The DRC site shows Annoyingny approaching completion. I hope it isn't as annoying as the version Cyan created for their Uru Complete Chronicles release. All that running around, back and forth, back and forth, and then dropping pellets and waiting. Worse than feeding the lake because you have to stand around and wait for the few seconds of glow from the pellet. Oh well, time will tell...
They were pretty close with Er'Cana, although the Cyan "recipe" for pellets was faster and not as optimal as what others have discovered now.
A stair creak alerted her to someone's approach. Quickly she shuffled the papers back to their order and leapt into the couch. Shandi opened the door to find Irena lounging with a book in hand.
"Hey Shan, how was the day?"
"Awful. Remember that online game I told you we were developing, the one based around the magical hut of all worlds?" When Irena nodded she continued, "We're getting close, but Sophia has gone missing."
"What do you mean 'gone missing'? Like out sick with an extended illness?"
"I wish. No, 'gone missing' as in not at her apartment, not with friends or family, not in the hospitals or morgue, not anywhere we can find her. Her bots and actor driven characters were going to be the backbone of the entire adventure."
Irena sat upright. "Have you called the cops? Has anyone been to her place?"
"Andrew lives near her and stopped by yesterday on his way in. Her car was in her spot and her apartment looked fine from the outside. When did she last stop in at Waverly's?"
"Four nights ago. She seemed ok, talking about her latest creations and the pressures, but that wasn't anything out of the ordinary."
"Did you notice anything when she left? Anyone following her or showing undue attention?"
"No, she just left, got in her car, and drove away."
"She didn't come to work the next day. She didn't email in, which was strange. Usually she's really good at letting everyone know if she won't be in. No one's called the police yet, none of us are related to her and her family doesn't seem to care."
"Yeah, they haven't played a part in her life for years. They disowned her during her senior year."
"What?"
"I don't know details. She hadn't told me, it must have been weird, I can't imagine Sophia doing anything all that bad."
"I know. She's one of the nicest people I know. Well, I just stopped by to get some notes I forgot on my laptop. It's back to work and see if we can fake her stuff from her files." Shandi grabbed her laptop and headed back out.
Irena stood and ran to her room, grabbing her bag from the floor. Inside was the card Sophia had handed her four nights ago. On the back was a phone number and an address. She yanked open the bottom drawer of her desk and grabbed the small leather pouch with lock tools in it. With a wicked little smile she stuffed it in her bag and headed for the door. She stopped as she reached for the door, turned, dashed back to the kitchen, grabbed a couple pairs of latex gloves, then headed out.
A few minutes later Irena pulled into Sophia's apartment complex, startled by the cheap hotel appearance of it. Before leaving her car she slipped the lock picks out of their pouch and into her hand. Slowly she climbed the concrete and steel steps to the second floor balcony and walked to the door marker 212. The training came back quickly and within minutes the lock clicked open.
Inside the cheap hotel look was magnified. A single room contained a cheap bed, dresser with a television, a grey metal desk with monitors on it, and a tiny kitchenette to the back. A microscopic bathroom occupied the back right corner. The only nice things in the place were a large ebony wardrobe against the bathroom wall, a very comfortable looking desk chair, and two new computer systems. Everything looked neat and orderly with no signs of struggle or disturbance. The black bed spread was pulled back and the sheets rumpled as if someone had gone to sleep but no clothes were scattered about. The towels in the bathroom were neatly placed on the racks and the sink and counter clean.
A large selection of gothic clothing hung in the wardrobe and a check book without a paper register sat in the desk drawer amid numerous pens and sticky note pads. Bank statements were neatly filed in the left hand drawer, revealing a very large bank balance. Software design guides and reference manuals were arranged by subject in a cheap metal book case to the right of the desk.
Irena sat in the desk chair and started the computers. Windows full of code and notes popped into view once the systems had loaded. The character descriptions and scenario notes she understood, the code bits meant nothing. Nothing showed anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. She reached for the power switch, then stopped when she remembered Shandi's comments. Taking data disks from one of the desk drawers, she made two copies of all the directories that looked like they might be game related. It took most of the meager stock to get all of it from both machines.
Once the backups were done she turned the systems off and headed for the door. A glint from the bed caught her eye. Pulling the covers back farther she found a fist size, heart shaped sapphire sitting in the center of the bed. A strange shift of shadow prompted her to pick it up. A sound, part way between a heavy bass thump and a deep gong, so deep it was almost a vibration, echoed through the room. The lights flashed and flickered until the sound faded, leaving a strange stillness behind.
The gem rested quietly in her hand, giving off warmth and a faint heartbeat-like vibration. She tried to drop it but it would not leave her hand. It dropped into her bag easily enough when she tried to place it there. She locked the door behind her and returned to her car.
It took several long pushes of the buzzer before Shandi's voice growled from the intercom, "What?"
"Shan, it's me, Irena. Can I come in for a few minutes? I have something I need to talk to you about."
"Can't it wait? I'm in the middle of this."
"No. It's something that might help you." Irena fidgeted until the door buzzed to let her in. Shandi came down the inner stairs a few minutes later.
"What is so important that it couldn't wait?"
Silently Irena pulled out one set of the data disks and dropped them in Shandi's hand. "I went to Sophia's, looking for answers. These are her files. They might help you."
"You went to Sophia's? Who let you in? What did you find?"
"I let myself in. There's no sign of her. I did find this, though," Irena pulled the gem from her bag. "Careful," she cautioned as Shandi reached for it. "It did some weird stuff when I first touched it."
"I forgot your talent with locks. What sort of weird stuff did it do? And why are you still at Waverly's instead of lock-smithing?"
"With the tips, Waverly's pays much better. And I like the music and the people. This thing made strange sounds when I first picked it up. A deep gong, boom, reverberation, I don't know quite how to explain it. Something about this seems familiar, though I don't know why."
Shandi stared at the gem for a long while, then said, "Jaime's game. Remember the Summoning Gem for the magical Hut? This looks like her description, if I remember right. Come on upstairs. She gave us permission to use her designs and ideas when she talked her company into funding the game project." Irena followed her up the stairs and to a medium sized office. Multiple monitors ringed the desk, forming a wall of images for the occupant. Shandi's hands flew over the keyboard, calling up various files until she found the one she wanted. "Here it is. Look," she pointed at an image on the screen. She made a few more mouse clicks and pulled up a text file. "See, here's the description. A deep booming gong, almost a reverberation sounds when the Summoning Crystal is activated. It will summon the Hut to the location of the holder. If the Hut is unable to respond it will return to dormancy, otherwise it will vibrate with increasing intensity until the Hut Interface is formed."
They both stared at the screen, then at each other. "This makes no sense. Unless Sophia left it herself."
"But where did she get the gem?" Shandi asked. "A sapphire that large would cost a fortune. If she didn't set it up, then what's going on?"
"A giant hoax? But where is she if that's the case? And how did she do the sound effects? There was nothing in her apartment that could do that, not even a stereo, just a fancy set of headphones near her computers."
"Then what happened to her?"
"Was there anybody that didn't like her?"
"Not here. As far as I know everyone was quite happy when she was moved to this project. Were there any odd or creepy types paying too much attention at Waverly's?"
"No. She'd come in, have a couple and leave. After we started talking she'd have three or four and stay longer, but I never saw anyone chatting her up."
"Our director is going to call the police tomorrow. Maybe they can find something. You might be prepared, I'm sure they'll want to talk to us all."
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