Very well, the terms of our agreement have been updated. You will be guided back to your starting point, Traveler. I wish you luck in your exploration; you do not understand the entropy that will be unleashed should this system run out of power. The Warden shut off its communication.

Alan turned to the only open corridor, and found the familiar slide. This time it slowly began to pull him upwards. Exhausted after the exploration, Alan fell asleep, Eve ensuring him she would wake him if action was needed.

***

A few hours later, the slide finally reached the hub Alan had come from. He quickly activated his basic invisibility and proceeded back to the lift up to Black Rose territory, avoiding the slimes that had begun to respawn. To his relief, he found a bored looking Black Rose pilot waiting at the bottom of the lift, still waiting as Alan hadn’t respawned.

Alan took the lift upwards to emerge into what appeared to be a Black Rose hangar bay. A series of messages were displayed before him, letting him know he successfully completed the Escape! and Mad Gamble quests, and was now an official member of the Black Rose guild, open to promotions. He received 5000 guild points, and 4 levels. Alan was told he was back in a safe-zone, and he let out a slight sigh of relief as he received a notification that a player had sent him a message. To his surprise, Alan saw that it had been sent from Icewolf.

Icewolf: Hey Alan! I know I said not to contact me until you had the money, but circumstances are changing faster than I anticipated. There are devices that allow for secure, face to face conversation. I’m sure your new guild has one. Let me know a time that you can talk.

Alan’s quest updated:

Alan quickly sent a reply to Icewolf that he was available to talk as soon as possible.

A few minutes later during the short flight back to the Black Rose guild headquarters he got a reply that Icewolf would be available in a hour or so, at about 2200 Khersath Standard Time.

The first thing Alan did once he was back at the Black Rose base was head to the nearest Administrator and pay five diamond marks to transport the soulsteel knife, black power crystal and Predecessor blood to their secure vault. Eve estimated that each item had a potential market value of billions of credits, and Alan wanted to make sure they were safe. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Black Rose guild’s security, it was just that it seemed the sensible thing to do. For one, the Vault had never been stolen from, while guild base raids were not unheard of, even if they were technically illegal on Khersath. Additionally, there was a policy in place which stated the Administrators would pay back a lost item’s market cost in marks, essentially twice what anything was worth.