk, which was manned by an NPC. The NPW greeted them with an enormous smile.

“Welcome to the Aces High guild headquarters. What can I do for you gentlemen today?”

“We want to talk to the guild leader.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Our guild leader is a very busy man, and he is not too keen to meet just every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes through these doors.”

The tone the NPC used to say that, was sharp like a knife ready to cut. It was easy to understand who had recruited him.

“I don’t care what you think. Tell him we have information he will want to hear.”

“You can tell me the information and I will verify this, before reaching out to leader Azamus. At which point, he might ask me to contact you.”

“Why am I even wasting time with this stupid bot? Tell me where the guild leader is before I start thrashing you!”

After being threatened, the face of the NPC contorted into an evil grin. He disappeared from behind his counter and reappeared behind the dwarf.

In his hands were two daggers, and he was currently lifting the dwarf from his feet with them under his throat. The dwarven player could feel the daggers slowly sinking into his neck, and was about to fight back.

But a voice interrupted his action.

“Wait. Don’t kill him inside. You’ll dirty the floors. Take him outside before killing him.”

“As you wish, sir,” the NPC responded.

“Wait! Leader Azamus! I have some information you will want to hear!”

“You should have told my receptionist. I’m not interested in talking with weaklings. Take him out of my sight.”

“Wait!” the dwarf yelled again.

“It concerns the dungeon Astaroth’s party cleared!”

This phrase caused the gnome to pause. Any information on level fifty dungeons was worth hearing.

“What about it? Speak.”

“We know where it is!”

Azamus was now thoroughly intrigued.

“Have them led into my office. Post guards on the outside of the doors. If they are lying, I want them killed until they stop respawning.”

“Yes, sire,” the NPC said, dropping the dwarf on the ground and bowing.

He turned to the party of six, his smile back to normal.

“This way, please.”

The party leader looked at him with a hateful gaze, wiping away the blood trickling from his neck. They followed behind the NPC as he brought them to the second floor of the building and into a luxurious office.

Only the party leader sat down before the enormous desk, with his lackeys flanking him.

“You have my attention, but make it quick. I will need to verify your information after you give it to me, and you won’t be free until I have confirmation it’s true.”

“I assure you, we are not lying.”

“I will be the judge of that. Now speak.”

The party leader explained the location of the dungeon, even giving him the pinned location of the entrance. He then explained how it was they knew where it was, before Azamus sent a scout to verify the info.

It took about thirty minutes for the scout to message back with confirmation. While they waited, the party leader had already explained what he would like for him and his party.

Azamus had not deigned to respond to them until the confirmation came back. Once he had his confirmation, he finally smiled at them.

“I will gladly welcome you to Aces High. But first, let’s get your contracts in order.”

“Huh? What contracts?” the dwarf asked.

This wasn’t in the info he had received on the guild. There was no mention of contracts being signed.

This made his intentions a bit trickier to attain. He didn’t want to stay tied to this train if it ever derailed, after all.

But seeing his reticence, Azamus snapped his fingers, and the guards outside all jammed themselves into the office. It was suddenly very crowded in the office.

“Gentlemen. I don’t believe you have much of a choice. This is a no-logout zone, and we have a graveyard in the basement. Meaning I can have you killed infinitely until your account is banned.”

“But we gave you the info!”

“Ahh, yes. And I am quite grateful for it. But if you don’t sign the contracts, and become members of my guild, I have no proof you won’t sell this info to someone else. Therefore, either you sign them, or you start back at level zero. Your choice.”

Azamus had a devious grin on his face, as he relished being in this position of power. The party of six eventually resigned themselves to their fate.

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Azamus now had access to a high-level dungeon practically in exclusivity. He was in heaven.