A Most Dangerous Game (8/10)
#8 of A Most Dangerous Game
A group of criminals finds a means to potentially hijack the sensitive data of one of the most popular games in the world, but requires another team working inside the game in order to pull it off. can these two teams come together and get what they want, or will this spell disaster for one or both of them?
This was an interesting little experiment where I took a fantasy setting and a sci-fi setting and sort of blended them together so that it was sort of like two stories being told at the same time with alternating chapters. Enjoy! Characters belong to their respective owners, will get a list when it's not 4am.
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"So we have one more name that we're going to have to track down," Ailsa said to Vyrnen as they sat in the tavern. "They found out who is the one that is keeping the master key and we have to find out the password from them."
"Easier said than done," Vyrnen replied. "Are we waiting for Magus and the others to get back from their little pack meeting?"
"It's extremely time sensitive," Ailsa said while shaking hir head. "We might be able to get them in later but the two are in the vault right now and narrowly avoided being caught once."
The two took a second in order to find the one that they were looking for, only having the real life information that they needed to match up with the login information they were able to glean. The two found that the one they were looking for was in a creative module that people could access in order to have fun with aspects of the game without a quest. It also was the main areas where modules for the game were formed and unfortunately unless they had special permissions they wouldn't be able to get in. As they went over to the forge areas to try and figure out how they were going to get in and meet the guy they found that the one they were looking for had actually come out in order to post on the bulletin board.
As they quickly ran over to intercept the two saw the avatar and they were both surprised at what they saw. He was an Adonis of a creature, the golden dragonborn practically glittering as he waved his head and let his ivory mane flow through the air. It was the kind of avatar that cost serious money... unless you happen to be one of the primary administrators for the secretive server that they were trying to access. Either way the approach was going to be tough; most people would take one look at the avatar and would try to cozy up to him in an attempt to get some free stuff or something of that nature, while others would assume that he was an admin and try to play nice so that they can have special privilege.
"Maybe we don't have to approach him directly," Ailsa stated as he motioned for Vyrnen to follow hir over to the bulletin board once the dragon left. "Look at this, he's looking for new people to test out his latest mod." The stingray's eyes widened slightly when shi looked at the list of things that were necessary to be alright with if they wanted to try it out. "Oh my... the list of things that he wants you to be alright with is... quite extensive.
"Perhaps you should leave it be then," a voice said behind them as the two turned their heads to see a shark morph behind them with a huge gryphon trailing a few steps. "There's nothing wrong with throwing in the towel."
The two scowled as they looked at the tags of the two and saw that they were part of the legion of the ninety-nine. "Or else what?" Vyrnen said as he crossed his arms. "You going to shoot up the area? This isn't the real world, you can't just do what you want here and get away with it."
"I wouldn't dream of disobeying the rules," the shark replied with a toothy smile, reaching past them and grabbing one of the spots on the mod playtest. "Just curious on what this lovely player has created."
The four continued to shoot each other looks before they got out of range from one another, Vyrnen sighing as Ailsa lit up a cigarette. "I can't believe we're still dealing with the legion," he said as he rubbed his head. "How on earth did they figure out what we were doing here?"
"I can't believe it..." Ailsa said angrily after taking a puff. "They must have been tracking me or something after the encounter in the dorms. Hopefully they're just taking a stab in the dark and thinking that we're going after the favor of the dragon, but just in case we have to keep what we're doing here even closer to the chest than before."
"But even if the legion figures out what we're doing it's not like they can do anything," Vyrnen replied. "The only reason we even have a chance for this is because Mai and San'nauk are at the server core right now."
"Doesn't mean they won't try and ruin our day," Ailsa stated as shi finished up hir cigarette. "Scavengers... if they have even a whiff of opportunity then they're going to try and step in even if they don't know what the prize is. We need to make sure we're on the playtest now because if they start prying into the dragon's business he might get suspicious and possibly compromise the whole thing."
The two signed up for the playtest as well, hoping that they were going to be able to talk to the dragon as they made their way over to the mod. The fact that the legion was there made things more complicated and the two of them discussed what they needed to do to counteract them. It was bad enough that they were going to try and extract one of the most sensitive pieces of information yet to get to the master key, but the legion was not known for subtlety. At this point all they could do was head over to the workshop of the golden dragonborn for the new mod.
Once they found the appropriate portal they waited to get the e-mail, using the temporary password they had been sent to get inside. It would lead them to a temporary area that was directed by the one who owned the workshop. The next second they found themselves in the remains of a castle, standing next to the cracked, dry fountain. A few seconds later the dragonborn was there as well, reappearing next to them with what appeared to be a pair of bracers.
"Thank you so much for being a part of this," the dragonborn said as he took a bow. "I know that my desires for a test subject were rather extensive, so to have four people signing up I admit is a bit of fun for me. Since you both are so open I'm not going to tell you what the mod is all about, just play it as you would normally and enjoy yourselves."
"Oh... are you not playing with us?" Ailsa asked.
"I will be watching from afar," the dragonborn replied with a grin. "I have separated your group with the other one that signed up so I can get two sample cases for the price of one. Once the test is complete I would be more than happy to meet with you again and discuss my findings, oh, and apologies for the lack of introductions before, my name is Rafael."
Before the two had a chance to continue their line of questioning the dragonborn disappeared and left them standing there next to the fountain alone. "Well I guess we should have figured that this wasn't going to be easy," Vyrnen said as he looked around the dilapidated courtyard. "Maybe if we finish whatever this is first we can talk to Rafael before the legion gets to him."
"Sounds like a plan," the stringray replied as shi lit a cigarette. "Question is what we're supposed to do here and how do we either win or lose quickly."
"Well the dragon said to just do what we would normally do," Vyrnen stated with a shrug. "I guess let's go exploring and see what we can find."
The two looked around the area for something that could tell them what they were doing, and when they looked behind them the two saw an old cathedral that wasn't there in the first place. The first thing the two speculated were demons again as they went to the front door and peeked inside. As soon as they crossed over the threshold they began to hear eerie organ music while navigating their way across the ruined floor. The entire space was huge and predominantly featured rows upon rows of destroyed pews that led up to a grand shrine to one of the game's old deities.
"Ailsa, look at this," Vyrnen said once they had gotten to the middle of the building, the two looking at two sets of footprints in the dust. "The legion must be sharing the same module as us..."
"Looks like it," Ailsa stated as shi looked around. "But if that's the case where did they go? This place is huge, but it's not exactly what you would call a closed concept of space."
Vyrnen just shrugged and looked around while getting up. "I don't know, but wherever they are they were doing it in quite a hurry," the white mage looked over at the alter before glancing around. "That's a shrine to Alinia, goddess of light and purity, which means that if this is a despoiled temple then we're probably dealing with Vashran, god of darkness and corruption. I'd say that'd probably mean Zombies and Nightmares but this is supposed to be an adult mod, so my guess is-"
Suddenly the two ducked as something flew over their heads, the shadow creature letting out a howl as it passed by. The two looked at one another as they saw others starting to form in the space of the ruined cathedral, some of them even crashing into the pews and causing the wood to explode in a pile of splinters. With only their powers they knew that they wouldn't be able to take all of them and a brief discussion was had on whether they should just lose now or to try and continue with the mod. They decided that if they ducked out too early it might not be considered trying and so the two pushed forwards towards the alter.
It soon became apparent that they shadows were not going to just let them go easily, several of them darting down towards them with the two just narrowly ducking out of the way. But with the creatures being that of darkness Vyrnen had a secret weapon against them, the divine magic user channeling the power of the gods and unleashing a burst of turning undead. Those that were coming towards them shrieked and recoiled at the holy energy bursting forth and it allowed them to get to the alter. Unfortunately the dragon could only do that so often and when they reached the front of the cathedral the swarm of creatures only increased.
Just as a vortex of shadows started to form around them Ailsa noticed that the thick layer of dust in front of the sigil had been disturbed. Shi motioned for Vyrnen to help and together the two got the altar out of the way and revealed a secret passage underneath. The two dived down into it and the howling of the creatures were silenced as the heavy stone slid back into place. For a few seconds the two were shrouded in darkness until Vyrnen cast a light spell to reveal the ancient tunnel in front of them.
"Our situation has not improved," Vyrnen stated as they tried to peer further down. "Do you think that the legion are down here?"
"Possibly," Ailsa replied. "Obviously the mod wanted us to come down here so no sense in waiting around."
The two steeled themselves and slowly moved through the hallway, trying to look for more clues on where they were supposed to go or what they were supposed to do. Occasionally they would come up against a lone specter or something of that nature and either Vyrnen would banish it or they would use their magically-imbued weapons in order to dispatch them. There were also a few options where they could see that were either traps or that would lead into much harder boss fights, but since the legion didn't appear to trip them they decided to play it smart and continue on. There were a few interesting items that they were able to try and also a couple logic puzzles that were enjoyable to do.
Eventually the two got down into a rather large cavern where a cult had made an altar to Vashran, and as they walked over to the area they found a few cultists that had to be dispatched as well. They were simple enough, most likely used for context instead of providing a battle challenge like some fights were supposed to be. "I have to say that the investigative mods are refreshing instead of doing the hack and slash all the time," Ailsa stated as shi looked around the cavern. "What I'm wondering right now though is if we've been behind the legion this entire time than why haven't these guys been dispatched yet?"
"I'm starting to think that we might not have been following them at all," Vyrnen replied as he looked at the altar, seeing the various spell components and scrolls that were scattered on it. "Perhaps those were cues put in by Rafael in order to get us down to this spot, which means that we're probably playing on two different levels, or..."
"Or they already lost and are probably talking to Rafael right now," Ailsa said as shi rubbed hir temples. "Great... now what do we do?"
"I guess we just play out the module and hope that the legion didn't screw up our chances," Vyrnen stated as he gestured to the altar. "I think that we're supposed to try and stop what the cultists were doing here, which if my knowledge skills serve me is summoning the avatar of Vashran."
"But... nothing is happening right now?" Ailsa stated as shi looked around.
Vyrnen shook his head and explained that the shades and everything that were happening in the cathedral were the start of a portal being open to the plane of shadow, and that if they didn't stop it then it would continue to grow and spread until it took over the entire kingdom. It wasn't going to actually happen, since this was just a mod and couldn't affect the game in any real way, but the thought of it gave both players chills nonetheless. Once more the dragon used his divine insight and realized that if they wanted to close the portal they were going to have to activate the spell, then counter it by doing the ritual in reverse. It was an interesting concept, both mused as they looked over the spells, and as they looked over what was about to happen they started to see why this was going to be rated as an adult mod.
Ailsa made mention of the kinkiness in the ritual before they began to get started, though the first part was innocuous enough. It involved mixing powders and tinctures in the proper way, making sure not to get anything wrong. While they weren't sure what would happen with a misfire they decided not to test their luck as they continued to get everything ready. As they progressed through Vyrnen could feel access to his deific powers being drained away, which would have bothered him if he was taking such a module seriously. It meant that he was doing something that was actively against his divine nature by helping out corruption and usually that led to things not going well for him.
Just as Vyrnen was putting in the last of the incense needed something caused him to stop dead in his tracks. At first he thought it was nothing, or that Ailsa had said something to him, but the longer that he stood there the more he realized that it was an otherworldly whisper speaking to his mind. He already knew that it was Vashran, and though he had expected that something was going to happen in his vein he didn't expect to be so... potent. It was like he could practically feel the entity pressing against his psyche as Ailsa continued to perform the final steps of the ritual.
"It appears that fate has brought me a willing avatar," the voice hissed in his mind, feeling a new power coursing through his body that he had not expected. "Submit to me, let me wash away that poor excuse for magic and fill you with my own essence. With me you could be a god amongst these pathetic mortals..."
"Uh... Ailsa," Vyrnen said as he began to see wisps of blackness curl around his otherwise white scales. "I think that we managed to get the ritual started."
As the stingray turned to ask what he meant by that hir eyes widened as shi saw the dragon start to get lifted off of his feet, shadows seemed to coalesce around him as black streaks began to appear over his body. "Hey, you're the one with the religion knowledge here!" Ailsa said as shi started to back away. "How am I supposed to do something like this without your help."
"It's... easy..." Vyrnen grunted before he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again they were a shiny black as his voice gained a deep, otherworldly tone to it. "All you have to do is accept your fate and kneel before me!" There was a grunt and the divine mage shook his head before looking back at the stingray with normal hued eyes, though tendrils of black had started to infiltrate them. "Sorry, the power of this creature... you're going to have to... do the ritual... backwards now..."
"The whole thing... backwards?" Ailsa stated as shi looked over all the reagents that shi had just used. "You gotta be kidding me..."
Vyrnen tried to shout at hir to hurry, but already the entity had taken control of his muzzle once more. He could feel a smile forming on it as his nose started to turn black, thoughts of corruption filling his mind like when he had been turned into a demon. This wasn't just random chaos though, there was a dark intelligence to this that continued to whisper how good it would be to give in as a long, shiny black tongue slipped out past his lips. Vashran knew exactly how to play him and with every second that the bard continued to flail about the more he felt the dark presence assimilating his mind.
"You know that you don't have the capabilities to do this..." Vyrnen said, his voice once more in that dark tone as his body grew in the embrace of the shadow. "This one is already succumbing and soon you will be as well. Already my influence on you has clouded your thoughts."
Ailsa didn't know what the possessed dragon was saying until shi looked down and saw that during hir time trying to remember how the ritual happened and reversing it that her twin members had already started poking out. "Tick tock," Vyrnen said darkly as more of his body blackened while the shadows around his form began to coalesce. "You are running out of time."
Though it was a bit off-putting to hear someone else's voice coming out of his voice the corrupted mage had to admit that there was something fun about it, watching as Ailsa squirmed while his dark influence spread to her as well. He let out a groan as his body began to shift; though his form was already draconic in nature the glowing blue lines on his body had started to turn purple as his magic was tainted. The robes he wore were dissolved by the godly essence as the deity continued to speak through him, taunting the stingray as shi continued to get more aroused.
"I think it's time that we increase the difficulty," the dark voice said, only this time it was directly into the mind of the corrupted cleric. "You wouldn't want hir to take away your new power, would you?"
No... Vyrnen thought to himself as his irises began to glow purple against the backdrop of black that had been forming. While he was still being influenced by the creature he found himself getting deeply into it, his own member hard as a rock as it became jet black while dripping glowing purple pre. As he stretched out his hand towards the other party member the dragon let out a gasp of pleasure as he felt the corruption form into tentacles that slithered in the air towards the stingray. It wasn't like this counted for anything, Vyrnen thought with a fanged grin as they began to coil around the unsuspecting player, so why not indulge a little instead of trying to fight it.
Ailsa let out a gasp before one of the shadow tentacles pushed their way into hir mouth, causing the already arousal-flushed herm to drop the bowl that shi was trying to hastily mix ingredients in. Even though shi knew that this was coming it still surprised hir as shi was lifted up into the air by several others that had wrapped around hir arms and legs. As the appendage continued to fill hir maw and act like a gag hir body was turned around to face the one that had captured hir. What shi saw caused hir eyes to widen even more than the corruptive essence eating away hir clothing and playing at hir slit and tailhole.
Vyrnen's body had continued to undergo a drastic metamorphosis, his willingness to indulge in this dark energy morphing his body even further. From his ink black body tendrils had erupted everywhere, larger tentacles coming from his chest and abs while the biggest were from his back. Even his cock had transformed into a writhing corrupted tentacle as he floated there. The aura around him radiated with darkness that spread along the tentacles over to Ailsa as hir own body started to change.
Unlike Vyrnen Ailsa had little in the way of magical ability so when one of the tentacles, which had once been Vyrnen's tail, slid around hir inner thighs before pushing into hir backside the taste of the magical power was intense. Like the divine mage shi could feel the corruption pushing as quickly into hir body as the tentacle in hir mouth and tailhole, which was soon to be joined by the tentacle cock of the corrupted dragon. Glowing purple lines began to appear on hir body as whispers and thoughts of serving their new dark lord began to echo in hir head just like it did with the avatar corrupting hir.
At the same time Vyrnen felt a rush of pleasure like he had never quite experienced before, using his tentacles to pull the captured creature closer as he continued to pump hir full of Vashran's essence. Ailsa moaned around hir gag as shi felt hir dual cocks begin to stretch, quickly turning the same color as the tentacles that had coiled around them. Hir back arched as shi felt hir pussy get stretched open from the cock of the other corrupted male while a third joined the two being transformed on hir own body. More tentacles began to sprout from hir body as well as their bodies were pulled closer together.
"Yesssss..." the voice of Vashran said in both their minds as the tentacle in Ailsa's maw was pulled out, only to be replaced with multiple ones from Vyrnen's mouth from his transformed tongue. Hers quickly followed suit as shi felt their chests rubbing together, more of the corrupted appendages wrapping around each other's bodies until they were nothing more than a mass of tentacles. "My two new creations, go forth and spread my darkness across the land."
The two possessed tentacle shadow beasts were far more busy in indulging their own lusts, every hole and tentacle they had as occupied as possible while they reveled in the power of their new deity. Both were so inundated with the euphoria coming from their possessed bodies they could hardly tell between orgasms as the purple runes that had formed on their bodies grew. They knew that if they were released they could wreak havoc across the land, imaging entire villages succumbing to their growing army of shadow creatures.
It appeared that they would have an early start as they heard two voices coming down the cave towards their location, and though in the back of their corrupted minds they knew that it was the legion they no longer cared as they separated from one another. They were discussing something that was of no importance to the two as they got close and hid in the darkness until they were close enough to ambush. Vyrnen had his eyes set on the Gryphon and decided to have a little fun with him, creating a shade that looked just like him that he sent forward. The ethereal creature floated behind the complaining creature for a while before darting forward and pushing inside of him, causing a flood of pleasure in both the avian's and corrupted dragon's body.
It took more than a few seconds for the shark to realize he was talking to himself and turned around to ask what was wrong, only to stumble back as a patch of pure black began to spread from the midsection of the other player. The gryphon just tilted his head back, beak frozen open in pure pleasure as several of the shadow tentacles could clearly be seen writhing beneath his fur to spread the corruption. Before the shark could do anything he found himself with a spectral tentacle sticking out of his own chest, Ailsa's infested form moving out of the shadows as the ethereal appendage continued to slither forward and push into his maw. As black tentacles began to push out of the gryphon's chest several pushed their way out of the infected shark's mouth, stretching in the air as they created two of many more servants for Vashran...
The two blinked as they suddenly found themselves in a white space devoid of anything, the two recognizing it as a buffer area between games, or in this case mods. "Programming complete," an electronic voice stated. "Performing data purge."
Ailsa and Vyrnen watched as the blackness that had infested them dissolved away from their bodies, taking away both the power and influence that came with it as all the tentacles became like black ink that they sloughed off. Any items that they had managed to collect were gone as well to make sure that someone didn't bring in anything to the main game that they had created. The stringray and dragon quickly found themselves looking at their old forms once again, the game also recreating their clothing and any items they may have used as well. It only took a minute until the game had completely reverted them back to their previous selves before they entered into the mod.
Once they were finished the two found themselves in a room with all the trappings of a traditional workshop, except they knew it was much more than that as the dragonborn appeared before them. "So you definitely took to the corruption aspects of my little game," Rafael stated with his arms crossed. "Gave me a lot of insight on what I need to do to tweak the game so people actually try and solve it instead of just succumbing to it. Seemed like you had a good time though and that's really what matters."
"Too true," Ailsa replied as shi looked around. "Say... did you happen to talk to the other two guys already? I was kind of expecting to see them here too."
"Oh, I dismissed them already," the dragonborn said with a wave of his hand. "It was clear that they were really not here to help me at all and started asking rather annoying questions the second they failed the module at the church. I also reported their accounts, and seeing how I work for Frost Arc I'm going to make sure that they're no longer able to help in the mod program."
"Oh, you work in Frost Arc?" Ailsa said as innocently as possible. "I mean, it would explain the sweet set-up you have here, I have people that have been playing since DREAM came out who don't have anything like this."
"Hey, I earned almost everything you see here," Rafael quickly retorted as he walked over to one of the computers that were set up in the room. "Here, I can show you, I actually do a lot of my work in-game and have a portal with direct access to my station. I'm responsible for a lot of the gateway access to the various upgrades that happen to the game's software protocols so they allow me this to see the changes implement in real time."
Vyrnen and Ailsa looked at one another as they heard the information they wanted; while they might not be able to get the password to the primary security system they could get access through the portal that Rafael uses in order to update the game. They watch as he activates the screen and begins to show off the various achievements that he has earned over his time playing the game already. The stringray leaned in and began to point out a few that looked particularly impressive, then immediately brought the attention of the dragon over to the corresponding entities in the workshop. As shi pulled the dragon away from the still open interface Vyrnen snuck in and began to patch through the details to Mai in the real world.
"I really hope this works..." the divine dragon mage said as he watched the connection bar slowly fill.