The realization that players and NPCs alike obeyed kayfabe provoked a profound unease in Haialark. Her body language became considerably more subdued as characters she had taken for low level trash mobs received names and even backstories, further reinforcing her belief that the usual rules of game design were not in play. The many databases of esoteric Empyrea Online lore and loot tables permanently cached in Haialark's memory reeled under the weight of all this new information. It was catastrophically uncharted, a whole new game, and she would have to improvise her strat on the fly...

Yet, how many myths discarded as EO cut content would turn out to be true? This was a neurodivergent genius tier easter egg, an entire layer of game hidden so deep within the game it would never emerge as more than rumor and legend. [i]And the loot.[/i] Treasures unfathomable had to be waiting for them out here. Haia's head twitched and her eyes dropped to the hilt of the Featherblade. No matter how she balked at the loss of all her accumulated mastery, this was a golden opportunity to cut the name Xx_haia-the-ill701_xX permanently into the skin of history. 

As the group moved towards the warehouse, her gaze swept over nearby rooftops, raptor vision keen to pluck the outline of a drone from amid the dark clouds bruising the night sky. This had to be livestreamed, Haia knew instinctively. The algorithm demanded an audience for content like this. Her best chance at confirming her suspicions about all of this would be to find one such seam in the game world, something the devs couldn't hide. She needed merely to wait. Outside, she noticed that the despawn timers hadn't expired on any of the corpses.

Her body prickled as they passed over the threshold into the warehouse and she immediately detected the massive arachnid creature sprawled over the ceiling. Excitement and bloodlust spiked through her -- she knew a boss monster when she saw one -- then died down as she realized it wasn't moving. Nonetheless, its presence and the undeniable dungeon vibe of the game assets strewn around them suggested to Haialark that they were headed in the right direction.

Permanently locked into the mindset of a gacha whale powerleveling a new account, it was practically impossible for her to focus on the dialogue of introductory quest NPCs, and Peggy's hopeful pleading slid off the smooth surface of her bird brain. When the beautiful precious shiny 017 spoke, however, she hyperfixated on the intricacy of every synthetic inflection. She nodded enthusiastially after her cherished companion concluded their speech and gestured with one taloned hand at the warehouse around them, the other never leaving her sword hilt.

[color=#7f74db][b]"Yes yes!"[/b][/color] she agreed in two staccato squawks, totally unaware of Peggy's warning. She took 017's dialogue to hopefully indicate the party shared her intuition that they needed to trigger some kind of gated story progression, most likely kill the spider demon unless the devs had included multiple paths through the questline, and continue on. 

[color=#7f74db][b]"We should investigate this place and see if we find any answers here."[/b][/color] She took a few cautious steps towards the caged gravel, observing it with the predator curiosity of an eagle watching a mouse. 

[@Circ] [@Shinny] [@THE ADORATION] [@Divorarel]