Travail Online

When an overpowered NPC goes off the rails and starts killing players — even in safe zones — Coral, Daniel, and their friends accept an impossible quest: stop him, at all costs. Coral joined the immersive MMORPG Travail Online after her job was automated away. She starts as a Seamstress, hoping to craft items for real-world cash — but the game has other ideas. Daniel has played longer, but the game assigns him a class that doesn't seem to exist. How can he avoid dying at the hands of a madman and losing everything? Can he, Coral, and their friends stop the murderous NPC before Travail crashes, taking the world economy with it?

Strange things are afoot in Travail Online. The game has resurrected a dead god and is using it to brainwash players into pouring their life savings into the game, ruining their livelihoods and threatening to destroy its economy worldwide. Coral can't stand by while the game mind-hacks players and siphons away their gold — but getting involved may cause more harm than good. Meanwhile, Daniel faces pressure from the Assassins' Guild, a war-hungry Regent, and elves who seem to be hunting his party. The game keeps throwing roadblocks in their way — not to mention the mess it's making of their minds.

The whole game is collapsing. Terrain is crumbling, strange mobs are turning innocent people into mutated beasts, and Travail's CEO keeps taking servers offline despite the millions of players who rely on the game for income. Coral wants to rally players and overthrow the CEO — but there's a catch. He employs her parents at an offshore facility, and won't guarantee their safety unless Coral plays nice. Meanwhile, Daniel struggles with family troubles, and the group prepares for their inevitable battle with the elf queen at the helm of the game's most torturous content.