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"I hate this place!" Taro yelled, and Marc chuckled, planting Life's Bane into the Icytaur's chest and regaining some of the health the ambush had initially cost him.

"At least you aren't getting hit by these things," Tuck replied as he flew over Marc and the Icytaur he fought with. "At this rate, I'm going to end up with a shriveled cock!"

"Maybe if you stop leading your attacks with it," Omar yelled, "it'll stop getting frozen off!"

The taur's claws dug through the bull's armor and cold spread through his bones, giving him an 'iced' debuff and rendering his left arm useless. A quick slash across the taur's neck with Life's Bane gave him back the health but did nothing for the debuff. Before the taur could get over the shock of the critical, Marc stabbed it twice and those proved enough to kill it.

The leafy monkey ran by him, his armor in tatters, not even trying to artistically hide his crotch. If this area's rating was other than general, Tuck would be showing enough to get himself reprimanded by the admins. Or taken aside by whoever the beta that managed Siberal ended up being. He'd seen enough variety among Constellation's Betas within the solar system he didn't even want to hazard a guess as to how they'll turn out.

With the scream of a creature three time his size, Tuck jumped on one of the taur's back and became a blur of flashing steel, leafy green yellows, and reds and Marc was certain a wooden tail tip trying to shove itself where the sun didn't shine, if the taur had such and entrance.

The creature dropped and Tuck rolled away, shaking himself and sending snow flying everywhere.

"How are you not frozen stiff?" Marc asked, eying the tatters. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen someone put such detail in armor degradation. Even Nori, with his obsession about making each of his characters look right, didn't bother with broken armor animation.

Tuck looked down at himself. "Oh." He snapped his fingers, and he was dressed in full armor again.

"Are you telling me your armor isn't damaged?" Mac glanced at his armor description. The durability had gone down by half in his fight.

"I'll have to get a few dents banged out," Tuck commented, "as I bang the blacksmith."

"Omar, you weren't kidding when you said your brother was obsessed," Taro commented, joining them, along with Omar.

"What kind of stories are you telling about me?" Tuck demanded.

"Isn't it common knowledge Tucker's always thinking about sex?" Marc asked. "Isn't the news like in an uproar anytime he isn't having sex?"

The leafy monkey narrowed his eyes at the skeletal bull.

"I'm trying to help," Marc said.

"Oh, I thought you were coming on to me."

"Can we focus? Please?" Omar said with an exasperated sigh. "This is why--"

"You don't want me playing with your friends, yeah, yeah. I know," Tuck said, winking at Marc. "So where to?" he looked around. "Are we still heading for that peak?"

Marc brought up the picture. "Yeah, but--" he looked at the ground, moved past the site of the fight until he found the trail. "--It looks like Paul changed his direction, and his pursuers did too." He looked through the pictures of Siberal that had been in the package they'd received. If they represented what Paul was aiming for, there should be another one telling them where he was going now.

"If we have their trail," Taro said, "we can just follow that."

"Unless Paul crossed the ocean," Marc said, studying the picture of a settlement.

"What ocean?" Omar asked.

"The one ahead of us," Marc pointed to the mountain peak that had been their guide until now. Were there any settlements on this side of the ocean? He searched through his old files, he'd been to Siberal before, the version in the Colonies, but that one had been running for a few decades by then. This was a new install, but settlements didn't really evolve. They got added to the new sections as the Lands expanded to deal with the increased traffic. If he could work out which part of his maps matched this, he should...

"Got it, he crossed the ocean."

"What ocean?" Omar asked again. The three others were looking at him.

"Sorry, there's an ocean ahead of us. Paul either got his hands on a map or--"

"He had a map maker. Pretty high level," Taro said.

"Okay."

"Since when?" Omar asked.

"He got it a few weeks before he vanished. Part of a dungeon we did with an elite youngster who was on the outs with the rest of his group. Paul felt sorry for him and--"

"Can we focus?" Tuck asked, eying the metal tiger ruefully.

"Right, so we follow Paul's trail."

"We'll never catch up," Marc said, studying the map. "Paul's a knight, with his steed, and on his own, he can travel a lot faster than we can."

"Are we really bothered with being slower?" Tuck asked. "We're weeks behind. The message would indicate he's been caught. We're trying to rescue him, not prevent his capture."

"Yes, but unless one of us has a group travel ability, it's going to take us a few days to reach the ice bridge Paul must have used." He looked at the other expectantly.

Omar shook his head. "My gate brings people to me. I usually buy travel crystals to places I haven't been to."

"Same," Taro said.

"I get people to summon me," Tuck said.

"So I'd rather not spend the next week traveling in this weather." He shared the picture of the settlement, then his map of the region. "There's no other settlement in reach, so that'll be where he's going. The bridge is a few days past, even with his movement ability. The angle of the picture leads me to think it was taken as he traveled to it from the bridge."

"How can you tell?" Taro asked. "The settlement on your map is a lot bigger than what's on the picture."

Marc stopped himself before speaking of the Colonies and the other version of the Lands he'd played before his assignment. Taro only knew him as a beta-tester. "When I tested Siberal, we did multiple versions; to test different player volume. The map I have is from a version where the world was near capacity, but the settlements pretty much all look the same when they start." Marc was please with his explanation, although Tuck looked like he was trying not to laugh. He could take over if he was so good at lying.

"Okay, so what do we do then?" the bat asked. "There's still an ocean between us and the settlement, I can't make us anything to cross it with what I have, Omar doesn't have anything, and Tuck doesn't know anyone in that town who wants his ass badly enough to invite him. That only leaves the bridge."

Tuck tapped a small mountain ridge between them and the ocean. "That's a smuggler's pass. And no one in that town wants my ass because they never met me. Give me a few hours there and they'll be clamoring for me to never leave."

"How do you know there's a pass there?" Marc asked.

"The armor breaker is a thief class," Tuck said. "Thief, smuggler, same thing. I can read the sign on the map."

Marc was speechless for a moment. "Right, sorry, I'm not used to having another rogue class in the group."

"That's okay, bone up and you'll be forgiven." Tuck offered him his ass.

"I swear," Omar said. "I'm locking you out of the Lands if you don't stop this."

"Will the pass even work?" Taro asked. "Smuggler's passes are dependent on NPCs. If this world isn't officially active, have they set up the NPCs?"

Marc motioned to the dead Icytaurs while looking at Tuck's ass. Even without the details an adult area would provide, it was inviting. "The NPCs run off the same subprograms that govern the roaming monsters. If they're active, the NPCs will be too." Of course, without a beta to tailor their response programming, they won't be as lifelike as what the others were used to.

"Then we'll do that," Omar said. "And Tuck, stop trying to get my friends to fuck you. We're working."

* * * * *

"I hate this place," Taro grumbled, tucking the leathers tighter against his body. "When you said we'd have to go through an instance, I was expecting a cave, not this." The wind roared down the cliffside pass and Omar caught the lighter bat as he was pushed off balance. "I'm freezing my balls off."

"I thought ice was Taro's thing," Marc replied.

"Sure, I have dozens of ice attacks ready as well as iced based defenses, but you know the one thing I never really needed before now? Actual protection against the cold. None of the cold places on the other Lands are this fucking cold."

"Can't you whip one up?"

"Do you know the amount of times one of those takes to make?"

"You have the tokens to speed it up, right?"

"Sure, but don't you think I should keep them for something more important? Like dealing with whatever we'll confront on the other side?"

"Or deal with whatever creatures will attack," Omar said.

Taro eyed the two-foot ledge they were walking on and the drop beyond it. He shuddered. "Please don't say that."

"Incoming!" Marc said from the front.

Taro glared at Omar. "This is your fault!"

* * * * *

Omar eyed the raft and the ice being Tuck was speaking with. Artidras, Marc called the natives of Siberal. Like the creatures they'd confronted to date, she was made of ice and snow, her features made her a vulpine, and what was visible of her ice body was decorated with frost etching.

"We're good," Tuck said, "she'll take us to the other side, it'll be a couple of hours, but it's going to be a quiet ride."

"She gave into your charms?" Marc asked.

"My coins," the monkey replied. "Smugglers are always more interested in that more than anything else. And she's a woman. As nice as I'm sure as she is, even if this was adult-rated, she wouldn't be my type."

They settled onto the surprisingly steady raft and huddled together for protection against the cold. Siberal seemed to have been designed to torture the players. Marc would know if that was on purpose or an accident of world-building. Did the AI who'd designed the Lands of Farr use procedural world-building? Or did they take an active hand in it? Their way of reminding the living they had it better because they could control their reality?

He pushed those thought out of his mind and focused on Paul--Bobby--and what they might find where ever the clues led them. They were running out of pictures to guide them, so it had to mean they were almost there.

Tuck placed a hand on his leg and rubbed it. "You okay?"

"Just thinking. Trying to figure out what's waiting for us. How about you?"

The monkey shrugged. "None of this is real." He raised a hand and Omar closed his mouth. "The end-result will be, but it's still just virtual, so I'm enjoying playing with you and your friends. They're pretty cool. You shouldn't be so selfish with them."

Omar rolled his eyes, then glared as Tuck laughed.

"That looks so funny, with your eyes rolling back and around."

"It's not supposed to, it's a sign of annoyance; at you."

"You love me."

"You're still annoying."

"That's why you love me."

Omar sighed and placed his arm around Tuck's shoulder. "No, but it's part of it."

The monkey rested his head on the brastok's arm since he was too short to reach the shoulder. "It's all of it, don't lie."

"Are we wasting our time?"

"It's a general rate area," Tuck answered, "so this is the best we can do."

"If you don't start taking this seriously, I'm throwing you overboard, Tuck."

"Why do I love you again?" the monkey asked.

"I'm your brother, you don't have a choice."

"Good point. Why do you think we might be wasting our time?"

"Like you said, this is virtual. What can Bobby have hidden here that's going to make a difference?"

"Evidence on what his father has been up to, for starters. That's probably why he was kidnapped. Hopefully, something we'll find here will lead to the location in the real world where he's being held."

"If he's still alive. For that double to walk around claiming to be him..." Omar couldn't finish the thought.

"Then we'll avenge your friend. Both of them."

"Has Uncle been able to find anything?"

Tuck shook his head. "He's never cared about the game, which is a shame, can you imagine his reaction to finding out what's behind them?"

"I'd rather not, I like the Lands as they are."

"Well, now that he knows, it isn't helping him gain access. His friend's reluctant to help since they aren't supposed to be here. And from what Uncle said, neither is the one behind the game, although, like that Constantine fellow, it's not really him, just a version of him. Uncle tried to explain it, but even he isn't sure how that works since he's always him, no matter how many times he subdivides. Aren't you talking with him about this? It's your field more than mine."

"I'm an investigator, not a programmer, definitely not an artificial intelligence researcher since Uncle made sure no one wanted to work in a useless field. If the information isn't going to help me rescue Bobby, I'm not really interested anymore." He was tired, he realized, and checked his body's readout. Other than the game induced cold, everything was nominal, so the exhaustion was mental. He'd been running about clueless to what had happened to Bobby for weeks now, and the stress must be taking its toll. He accessed the medical table's readout, and it too came back nominal. So the exhaustion was his imagination? Spiritual? Not that he believed in such a thing.

"When this is over," he said, looking up at the fractal clouds. "You're dragging me to one of your parties and not letting me think for a full week."

"Deal," Tuck replied quietly.

* * * * *

Taro threw a snare under the pack of B-ice. Bears made of ice. Whoever had named them was running out of ideas. They moved through them unaffected, and Taro cursed. Ice on Ice wasn't a good combination. He needed fire, but as the opposite of his specialization, they were so expensive in time and token that he didn't think he should.

"Need a heal here," Tuck called, his armor in tatters again, although now that Taro knew it was only a visual affectation, he worried less. He threw the potion, aiming so both he and Marc would be caught in its effect.

"Thanks," the Necalium called back as he sliced a bear's throat open.

Omar made hand gestures and a ball of fire exploded on one of the bears, turning it into a puddle. Taro half-heartedly threw an Ice spike potion and instead of tearing the bear apart, it walked through it as if it wasn't there.

The bat sagged. Why had he picked this character? He was useless. He couldn't stop the memory of his whimpering at the hand of his captors. Of how he'd been willing to give up what he knew; if only he'd known what they wanted. Now here he was, deadweight again.

"Heal!" Marc called, and Taro lobbed a potion at him and the monkey. The bears must have some protections against life-stealing for the skeleton to need as much healing as he did.

If he'd played Bortak instead, his fire mage would have made short work of the enemies here. Even Ronald would have been more useful, he could have tanked the bears while Tuck and Marc danced around them. He mixed an earth-based attack, but it had little effect in the time he had.

If he had the option, he'd log Taro out and come back as someone better suited, but while he could log out anywhere he wanted, he'd have to respawn back on Gaia. So it was either be useless here or just abandoned the others.

He lobbed a healing potion at Omar, who'd been surprised by a bear, giving him the time to blast it to steam, and went back to trying to find a way to be useful.

* * * * *

"Just how many of those are we going to deal with?" Tuck asked, hands on knees, panting. "I'm not exactly useful when they don't have armor for me to break."

"We should be able to avoid other packs," Marc replied, consulting his map. "Because we'll see them coming. Once the world is active with players coming and going, they'll keep the monster population under control. This pass will be more active, so the spawn rate is higher, which caused the larger pack we had to deal with."

"Oh joy. The safe way is only going to be safe once players use it regularly," the monkey replied sarcastically. "Would have been nice to be warned."

"Sorry, I didn't think about it. Every pass I've used in my play has been well-traveled, so I forgot that detail."

"The important thing is, we survived," Omar said. "Are you two ready to take the lead?"

"That's Theo's job, isn't it?" Tuck asked.

"He's not here, didn't you take lessons? Why don't you impress us?"

Marc looked at the tiger, and Taro was doing the same.

"Tuck's hoping to impress Theo with his dancing ability the next time they meet in a few decades at this point, right?"

"If that," Tuck replied dejectedly. "He's busy with his work, I'm busy with mine, it doesn't look like Uncle's plans are going anywhere. At this rate, we'll both be ancient by the time we get to fuck again."

"I thought you said dance," Taro said.

"Dance, fuck, same thing," The leafy monkey replied.

"Theo dances the Romeogrind," Omar said as Taro started objecting. "So he's actually right this time."

"What's the point of dancing it, if you're going to end up fucking, anyway?" Marc asked.

Omar grinned. "Because Theo's enjoys making Tuck suffer."