"Uhhhh it's, like, a pyramid scheme? I'm not saying you have to, like, go kill them right now or anything, I just want to, y'know, see if we could put Medusa behind us, be on a team again. At least not be enemies if stuff does break out. I know I lied to you, like, with Medusa and all that, but I haven't snitched on you, I get some credit for that. Come on. Also, it was cool."

It's kind of looking like Drizzt is a no. But he tried.

HE DID NOT CLEAR THAT MUCH OBSIDIAN FOR IT TO BE "COOL."

"I will look into the APO, and if there are actual concerns, I will consider allying with you."

Eyeroll. "Whatever, dude."

"I'll let you know. Are we finished?"

"Unless you've got anything more to say, yeah, that was it. Let me know if you change your mind."

Drizzt is really lucky that Mapicc isn't a snitch.

Mapicc is really lucky that Drizzt will consider him dying once to be enough. It's a mutual balance of terror! "I will."

Is the APO around spawn?

There's a small building labeled AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY at spawn, yes. (There's also... black glass? Drawing a sort of outline around spawn. Not walls, at least not yet.)

Well, he's not authorised, but he is investigating. He opens the door. 

There's a small stone brick room with some chests and a nether portal.

Behind the nether portal is a hallway that leads to a much grander room, with blackstone walls and a quartz floor. There are barrels; each barrel contains a piece of maxed out netherite gear, named LW, such that one barrel has helmets, another has swords, etc. There are five full sets, in total.

5 isn't really even a stockpile of armour.

There's no other people around?

Looks like... Zam, Leowook, and Planetlord? Leowook is the one placing the black glass; it's becoming more and more of a wall as he does it. When Drizzt steps out of the APO, Leowook squints at him suspiciously before, apparently, being satisfied with what he sees and going back to placing glass.

It's probably worthwhile finding out what's happening with spawn this time. 

He goes up to Leowook. "Hello."

"Hello!"

"Is there a reason for the wall?"

"This is APO protected, APO insured. Meaning anyone who dies here, any damage that gets done, that's APO insured."

"Insured?"

"Like--anything that happens inside the dome--it's, uh, going to be a dome--if you get hurt, if things get damaged, I'll help fix it, because it happened on APO-protected land."

"Is that the main purpose of the APO?" He is trying not to sound incredibly suspicious, but...

"Main purpose of the APO is just to be a business. We're selling memberships."

"And the memberships fund protecting spawn?"

"I... guess?" Kind of a weird phrasing, but it works.

This seems like an attempt to control spawn! "Would you describe it differently?"

"I mean, if someone dies, the memberships would definitely be funding getting the hearts back, but they're not really funding terraforming or obsidian-mining directly. Indirectly, I guess. I'd probably phrase it differently, but you're not wrong."

He nods. "So the memberships are an alliance."

"Mostly the memberships are a trade offer, but I'd like to think that the members would support--if not me in general then at least the APO."