Aelindra's schedule was usually packed, and with the several player sightings around the country, she rarely had spare time to spend with Cecilia.
The consequence of it was that our girl was pretty much idling all day. So, after only four days, she made a decision.
"Aelindra, I'm going to Mycorgloom tomorrow."
The queen made her puppy eyes but soon switched back to her normal expression.
"I understand, Mother… I've barely had any leeway to be with you. And Mina also misses you dearly."
"Don't worry. I set up a rune in my room. The first leg of the trip will take some time, but I'll return instantly."
"A rune…? Oooh, the teleportation runes! I remember you had them before, but they disappeared when you went traveling."
"Yeah, those runes. I'm setting them now, so they will last for a long time. You don't need to worry."
In the game, the runes didn't have an expiration date as long as the player kept logging in. If you passed some weeks without coming to the game, they would despawn.
So it was understandable that they would disappear some time after she herself disappeared.
"How long will you be away?"
((That's a good question. The ability I used to travel here is useless in the twisting corridors of the Underdark, and it will be really hard to find the entrance to my base.))
"I don't know how long it will take me to find the right place, and the Underdark can be a treacherous place. But you have my word that I'll come back first thing after setting up a teleport rune there."
"Okay, Mother. Then tonight, could I…"
Aelindra stared at the floor, clearly embarrassed with something.
"Could you what, my dear daughter?"
"Could I… sleep with you tonight?"
Cecilia chuckled.
((She really looks like a little kid right now. But I understand her pain and how much she must have missed this.))
"Of course!"
:::
The next morning, after breakfast, Cecilia left the city of Drakenhof.
Her 'Fast Strider' technique allows her to reach the horizon with just one step, but that isn't very useful in places that block the view of the horizon, like city streets or the corridors of a cavern.
In the city she would still go to a high place and get a better view. And that's exactly what she did. Then, she stepped from the wall of the old city to the new wall, and from there she reached the road that led to the southern city of Mirehafen.
Her goal isn't the city itself, but a cavern slightly northeast of it. It's the only entrance to the Underdark within the kingdom of Drakenstadt.
During the time of the game, the kingdom's territory was only the surface, and Cecilia learned that it hadn't changed. The long, twisting corridors and lightless cavern complexes of the underground aren't exactly a hospitable place to live in.
The dark elves were very adapted to living in those dark places, and there was some lore about a mysterious ancient underground kingdom whose ruins littered the Underdark. But there weren't around in the game nor in these days.
It was a dangerous area with powerful monsters and lots of ambush opportunities in the way the area was laid out. For that reason only very high-level players used to go deep into that area.
Most people just entered in some easy-to-access areas to forage some ingredients, and always in parties for safety.
And that's why she chose that place, and specifically Mycorgloom, for her hidden base.
Cities were the safest place for a low-level player to use as a base. With the several nations who had harsh laws against PKing and griefing, it was a lot safer than the wilderness.
But that safety had a vulnerability. A person's house is a mirror of their wealth, so those homes became targets for people who wanted to get some items without having to put in the hard work.
That's why, after the player reached a certain power level and character wealth, it was safer to store your stuff far away, in hidden bases. Then, the city house would become more of a "social" base, and the "hidden" one would be the true one.
The secret lay in how well one would hide their base from other players' eyes. There were several strategies shared in the community, but the more known a trick was, the easier it was to see through it.
Some would use those tricks to actually lure players into what was, in reality, traps. Some would build whole dungeons to make it harder for would-be robbers, in the hopes of then looting whatever their bodies left behind.
That's why Cecilia had a base in Mycorgloom. It was a place that only high level players would be able to reach, yet it was still dangerous even for them. Also, it was very big, making it finding her base the same as finding a needle in a haystack.
"And that's about to blow in my own face…"
Cecilia sighed, thinking about the prospect of having to find the entrance of her own base inside that place. She had just arrived near the entrance to the Underdark, where a wall encircled the cavern, with a small keep towering over it.
Aelindra had told her about it beforehand. It was a line of defense against the powerful monsters that sometimes got out from it and also against smugglers trying to use the underground passages to travel to or from other countries.
She casually approached the guards at the gate.
"Halt. This place is off-limits for civilians."
"Hello, good sir. No problems, I have a permit signed by the queen herself."
She took out some papers that Aelindra had given her - namely an 'all-access' permit, her identification document, and a document that proved she was part of the royal family.
The pupils of the guard widened as he read the documents, then he handed them back to Cecilia, with her hands slightly trembling.
"Lady Morielen, I'm sorry for stopping you. Welcome in. I will tell the captain, and he will receive you."
"There's no need. I'm going down into the Underdark."