The Illusionist

Alan Campbell thought he had landed his dream job working on a revolutionary VRMMORPG with Osmark Technologies — until the project was canceled. He has one weekend to dive into an untested world full of intrigue, violence, and corruption to prove that Viridian Gate Online works. But the AIs running the game have their own plans for his soul. Set a year before the events of Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm, this entry takes readers back to when VGO was just a game — or so it seemed.

Viridian Gate Online is more than just a game — and now it is Alan Campbell's whole world. Recently deceased and newly minted as an Illusionist, Alan is forced to flee for his life from his treacherous ex, the Firebrand Thalia Daceran. On his way to safety and revenge, he teams up with the Imperial spymaster Titus, a crew of pirates, commandos, and a shapeshifting Mimic with a taste for blood. His path leads to Wyrdtide, a gaslit city hidden in mists and governed by dark demigods.

Illusionist and novice spy Alan Campbell has just escaped one entanglement when another woman walks into his life: Lady Camilla Favonius of the Imperial Inquisition. Close to broke and without orders, Alan must earn his place in the Thieves' Union and fight a corrupt syndicate — all while attempting to woo an inquisitor who wears plate armor around her heart. From the city of Harrowick to the perilous Grass Sea, Alan faces monsters, the risen dead, and brazen thievery in equal measure — while in the real world, Robert Osmark is closer to losing his company than ever before.

A slip of the tongue doubles Alan's debt to the Plague Doctors of Wyrdtide, turning a hard task into an impossible one. His only option is to take work from the master of assassins — but murder for money is the least of his worries. The gods are upset with him, old colleagues want him dead, and the Circle of Brewers is hiding more than the secrets of alchemy. Something deadlier is reaching through time, and it may have been too late from the very start.