Vol. 3: Chapter 16
After she turned in the quest, Malcolm had one last thing to say to Lila.
"Lila, thank you again for recovering the village's losses. If you encounter any more of these... spies, you have my authorization to kill them on sight."
A thrill shot through Lila. He means there'll be more.
Turning to her squad, she gave a firm order. "Not a word of this mission gets out."
"Got it, boss!" they replied in unison.
Lila nodded, but a new problem was already brewing. The Ascendant gear from the Mysterious Point Merchant had to be a trap. The Burning Horde wasn't in the business of handing out free power-ups to players.
She faced a dilemma. Should she warn the rest of her guild? As their leader, she had a duty to protect them from scams. But if she did, word would get out, and other players would become wary. If they didn't fall for the trap, how could she and her team farm the points from the quest?
It was a thorny issue for someone so young. Lila didn't yet have a deep understanding of human greed. She didn’t know that in the real world, people would ignore their own families and even the police to wire money to a scammer, all for the promise of a massive return. In their minds, anyone trying to stop them was just jealous, an obstacle on their path to riches.
In fact, some players in Starlight Village already sensed something was off. The topic was heating up in private chats.
"You guys hear about that Mysterious Point Merchant?"
"Yeah, 1000 points for a piece of level 30 Ascendant gear? That's insane."
"Did you get one?"
"Nah, they were all gone in minutes. Only a few hundred people got lucky."
"I heard Lila's squad killed the merchant afterward. Said he was one of The WarChief's guys."
"So what if he was? NPCs can't run a little black market on the side?"
"Aren't you worried the stuff is fake?"
"But what if it's real?"
"I don't know, man, I have a bad feeling about it..."
"Let me ask you this. An NPC pops up in front of you, offering a level 30 Ascendant piece for 1000 points. Are you taking that deal or not?"
"Ugh... I probably would, yeah."
"There you have it."
...
In the end, Lila posted a lukewarm warning in the guild channel.
Attention all: If you encounter the Mysterious Point Merchant, we advise against making any trades.
Her tone was flat, and she mentioned no penalties for disobeying. After posting it, she muttered to herself, "That's the best I can do. It's up to you to have some self-control."
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
The message, predictably, just confused most of her guild members, who started debating its meaning in the chat. Lila strictly forbade her core squad from participating in the discussion.
Instead, her team split up, taking positions to patrol different areas: the northern quarry, the eastern logging camp, the entrance to the eastern forest, and the southern mine. They covered every major entry and exit point of the village. For the rest of the day, they did nothing else but camp the spawn points for the Mysterious Point Merchant.
Two hours later, a message came from Rena.
"Got one. Northern quarry."
"On my way. Stall it, don't let it get away!" Lila replied, quickly rallying the squad and heading north.
Along the way, they saw dozens of other players sprinting in the same direction. By the time Lila arrived, a crowd even larger than the last one had swarmed the Mysterious Point Merchant, everyone elbowing their way to the front. Lila's squad hung back, watching the shambles with amusement.
Hazel, however, couldn't shake a feeling of guilt. She looked up at Lila. "Lila... is this right? Just watching them get scammed?"
Before Lila could answer, Rena came over and ruffled Hazel's hair. "Hazel, don't waste your sympathy. They won't listen to us. They'll just see us as competition trying to screw them out of a good deal."
As if on cue, an argument broke out between two players nearby—a couple, by the looks of it.
"Babe, go get me one of those Ascendant pieces..." the woman whined.
"Honey, I really think this is a bad idea. It feels like a setup," the man replied cautiously.
"Everyone else is buying one! What are you so afraid of?"
"Seriously, this has to be a scam."
The woman's voice sharpened. "Are you going to get it or not?! You never get me any good drops, and now you're being cheap!"
The man sighed in defeat. "Fine, alright."
Watching from the side, Hazel gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to march over and slap the girl. In that moment, she understood exactly what Rena meant.
Once the merchant's stock of 1,000 items was sold out, Lila and her team descended with weapons drawn, making short work of the Phantom Warbrute.
Over the next several hours, they found more of them all over the map: the eastern logging camp, the forest entrance, and even one in the western farmstead that must have crawled up from the river.
By the time night fell, they had taken down a total of six Phantom Warbrutes. The squad had rotated twice, rotating members to give others a chance.
Besides Lila, Rena, and Hazel, everyone had participated. Those who were swapped out weren't thrilled to leave, but the twenty thousand points they'd each earned were a nice consolation prize.
As for Lila, Hazel, and Rena, they had each raked in a staggering 60,000 points. Staring at their point totals, it felt unreal.
What happened in Starlight Village was repeated in villages across the server, though with different outcomes. Some communities caught on quickly and sent players searching for the quest-giving NPC. They eventually found the Apprehend the Spy mission, but their slow start meant they didn't manage to kill all the Phantom Warbrutes.
The most successful among them only earned 50,000 points. In other villages, multiple teams discovered the quest and ended up competing, splitting the rewards so much that their individual shares were small. And then there were the clueless villages, where players were still waiting for the Mysterious Point Merchant to respawn well past 11 PM.
On the second day of The WarChief's invasion, at 11:00 PM in Starlight Village, a system-wide announcement echoed through the zone.
System: It has come to our attention that multiple spies from The WarChief have been operating outside the village, using the guise of low-priced Ascendant gear to defraud defenders of their points. Thanks to the diligent efforts of Lila, Hazel, Rena, and their allies, the enemy's plot has been foiled and your losses recovered. All defenders who were deceived today will be refunded 60% of their points. Please check your personal notifications for details.
The server chat exploded.
"WTF! It was a scam?"
"No way, the stats on my Ascendant gear were legit."
"They were... holy shit, the item name just changed."
"Dammit, it turned into a piece of junk! All the stats are gone! And I've got a curse debuff—minus 15% to all stats, can't be dispelled, and it lasts for 24 hours!"
"We really got scammed!?"
"Why only 60% back?!"
"Where's the rest of our points?!"
"Lila! That bitch and her crew took our points!"
"Yeah! Let's get them!"
As always, those who had fallen for their own greed needed someone else to blame.