he runs faster than my character, he also ignores the enemies, who decide to take it out on me as I follow in his wake. We head up a hill with an entourage of irked monsters in tow. Near the top, there's a narrow passage. Alone, I'd have inched in with my shield high, listening for any prelude to an assault. I'd soak up the atmosphere, let it burden me and paralyse me with a fear of danger and mistakes. Wary of being left behind, I plummet down the tunnel after him. We reach a fog gate. These are the partitions between the regular areas and the boss areas. These are the veil between sustained dread and full on concentrated horror. I stop and fiddle with my equipment. Dickwraith is restless. He twirls in a lazy circle and makes derisory gestures. He's done this before. I take a breath, adjust my grip on the controller, and step through. I won't describe the boss fight because that would spoil it for you like Dickwraith spoiled it for me. In short, though, he kills the boss in a couple of hits. He doesn't take any damage. The bosses' special attacks don't stagger him. He's a fucking hacker. Getting help from a hacker leaves me with mixed feelings. I'm used to being invaded by them, toyed with, then killed in an ignominious fashion, such as being beaten to death barehanded or inundated in toxic dung pies. I'd never summoned a hacker before and