The Clan Read Online Free PDF Page B

private letter sent by Sir Archibald Murrow, AlterWorld board member, to Dave Rubac, Head of Integration and Development Department.
     
    Dave,
    I'm not sure if you can see the big picture from where you are, but the noose seems to keep tightening around the senior executives' necks. Did I say noose? —more like a steel cable! Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon piling their two cents of pressure on us: from competition to the independent media and from perma players' families to administration, from law enforcement to human rights activists. Everyone from Austria to Zimbabwe seems to have a claim to file with us.
    In short, the Council is currently considering all potential scenarios. One of which envisages the wholesale evacuation of the entire senior management staff to AlterWorld, including family members, security staff and a number of our friends. The possibility of this turn of events has reached 25% and keeps growing by 3 to 4% a month.
    Expect someone to approach you in order to discuss it. These people will show you all the figures, including some very frightening stats that speak for themselves. You have to trust me though: the situation is not good. We just might be made the scapegoats in which case no amount of Forbes ranking can get us out of the shit. They'll be only too happy to clear out some space.
    Your job now is to provide us with a digital shelter. Not literally, of course. No one expects you to build a new Vault 13. On the contrary. We need a stronghold and a bunch of trustworthy NPCs in the middle of some friendly territory, plus a few sources of gold, preferably infinite. Don't forget that a digitized individual is technically immortal and you know better than I what 5% interest per annum can do to one dollar after three hundred years. Having said that, you never know how it might go —we just might come back to Earth one day.
    Please consider the responsibility this involves. We put our trust in you, but by the same token your loyalty will be repaid in kind. You remember our slogan, don't you? By working for the Corporation, you're working for yourself and the future.
     
    Re:
    Dear Sir,
    Unfortunately, by now the intervention of this caliber into the game world seems to be outside our control. We have engaged a number of analysts who are looking into some alternative solutions for the task you have proposed. We're in the process of creating some unique quests that only we can complete, as well as burying some treasures and fractioning some unique artifacts, making access to certain yet undiscovered locations technically unattainable.
    By now, our list of bookmarks is quite extensive. I can assure you that in the event of an emergency, our start-up positions will be next to limitless.
     
    * * *
     
    I contacted Dan in order to get the coordinates and a temporary digital key which allowed me to create a portal exit point on the Castle premises. The Drow Mage assured me that the data was sufficient to start transporting the Cutthroats in ten minutes.
    The arrival, to the Portal Hall, of fifty unknown warriors caused a quiet panic and very nearly resulted in a blood bath. Apparently, the fact that I was to return with reinforcements had at some point fallen off the grapevine, and already the portcullis was dropping, isolating the Portal Hall from the rest of the castle, as death holes were clanking open and the reinforcements was jumping off the couches in the guards' room.
    Eric saved the day when he saw my perplexed face in the thick of the crowd.
    "All stop! Stop, you idiots!" he yelled at the top of his voice. "Dan! This is Eric from Portal Hall! Come quick before they make mincemeat out of Max and his Drow!"
    Dan reacted quickly, sending an all-clear through the common channel. Surrounded by a dozen elite bodyguards, Ruata watched the scene skeptically.
    Dan gave me a thumbs-up. Then he managed to surprise me. Approaching the Princess, he gave her a quick bow. "Greetings to Princess Ruata, the