Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 465 (Patreon)

The ACME Corporation had seventeen different board rooms of varying sizes, importance, and age. When part of the Board of Directors met, the room used gave clues as to what was being discussed and who was in attendance. The Grand Board Room was used once a year to celebrate the yearly increase in their profits and rarely for anything else. Today's meeting was quite minor if judged by its size. The Burnished Gold Room had enough room to seat fifty people at one table and was luxurious enough to satisfy the egos of even Senior Presidents. Much smaller, the Indigo Balcony had seating room for only 13. It saw use every week for small meetings of executives ranging from Managers to Senior Vice Presidents. For the current meeting, only five people were in attendance.

One of those was Senior Vice President Dr. Emmet Belmont, the highest-ranking Vice President in the corporation. As such he was given all the somewhat important projects that needed oversight, but that no President or Member of the Executive Board wanted to be associated with. Dr. Belmont had been chosen to oversee ACME's venture into Genesis for three reasons: He was thought of as generally competent, his bosses wished to test his mettle to see if he deserved advancement to the lofty rank of Corporate President and head a division, and because he was known to play all those silly VR games in his spare time.

It was an open secret around the ACME offices that Vice President Belmont went 'questing' each weekend in VR scenarios as Dr. Barklight, intrepid gentleman explorer. It was looked on with the same slight disdain as other expensive time wasters like golf, polo, or hunting mechanical foxes. Unlike those other hobbies, no one in ACME ever said anything out loud or in an email about VR gaming. It was too close to the games played by the majority stockholder of ACME, William Ethelbert Longfellow Sandhurst. No one ever joked about Willies lifelong love of Dungeons and Dragons.

When ACME decided to back the Genesis project, VP Belmont was tapped to head the new gaming division. He in turn recruited four junior Vice Presidents, including Vernon Throckmeyer, who would head up the ACME managers overseeing their in-game employees and growing online empires. Today's meeting had been requested by VP Throckmeyer to discuss events within the game.

With no manufacturing, no products produced, and no need for marketing, ACME's Genesis Game Division was lean on personnel above the mid-level management position, most of whom worked within the game. The other three junior VPs handled Accounting, Human Resources (contract workers), and Research (Game Design).

Uncle Vern wasn't happy with how the room was laid out. VP Belmont was on one side of the table, flanked by Accounting and HR on his right and Game Design on the left. Vernon sat across from them. VP Belmont began the meeting as soon as Vernon sat down, "Good to see you again, Vernon. I was happy to see you request a meeting. We're all hoping for a lot more details of what's going on in the game world. We have the reports from VP Korvacs and VP Vandergilt, but as the CEO of the online sub-division, I'm sure you have a lot more to tell us about the upcoming deal with Nile Books and, of course, the start of online commerce in Genesis." The four people across from Vernon said nothing else. An invitation for him to begin speaking.

Vern's mind had been focused on the speech he had expected to make to open the meeting. He damned Belmont for upstaging him. His brain didn't shift gears as fast as it did when he was under one hundred. And, he didn't recall Billy sending him any reports lately. Billy was going through a rebellious phase and not showing respect for people higher up the org chart. ACME was a pyramid with Willy at the top and Billy quite a few levels down and not on the same level as someone with Vernon's eight decades working for ACME. That needed to change today and was the reason he'd called the meeting.

"Yes. A lot going on and we're doing splendidly. Billy and Layla are following the plans I laid out for them and doing an adequate job of following my orders while I handle the large acquisition of wealth in the south and open up trade routes into the Empire. But it's about time I head North for a bit and grab the reins. The next part of our expansion is going to need an experienced hand on the wheel. During that time I'll also be coordinating the southern venture, and integrating the new mercenary troops I've requested with my existing, more experienced, warriors."

VP Harold Thune had a face like a grumpy bulldog. He'd risen from the lowly rank of accountant to his VP position by ruthlessly holding the line on expenses and ferreting out waste all around him. He saw the entire Genesis Project as a waste of money, so far. Recent events had given him the smallest of hopes of this 'Game-thing' making a profit and he was determined not to flush away the trickle of money coming in by increasing spending.

He stared at Vernon now, and slowly spoke, "Yes, about your request for eight hundred more 'Veteran Combat Gamers' to be hired from a group called The Mercenaries Guild. I don't think so. We've been footing the bill for the two hundred personnel you've had on salary since the game started. Why would you need more?"

Vernon waved a hand dismissively, "Well, I could go into details, but unless you are familiar with military campaigns and terminology, I'm afraid it would be confusing."

Now, VP Thune did something rare: He smiled. "You're in luck. There is quite a bit of overlap between corporate accounting and warfare. I require all new hires to read Clausewitz, Szun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Lord Kalvan. Entertain me with your plans and I'll try to keep up."

"Hrumph, well, I'm sure the details will be strange because of the special aspects of Genesis. But to keep it simple for the others, I've managed to lure a dragon into a trap but my local troops refuse to attack because of religious reasons. Something about them all having scales. I'm sure VP Carl Oakly at Game Design understands the value of dragon parts to alchemists and armorers, and the amount of gold in its hoard will let ACME buy whole cities in the Empire and take over industries in mere weeks. I've even encouraged the local saurians to ship all their gold to one location, convincing them that it's a tribute to the dragon. With another eight hundred troops my trap will snap shut and we'll reap the tons of gold in the hoard and the additional tribute pouring in each day. That much gold will lure a Gnomish Bank and pay the ghost for a teleportation stone to the Empire. This will give ACME a second large city to expand commerce with. And one that hasn't been turned into rubble, like Gadobhra."

The HR representative, VP Sarah Samuelson, was already shaking her head and rolling her eyes at all the fantasy talk. VP Thune listened until the end, then turned to VP Oakly in Game Design. "Carl, translate some of that for me, and give me your appraisal of the plan."

"A dragon? Are you sure of that? We barely know anything about them beyond some popular books on their mating habits. But the information we've found is consistent in putting dragons somewhere between Tier 6 and Tier 8. Yes, the treasure of a creature that powerful would be extremely valuable. The parts as well. But, holy shit! We're talking Level 30 to Level 40, Vernon. Can you confirm that?"

"Oh, easily the beast bragged about being Level 37. He seemed to feel that meant something."

"Yeah, it meant you weren't killing it with two hundred swords for hire! You have footage of the fight, right? Screenshots and damage calculations from the mercenaries you brought in? I need that data if I'm going to formulate any strategies."

"I was leading a battle. Taking pictures wasn't my job. That's why we hire people to fight and do other jobs like that."

VP Oakly dictated a note to get all the data collected by Vern's troops. Scouring the reports that VP Throckmeyer turned in showed a complete lack of useful data on the Saurian civilization, despite numerous requests from his department. What information they did have came from interviews with players, several of who worked for ACME. He needed to talk to them, someone named Ricardo in particular who had filed reports of his recent travels in the Empire.

But quick calculations pointed to the sad truth. "You can't kill a dragon with a thousand Tier one and two troops. The power disparity is immense. They can't hurt it and it can kill an army just by exhaling."

Vernon slammed his hand on the table, "Balderdash!"

Thune spoke calmly, "We aren't spending real money anymore to pay for this folly. Not another eight hundred salaries, and not the two hundred we've already thrown at this folly. We're under contract to use Contract Workers, and I can see that VP Korvacs is doing a fine job with his. But that's where the buck stops. Handle these fantasy problems in the fantasy world if you can. We have money coming out of the game now, I'm not approving of one more penny going in."

Vernon ground his teeth. But at least the conversation was moving in the direction he wanted. "Fine. I'll do just that. I'll be heading North to Gadobhra, getting Billy and Layla under control, and maximizing sales. I'll use the money my Northern Division raises to hire and train the troops I need to finish my conquest of the South!"

The VP in charge of HR took out a brand new Organization Chart and handed it to Vernon. "A small problem there, Vernon. Neither VP Korvacs nor VP Vandergilt works directly under you. This was one of their requests during the negotiations when they were promoted. They requested autonomy from you and showed proof you had promoted William Kovacs to Northern Regional Manager. You have seniority, but you're all on the same level in the chart. The three of you answer to Senior VP Belmont."

VP Throckmeyer looked at the man at the center of the table and smiled. "No problem then. Emmet can tell Billy and Layla that I'm in charge and things will work like they used to under my supervision. I'll be back in the game in an hour and we'll double the money pouring out of the game within a month under my supervision."

Emmet tapped his pencil on the table, thinking, then looked at his head of HR, and nodded. She pulled out another folder and looked at several spreadsheets. "There is a matter to bring up, Mr. Throckmeyer. It seems that you've skipped your yearly medical check-ups for the last three years and we really need you to keep up with those. Who knows what physical or mental stress you could be suffering from? You're also behind on your Sensitivity Training Classes, New Product Knowledge presentations and your weekly and daily TPS reports for the last year. Before that, you had a manager named Sammy Maxwell filling those out for you, but I see he filed several complaints about your treatment of him with HR. Normally, we don't worry about things like that, but I have to ask, where is Mr. Maxwell currently? I don't see him on our payroll in this division."

"Sammy? The little worm betrayed my trust and gave information to the enemy during a crucial engagement in a corporate war at the start of Genesis. I fired him. Last I saw him, he was crawling up the road with three daggers in his back."

"Oh my, I see. So, something he did while you were playing make-believe angered you? And you fired him? I can see why legal gave him such a generous chunk of severance pay. I'm going to have to sign you up for some remedial classes in Employee Relations and Anger Management. But don't worry, you also have seventeen weeks of vacation on the books. We can schedule your vacation time to take place at the ACME Training Academy in Coalsack Bluff. You'll love Nebraska this time of year. You can vacation there, take your classes, and catch up on your reports. We'll review your case then and check on your medical progress. I recommend swimming, it's very brisk and refreshing."

Vernon pushed himself away from the table, face purple and sputtering. "You can't push me out with a bunch of bullshit like that! That's for getting rid of junior managers. I've been working for ACME for eighty years!"

Emmet looked at him for a moment, letting Vernon catch his breath. The old man looked like he was going to explode. "We think you need a break, Vernon. You're an old and respected member of the ACME family. Take a vacation and come back refreshed. We'll talk then about your place here."

"No, Dammit. You can't get rid of me so easily."

The head of HR said, "Sure we can. And you know it. Should have kept up on those TPS reports."

"Emmet, please...we're old friends. I even went exploring with you once!"

"Vernon, it's either a vacation or mandatory retirement. Take your pick."

Uncle Vern yelled, threw his water glass at the wall where it fell unbroken to the floor, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door.

"Well, he took that well, all things considered. What do we have next?"

Sarah looked at her schedule. "Oh, how fortuitous. Billy and Layla also scheduled a meeting with you today. I just messaged them that we're ready to talk. I'm sure we all have questions for them."

Carl nodded, "I wonder if they know anything about Dragons?"