There was much more to Deep Ground than just a game, Smitten Kitten knew this much. And whatever it was, she also knew that Moon Rider had something to do with it. She didn't have any evidence of course, but she was there when the Ebon Stykers opened up. First the elusive guild begins to accept membership, than the game crashes, than there was that Corpse Collector character with her game-breaking abilities, the death of the Four Kings, and the sudden rise of power for the Ebon Stykers. This was all just too convenient to be coincidental. And to top it off, the Ebon Stykers were allied with not another colored guild, but the Sweepers. A loosely organized group of vigilantes, but Smitten Kitten thinks they're something much more sinister than that. Rumor had it that the Sweepers were actually a faction full of hackers who caused the shutdown of Deep Ground when the Black Guild first opened up. They also think that Corpse Collector was a renegade Sweeper that tried to take out Moon Rider one too many times. A lot of people think that the Sweepers killed the Guild Leaders and put their own people in power.

All of this was rumors of course, but nothing that Smitten Kitten dismissed. Any other player might have not cared, but this was just [b]wrong[/b]. She felt that the Ebon Stykers were being way too aggressive to be doing this simply because it's a game. There was a bigger conspiracy involved, and Smitten Kitten was going to find out the truth. To that end, she began to pursue rumors of a strange phenomenon. A masked Avatar who possessed the ability to change his status from Player to Enemy NPC with presumably little to no effort. Apparently this person showed up during the battle with Corpse Collector, and even fought against a king, but again these were just rumors with very little evidence beyond word of mouth. But it was something that Smitten Kitten could look into, and she was. She didn't know where the masked avatar could be at, but she knew where to start; the last place she battled Corpse Collector.

The Black City was full of Ebon Styker Goons. Even after she saw a whole army of them drive out from their territory, she there was still enough around that she couldn't go walking through the streets without getting picked off. So she made good use of her Warp Runes to move her to positions she felt that no one would see her at until she reached the location where she last saw Corpse Collector, on the roof of some building. She remembered the ocean of Dissolutions that were here, Corpse Collector's crazy power, and how bizarre the entire situation was. "I have to find something fast before the Ebon guys find me here." Smitten Kitten began to look around the area for something that may tip her off to this mysterious masked avatar.

---

"Ug. I so don't want to fight against that blowhard."

White Death complained as she was lounging in the Ivory Mask HQ. It wasn't quite as lively after the coup, but at least they managed to get the old HQ back instead of having to make a new one. The news of the Black King allying with the Sweepers didn't really matter to White Death. "So a bunch of wannabe heroes decide to work with the bad guys. With all the guilds gunning for the Ebon Stykers, it doesn't matter what exclusive club joins them. They're as good as dead now." Other Ivory Masks members may have been getting ready to go fight the Ebon Stykers, but White Death had no personal quarrel with them, at least not one that would justify why she'd want to go find them and kill them. Sure it was a huge battle, but she didn't like big fights between armies. Too chaotic and they end too quickly once one side get's a good foothold. She'd prefer skirmishes between small raiding parties and sentries, where things are much more one-on-one. You could get killed by a random explosion in a big battle, but when it's 5 v 5 you know exactly what could kill you.

That being said, the White Death wanted to do something. She figured that if everyone was going to go fight over at the Green Guild's turf, she'd made her way over to the Black City to stir up trouble of her own. Besides that, there was some rumors she wanted to look into. Apparently that Corpse Collector incident started there and the Black City had a bunch of glitches that could reveal the secret of Deep Ground. It sounds like a load of crap, but it was certainly more interesting than "Fight the Ebon Stykers until they get bored and die". So off she went; on her motorbike White Death went towards the Black City. With any luck all that commotion over at the Green Guild will keep the EBon Stykers distracted from seeing her sneak into their city.