“Alliances within the realm of NEMO are fluid and shifting. Guilds would jump from alliance to alliance hoping for a better deal or just to avoid being on the losing side. No mechanism exists in game to formalize an alliance other than in game contracts. No guild worth their salt would sign a contract with too many teeth, and most of the contracts could be voided by disbanding the guild that signed it.”
From “The Unstable Foundations of Empires”
Year 1, Month 2, Day 3, 04:45
Torgon breathed in relief when their small team arrived back at the guild base. He crept furtively towards the hot springs and grinned as he noticed the lack of people present. He walked into the building, put on one of the provided swimsuits and gave himself some time to relax in the warm waters. He closed his eyes and floated, thinking through all the challenges the guild faced.
Torgon wasn’t sure that it was worth contesting for the ruins of the city and the likely raid instance inside it. The swarms of undead would wear players down, burn through their consumables and weaken them before they ever set foot inside the instance. The instance itself would be challenging, requiring an unknown but substantial number of players to fight inside. The monsters would be on the upper end of the levels the zone could support.
Risk of Injury was in the best position of all guilds in this set of starting zones to tackle the raid, but Torgon wasn’t confident that it would be quick or clean. He leaned against the side of the spring, seated on a stone bench carved from the natural rock. He needed to understand the best path forward to at least put a plan into motion that can be adjusted based on circumstances. No plan survives contact with the enemy, but if it was adaptable and had movable parts it would serve.
He drifted in the water, thinking of the myriad ways to attack the problems. A notification alerted him that he now had a boost of one level to all his crafting abilities for 24 hours. He forced himself to leave the warmth and comfort of the hot springs and head to the offices. The sun was creeping over the horizon, and he had taken over an hour to himself. It was time to get to work for real.
Torgon messaged key figures to join him in the meeting room. Ovarrix was still out fighting undead with his army, but the other leadership team members were there. Torgon spoke, “Thanks for coming. We scouted the central ruined city in the Broken Hills and it’s a mess. There are three core problems we need to address before we can tackle that place and the zone’s raid instance. The first is how to effectively deal with incorporeal undead in tight spaces, the second is how to deal with swarms of undead efficiently and the third is how to set up an encampment that we can maintain to cut down on our supply train.”
Dusty made the first suggestion, “It’s not ideal, but there’s a protection from undead aura that’s available in the library. The skill should keep the shadows at bay. It weakens all undead if they’re inside the aura. It falls under general skills and while it’s very useful for this zone, it will be an afterthought in most places.”
Torgon tapped his chin, “That will work. It’s a good enough solution. We can organize more undead farming expeditions to clear the skill slots. We’ve gathered enough bone shards for several attempts at blueprints or skills, and I would love to have more. We’ll throw a party for it and give them out as rewards for top contributors.”
Stabitha jumped in, “Some of the alchemists can make Water of the Dawn, which is just holy water. It gives some area of effect damage to weaker undead. The recipe can be researched for mass production but it’s a common recipe.”
Dusty stood up and pumped her fist, “Time for the Research Hall upgrade!”
“Hold your horses Dusty,” Torgon said. “There’s still the field encampment to consider.”
Ashford spoke up, “We have several blueprints for pieces for a field camp. Dozens of us have the fortifications skill and can dig ditches, put up palisades and fast fieldworks.”
Mark added, “There’s a siege tower blueprint that we could adapt to put in place. It’s not an ideal solution, but it is a solution.”
Dusty looked Torgon directly in the eyes and said, “Sounds like we need the Research Hall upgrade.”
Torgon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply, “Yes Dusty. We need the Research Hall upgrade.”
Dusty’s cheer was met with laughter around the room.
Hyperia pursed her lips and spoke, “The fastest way to get the writs will be the higher difficulty levels in the Tomb of the Wight Lord. The Midnight Maiden has been pulling resources away from their encampment there to shift towards the ruins. Word is that our old buddy Ron Don Morgan is breaking away from the alliance now that she’s in charge.”
Torgon agreed, “We can encourage them to shift their location quicker. I don’t want to hold the dungeon. I say we let everyone know when we’re going and tell them we’re going to open it up for everyone to use as long as it’s peaceful.”
“Everyone but the Red Hat Raiders and anybody from the Younger Master’s Alliance that attacks us? Right?” Allestor asked.
Torgon laughed loudly. “Don’t worry Allestor. You’ll get plenty of killing in. Organize five teams of fighters, between 50 and 100 people per group, to range out. Hype, coordinate with Ovarrix on employing a single large force. When the site is secure, we’ll start hammering teams through the dungeon for training and farming.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He continued, “Keep me updated. For now, I need the crafters honing their skills. If there are unexpected complications, I can lead a team from the base to help.”
The meeting finished, leaving Torgon free to head to the crafting hall once more. He longed to spend hours making new toys. The fighting was fun and the meetings were necessary, but they consumed too much of his time.
Torgon started his session making basic enchanted long bows until he pushed his blueprint to level 20. It took him only a couple of hours and netted him an additional point of agility. Another hour spent gathering stones pushed the Gauntlets of Creation to level 4.
Dusty found him hitting the rocks and grabbed his attention in her animated fashion. “Torg! I discovered how to use the elemental chunks!”
Torgon put his pick away and replied, “How hard is it? What steps will we have to take?”
Dusty brightened, “It should be easy. I just need you and about 100 or so others with large mana pools.”
Torgon and Dusty rounded up faeries, crafters and every other player they could find. They started at the forest and began the ritual. They dumped mana into the sap of the treefolk elder and it glowed a vivid green. Lines of green energy snaked out from the sap, extending throughout the forest. After thirty minutes of pushing mana into the sap, every drop dissipated and an announcement rang out.
“Congratulations! Your Forest has acquired the blessing of the treefolk! Each node now has a 3% chance to spawn at a higher rank than normal after harvesting. This chance resets after every harvest and the effect can happen multiple times in a single node.”
Each of the natural treasures had a similar effect except for the one they applied to the lake. It instead sequestered a portion of the lake and turned it into saltwater. Ocean fish could now be harvested by the members of the guild.
“Good work Dusty!” Torgon exclaimed.
She beamed, “Thanks Torg. I wouldn’t have figured out without the improved library. They were specifically for player use so it’s no wonder that there were no clues. I wonder how many similar items we can discover in the world.”
Torgon followed Dusty back to the library and sat down across a table from her. “Dusty, I’m trying to maximize my time and plan my skills efficiently, but there are too many random variables. Earning the large chunks of free experience lets me boost skills to level 10 to clear slots, but it’s so random.”
She shrugged, “Yes, it’s a huge pain. The experience for combat skills gets spread out fast when you have a lot. My armor abilities are barely moving and most of the tanks complain about how it makes them less flexible.”
Torgon nodded, “I’m having the same problem with crafting skills. I want to have so many more, but it takes forever to level them, and I need to reserve experience for boosting my healing prowess.”
Dusty looked at Torgon intently, “You know what we’re going to have to do right?”
Torgon groaned, “Dusty, really?”
She bobbed her head up and down, “Yes, really. Extreme dungeoneering and questing. Let’s grab the 20 man first clear at the Tomb of the Wight Lord and then run around the zone farming undead until we discover a stupidly dangerous quest line that only our team is crazy enough to attempt.”
Torgon reluctantly agreed and accompanied Dusty outside to gather up the non-essential crafters. “Listen up everyone! We’re having another guild mission in force. It’s a mass dungeon farming expedition to the Tomb of the Wight Lord. If you’re not ready for the dungeons, teams for farming the undead will be organized for the repeatable quest.” Torgon messaged Ovarrix and Allestor about the change in plans and waited for their updates.
Allestor gave his report first. “Torg, over half of the Young Master’s Alliance members passed by our position on the way to the ruins. We let them go and they didn’t attempt to fight us.”
Ovarrix added his two cents, “We’re fighting forces from two guilds near the dungeon. We have the upper hand, but a little help would make this go a lot faster.”
“What two guilds?” Hyperia asked.
“It’s the Red Hat Raiders and the One Percenters.” Ovarrix supplied.
Hyperia responded, “That tracks. Ron Don Morgan won’t listen to the Maiden because he’s a pig, and the one percenters won’t listen because she’s the hired help. I’ll message the Maiden and see if we can broker a non-aggression pact for now. Assuming Torgon doesn’t want to send her kissy face emojis.”
Torgon rolled his eyes at the laughter then spoke, “We’re coming in with numbers Ovarrix. Allestor, screen us and try to keep them pinned in place.”
Torgon and his small army rolled out through Miller’s Crossing and into Camp Alpha. They took up a run and hurried towards the dungeon. Along the way they blitzed through small groups of reinforcements from the two hostile guilds.
Ovarrix fired off a message, “They’re trying to retreat. You killed their respawns and they know you’re on the way.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Allestor said. “I have three hundred people positioned to pin them in the open. Get here fast and we can kill them all.”
Torgon led his group slightly north of the dungeon. The forces of the two hostile guilds were suffering heavy losses and were out of position. The fresh influx of Risk of Injury players crushed the opposition and slaughtered them to a man. Torgon yelled, “Loot the field and start preparing defenses.”
Digger led a team of players to create a network of deep trenches alongside earthen walls topped with wooden stakes. Mark and Ashford placed immobile siege towers at intervals and other people set up zero level siege weapons facing outward. The field camp rose quickly and the scope of it gradually expanded to hold thousands of players.
Torgon nodded at Hyperia and she put out the word on the forums.
“Attention all players exploring the Broken Hills. Risk of Injury has built an encampment at the Tomb of the Wight Lord and we are inviting all those who are not hostile to our guild to explore the dungeon at their own pace. Small resupply stands and trading markets will be set up outside to make it easier to resupply. Take the opportunity to test your mettle without the worry of organized player attacks!”
Allestor leaned against a ballista, his teeth bared in a fierce grin. “I’ll keep five groups of 100 fighters out sweeping. Steve already has scouts out. Dirk plans on running teams of 500 for undead farming until they’re strong enough to hit the dungeon up too.”
Hyperia looked up and added, “Pass the word, we now have a Non-Aggression Pact with the Young Master’s Alliance. It won’t last, but they want to explore the ruins without worrying about our forces taking them in the rear and they trust us.”
Torgon shrugged again, “It works for us too since we’re not interested in the ruins yet. We can also count on them to break it when they think they’re ready. Now, it’s time to get back inside that godforsaken spiral dungeon and clear Hard mode.”
