She Rules the Dungeon

A month into Five Lives' rebirth, a huge wrench was thrown into their works. Dr Whitestone was devastated. PJP's director had announced that if Otta and Richard weren't able to launch the new Five Lives by three days, all fundings to the project will be frozen.

Richard had only requested another huge sum for hardware improvements. The programmer insisted on managing the game himself. Truth be told, the duo was already prepared for the launch. It could happen at any moment. However, they were waiting for the right time to strike. No matter how hard Michelle, Grace and Dr Whitestone tried to keep quiet about PJP's situation, no information could escape them. Otta was busy making the teaser videos for Five Lives Saga. These were to be released a week before the official relaunch. Richard had taken care of the rewards for loyalists and all that remained was for PJP's shareholders to pull out.

"How long more do you think it would take for them to tell us the news?" Otta wondered. She was munching on a beef pepperoni pizza slice and Richard took a sip of his coffee.

"Not too long I suppose. News had gone so out of hand that not even the director can do anything about it. Besides, I just submitted a new project budget to old White. The figures were really over the top."

Otta grinned. "How many chickens worth this time?"

Richard bit into the pizza and moaned. It has been far too long since he had a decent meal. Both of them had been pushing their limits to complete the new dungeons and worlds for the testers to give their reviews and for Michelle to do the marketing more effectively. Despite that, there was still a mountain of work left to be done. Otta had a pile of applications that weren't rejected sitting on the floor in her room. Richard still had to upload the revised dungeons onto Roomscape and sync his encrypted private library code to the system.

"No less than ten chickens worth this time. I bet he won't last till tomorrow to tell us," the programmer grinned.

Otta chuckled. Pizza was delicious and so was the sound of success. Grace and Dr Whitestone have not guessed it yet but Otta was fairly certain that Michelle knew what they were doing.

According to Otta's sources, PJP's shareholders consisted of many adventurers who were only interested in the benefits of partnering with a prestigious scientist guild. They had first-hand information about any new dungeon launches and Otta was sure that among these people, a good number of them worked in adventurer guilds and owned their own dungeons. In other words, they were spies. Dealing with spies from their inner network was more difficult than dealing spies from the outside network. It was Richard's job to tighten security coming from the external source and Otta's job to eliminate all threats from their inner network. Of the five positions that Otta mentioned to Michelle a while ago, Richard had already engaged four Informants into their service. Michelle was a great help and Richard was pleased with the people who applied.

Informant One was an elite businessman who was once the owner of a medium sized empire built by his own two hands. When the empire prospered, his biological brother betrayed him and stole it from beneath his nose. The man was made a bankrupt and thrown to jail for crimes he didn't commit. Nobody was willing to employ him because of his history but for Richard and Otta, they didn't mind. Informant One was given the code name Cameron.

Informant Two was the only female informant. She was a renowned socialite who played with both the political figures and major business sharks. Even Michelle was wary of her even though the woman was said to have retired a few years back. Michelle cautioned them strongly against engaging the services of such a fearsome lady. However, it was perfect for Otta and Richard. Informant Two by the code name of Venus was a lady who was loyal to nobody. She only believed in her personal code of aesthetics. Right now, fortunately for the owners of Five Lives Saga, Venus was interested in the birth of a new era. She'd placed her bets on Five Lives and that flattered the creators.

Informant Three was surprising an adventurer. No, Informant Three was no ordinary adventurer. He was so famous that the man needed to disguise himself when he came to meet Otta and Richard. Grace almost fainted after hearing his name and that wasn't surprising. After all, he was a legendary adventurer who remained on the top three ranking every year for both his astonishing contributions and insights. In his honour, the creators gave him the code name Khan.

Informant Four was someone Richard was most fond of. The teenager was someone who'd heard of Richard's name and applied immediately because he wanted to be of use to the man he admired. Otta didn't know what to think when the two first met. It was as if they were speaking in a completely different language for the red-head was unable to understand a single thing coming out from their mouths. If she thought that living with Richard over a prolonged amount of time would allow her some immunity against jargon and geekspeak, she was sorely mistaken. She didn't quite know how to react when Richard named him Neuf for his code name. It was simply nine in French, the last number from his birth date. Neuf was ecstatic and didn't seem to mind it so Otta let it go.

With Richard and Otta's poor naming sense, the intelligence squad of four now comprised of Cameron, Venus, Khan and Neuf, each having specialised duties. Neuf came over to Otta's house once every few days. If it was possible, he would be living with them too. However, his identity was to be a secret from Dr Whitestone so the poor teen had to travel to and fro. With Michelle's help, they managed to rent him an apartment near Otta's place so that he could drop by after a phone call. Given Neuf's intelligence, the teen had completed mandatory education early. With no job and nothing he really wanted in life, he picked up on skills that were not highly looked upon. If a nerdy teen was equipped with skills to access any place of internet or any device connecting to it, not many could say that they supported such hobbies.

Cameron was tasked with taking care of Five Lives' business matters and worked directly with Otta via mails or calls. He hardly showed himself unless absolutely necessary. Otta discussed this with the team and for convenience's sake, they would add Cameron's real name under one of Five Lives' employees who will assume any identity he deemed fit when he needed to formally introduce himself to clients when collecting information.

Venus will help Cameron gather information and contacts of their competitors. With her extensive network, the lady didn't really need to do much before she submitted a list of names, impressing Otta and Richard. As Venus was good at what she did, neither Otta nor Richard bothered her much. They only contacted her when the need arose but left her to do as she pleased.

Khan was quite the high-profile figure and it was Grace's idea to have him openly infiltrate the enemy's base. Otta thought it was a splendid idea so Khan did just that. He hadn't publicly tried Five Lives since it was on hiatus. His first task was to try the dungeons of all those on Venus' list. Richard had to admit that the man was good at doing what he did. All his reports and observations about their dungeons were useful information that made Richard consider adding him to their prototype testing team with Grace. With this man's insights and his years of experience, he could bring up the bar for new dungeons.

Otta and Richard cleaned their plates of pizza and the red-head had just taken the dishes to the sink when they heard the doorbell. Richard went to get it while Otta busied herself with the dirty plates.

"Come in, Dr Whitestone," Richard greeted and ushered the dishevelled scientist in. Dr Whitestone looked distraught and Richard had a few guesses.

Otta brought the good scientist a drink and sat down, waiting for Dr Whitestone to gather his thoughts. The scientist took a long drought and sighed. He had no choice but to rush over to deliver the bad news to the duo. Even if he was resolved to hold the skies up for them, there was still a limit to what he could do as a human. He sighed heavily once more and shook his head before looking at the youths with regretful eyes.

"I apologise for the sudden visit but this matter is of utmost importance. I didn't want to interrupt with your progress of Five Lives Saga but it cannot wait any longer. I'll be honest and straight to the point. The director said that he will freeze all funding to Five Lives if it is not launched within the next three days. I tried time and again and begged him to reconsider to no avail. I don't mean to keep this from the both of you but PJP's shareholders have been pulling out and the share price keeps dropping. At this rate, there is no telling what will be of PJP in the future."

Instead of getting shocked reactions, Richard and Otta laughed. Dr Whitestone was left feeling very puzzled.

"Finally! We were wondering if you were ever going to tell us," Otta grinned. Dr Whitestone didn't know what to feel. On one hand, he was glad that they were taking it well but on the other hand, he felt like a fool for trying to keep it from them. Surely as geniuses, they would have known it even if nobody told them about it. Richard was an expert at digging for information after all.

Sheepishly, the scientist apologised again. Richard waved to Otta and told them that he was returning back to work.

"I'll be leaving this to you, partner."

Otta nodded. "Leave it to me," she smiled and turned back to Dr Whitestone. The scientist had gotten used to seeing them work separately. Initially, it bothered him that Richard acted so indifferently and then Otta copied his actions. However, after a few times, he noticed that even though the missing party wasn't present during one of his discussions, both of them were well informed about everything. To confirm his suspicion, Grace explained that Otta and Richard decided to split duties. Anything technical related to the dungeon, Richard was in charge. Anything business and development related, Otta was in charge. The two of them would discuss it over after consideration and form a conclusion usually in their private time. Grace had woken up and stumbled across one of their serious talks and that was how she came to understand how they worked.

"I'm sure you're very aware of the situation about PJP's shareholders and financial standing by now. The director must have told you something. We have information on our side as well but we require your director's help before we can agree to help PJP out of this financial slump."

Dr Whitestone wasn't very surprised. In fact, he'd expected something like this to happen. "What is it that you need? We don't exactly have much time. Three days isn't long..."

Otta grinned. Three days? More than enough. Even if they wanted it live now, it wouldn't be an issue. However, to make the best out of this situation Otta needed to wait.

"Exactly. Which is why I need your director to sign the document here on behalf of PJP and provide us with the full list of names for your company's shareholders."

Dr Whitestone took the brown envelope and frowned. He didn't know what Otta was planning but he trusted her. "Can the dungeon be up in three days?"

"Leave that worry to us, please get those done by any means necessary. Without them, we are unable to launch the dungeon."

Feeling the pressure, Dr Whitestone began to sweat. Those emerald eyes didn't lie and the responsibility in his hands felt heavy. The scientist didn't know what document that was or why they needed to know all the names of PJP's current shareholders. All the names should be readily available to the public if they accessed last year's financial notes.

"I'll be back," the scientist promised and swiftly left.

As the door closed, Otta glanced at her phone. She wondered how long it will take for the director to call her or make a visit. Then again, it didn't really matter. She had a pile of applicants to look through and they weren't going to sort themselves.

***

Five very long hours later, Otta groaned. She had just finished sorting through hell and had gone to sleep barely an hour ago before her phone rang. Richard threw the damned device at her head when she didn't move and the impact of it woke her up, leaving her in a very foul mood.

"What's your problem? I was sleeping!"

She had no patience left to check who was calling and grumbled into the phone, speaking whatever was on her mind. Pleasantries? Who needs pleasantries when there isn't enough sleep or caffeine running through your veins?

"This is Wolfgang speaking. I assume I'm speaking to Ms Olley right now?"

Wolfgang... that name seemed familiar and as Otta came to the world of the living she remembered exactly why that name sounded so familiar. Adrian Wolfgang was the name of PJP's current director.

"Shit! I'm sorry... you just called at a bad timing."

"No worries, Dr Whitestone had cautioned me about it. However, as time is not on our side, I would like to clarify your intentions by sending me a legal agreement and requesting the names of my company's shareholders. Although it is not against the law to disclose the names of my shareholders, their privacy and my company's reputation is at stake."

Otta liked this man already. He was easy to deal with and it made things easier to talk about. No going around and about the bush, just straight to the point.

"I'm glad to know that we're on the same page. Since you were kind enough to spare me the circles and bushes, I'll be frank as well. I'm sure you've heard about some of our competitors in the market who are doing very well at the moment. We believe that this is no coincidence. Other than the failure of the government programmers of Roomscape to prevent plagiarising, we have reasons to believe that there are other dungeon creators who are receiving news about our developments and incorporating our ideas into theirs before our launch."

Adrian paused. "Are you saying that we have spies? Is that why you sent the new legal document?"

Otta grinned. "I'm saying that not all your shareholders should be privy about the details of our business' operations. As a legally registered business entity, we reserve the right to withhold all our information. As a partner and a supplier, you have to adhere to our terms should you wish to continue business with us. Of course, we're not going to let you fall after you've helped us so much. What we have now wouldn't be possible without your support. Therefore, we wish to procure your shareholder list for a few other reasons."

The director seemed to get what Otta was hinting at. "I see. I will sign the document and have Whitestone send it back to you with the shareholder name list. Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

Otta paused. "If PJP still has the funds, please buy back as many shares as you can, preferably from all the smaller shareholders. Five Lives' Saga will be helping with the buyback as well but we don't have as much reserves as PJP."

"Will this benefit us?"

"Not yet. However, we plan to greet a few people who might bring about a good change. I advise you to be prepared for it and to remember who it was that brought about such changes."

"I'm a man of my promise. Five Lives Saga is a promising concept with the abilities to break through the current technology. Although we have no concrete results yet, the data collected from your dungeons compared to others have proven superior. With it, we were able to study more in-depth about human reactions to various situations. Should things progress well, I will call a roundtable meeting with the major players to discuss a joint venture project. I heard that you intend to enlist scientists into your beta testing department."

Otta grinned. A scientist was still a scientist. "Of course. If Dr Wolfgang is interested, we can offer you a trial run to understand how it works in more detail. The beta testing procedures and requirements for scientists are very different from adventurer beta testers. I'm sure it will provide you with some valuable insights for your research."

"You show great promise, young lady. I look forward to the good news." With that, the call ended. Richard didn't move from his perch on the chair and stared at Otta with hawk eyes.

"How did it go?"

Otta checked the time and groaned. "It's too early for work..."

The programmer grinned. "Rise and shine, partner! Time and food wait for no man."

"Shut up... I need coffee."

Without hesitation, Richard bolted for the kitchen. "One latte coming up!"

***

Three days had gone by and still, there was no news of Five Lives Saga being released. What's more surprising was how Richard's requested funds were still pouring in with no signs of stopping. Michelle didn't know what they did to appease the board of directors and shareholders but she knew they would be able to come up with something. What she didn't know was how Otta was able to convince them.

Dr Whitestone came running with coffee when he knocked on Otta's door. For the second time of the week, he found himself running over to the same small apartment but with complete opposite feelings. He didn't know what Otta and Richard did but the director had agreed to extend the deadline and approve of the funds. Also, although there were some weird movements within the company, he was happy that Five Lives didn't need to be out down.

"It's still too early," Richard greeted the scientist when he got to the door. Dr Whitestone grinned sheepishly. In all his excitement, he forgot that Otta and Richard followed a different sleep cycle.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. I rushed over when I heard the good news so I couldn't wait to share..."

"Good news?"

Dr Whitestone grinned. "Budget and deadline were both approved and extended. You don't have to rush to release Five Lives now. The director also mentioned to let us know if you require any other resources."

Richard smiled. Sometimes he wondered what went through the scientist's head. Of course they knew that this would happen. They made it happen after all. However, to humour the man who'd worried so much on their behalves, Richard grinned. There were still three more hours before Otta wakes up so there is still some time to kill.

"Want to watch the preview for Five Lives Saga?"

Dr Whitestone was overjoyed. He didn't think that he would have the opportunity to work this closely with Otta and Richard. When the opportunity presented itself, who was he to deny? The video was very short but it was enough for Dr Whitestone to crave for more. Otta did a great job putting everything together and Richard was brilliant at making the concepts shine through. The introduction to new characters and their abilities gave adventurers time to think about the route they want to take once Five Lives Saga was released. No wonder the director agreed to it!

"It's not just the director. The major shareholders have decided to continue supporting us for a little longer. Once Michelle releases this next week, PJP can expect share prices to rocket again. However, we suggest that you do not release the shares you've bought back. Scarcity creates value, Otta's words not mine."

Dr Whitestone couldn't breathe. Otta Olley... who knew that such a lady would possess such a fearsome business sense! Richard didn't tell him that it was actually Cameron's idea. The lesser the good scientist knew, the better it was for him.

"Would you like to test it out yourself? I can allow you to go through the character trials for all five worlds before Otta wakes up. We have three hours to kill, what do you say?"

"Yes please!" Dr Whitestone almost yelled. He was vibrating on the spot from all the uncontained excitement. He couldn't wait to experience flight and phasing in a virtual reality with the real feeling of danger that lurked in every dungeon. He couldn't wait to lose himself and Richard grinned. What better way of promoting Five Lives than having PJP's very best scientists approve it?