The truck wrenched to the side again and Slink slid into Shaggy’s arm. With an apologetic look, the slim boy sat up straight again and re-gripped his rifle. The weapon was wedged against the floorboards and almost hit the ceiling of the truck they were in. Vlad took another rough turn, and the truck almost came off the ground. Shaggy pushed Slink away and grumbled.
“Seriously, do you have to almost tip us over at every damn turn?”
“It’s not my fault we are so back heavy.” Vlad hissed.
Levy’s voice came in through a small window in the cab. She and Ren were in the truck's bed, seated comfortably. “I hope you’re not talking about me.”
Ren’s snort was audible even other the wind. “You know he isn’t. I told you all we should’ve taken a couple of vans.”
“We could’ve. But SOMEONE doubled our shipments. Even after I had our people steal some garbage trucks.” Shaggy complained.
Slink did nothing but cough awkwardly and face out the front window. Shaggy wanted to complain more, but he couldn’t really argue with the decision. Their territory did pull in a lot more supplies over the day they were all logged out. They had a good store of building materials, foodstuffs, and even some things for Shaggy’s arcade. Although Roald and Sylus were still building stuff there as well.
After Ren’s little misadventure, they hadn’t had any more Quinica incursions. But they all agreed it was better to keep the emitters up and running. So for now, their little slice of Under-Town was free to grow. Of course, that didn’t stop Slink and Vlad from worrying about everything. They had taken the longest to get ready before leaving. Apparently, there was always ‘one more little thing’ they needed to do.
Shaggy gave a mental groan as Vlad took another corner and their truck tipped precariously. When it righted itself, a knocking came from Shaggy’s window. Turning, he stared into the helmeted face of Dave. For some reason, the sixth member of their party had decided to test his new mutation: Super-speed. At least a lesser variant of Super-Speed.
“What, Dave?” Shaggy asked after rolling the window down.
He could hear Dave’s smile even as his armored legs blurred beneath him. “This is so cool.”
“Yes, Dave, you’re really fast now. But you are going to be out of stamina by the time we get there.”
“Uh, yeah. That’s the thing. I’m kinda running out. Can I jump in the back?”
Shaggy rolled his eyes as Vlad groaned. “Dave, no. We are already almost crashing with the big one in the back.”
Shaggy glared at Vlad before he offered a counter-point. “Just get in already, Dave.”
The armored mutant gave a whoop of excitement and the back-end of their truck shifted. Vlad wrestled with the wheel as they fishtailed all over the two-lane road. Slink gripped the barrel of his rifle and Vlad swore as Shaggy carefully rolled up his window again.
It was a quick trip to the house the Korrigan had chosen as the raid’s starting point. But it was a windy, twisty road. One that Vlad insisted on taking at about eighty miles an hour. Once the vampire got the truck back under control, he hissed at Shaggy.
“We don’t need the weight! We are going to be late enough as it is.”
“Dude! We don’t even know when shit is kicking off. Not to mention that even when it does, I’m sure a portal will remain so that we can enter the Raid.”
“There are also already a bunch of people there, Vlad. So you’d have to wait, anyway. Levy said through the cab window.”
Vlad growled as he jerked the wheel around another corner. “You’ve all seen the forums, right? A magical formation has appeared around the house! Shit’s going to start at any moment. We need to be the first ones there.”
“Why?”
“Because, Shaggy, if you have forgotten. You have a damn date with a Blood God. So we need you at the front of the line. That will also ensure that we can get the best spot for the raid.”
Shaggy rubbed his head. “Dude, relax your damn FOMO. We will be fine. We have an in with Dave’s tsundere witch friend. Besides, I doubt I’ll even have a chance at a last hit with as many people that are going to be there.”
“The vids on the forum do make the place seem pretty packed.” Ren agreed. “I bet every guild is out there right now.”
“Exactly. So slow your shit, Vlad. We ain’t late yet and even if we were, it won’t matter. No sense crashing a car and slowing us all down.”
Vlad gave a rough growl, but took his foot off the pedal slightly. Their truck slowed, but they took the next few corners way easier. Shaggy turned back to the window and asked Ren.
“Is your friend doing alright? I heard he was up and about.”
“Randa? Yeah, he went out to explore Under-Town. He sounded both amazed and appalled when I spoke to him. Something about a bunch or warm-blooded fools digging in the dirt.”
“What is he?” Slink asked. “He looks like a damn goblin or something.”
After Ren’s adventure in a Quinica space station, he had returned with a small green creature and a story. One where he single-handedly destroyed an entire space station and watched a Hero player die from stupidity. Randa, the small green creature, had almost been blown to hell with the station. But Ren saved him and brought him back to the bar. Which Shaggy didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing yet.
The little green man was supposedly very good with metal. But that was all Ren could say before they all had to log out. When they had logged in this morning, they were more rushing about getting things settled. Shaggy wanted his pack on patrol and defense duty, while Slink had his office staff consolidating their power in the Quinica’s old turf. Vlad meanwhile was making nice with his cabal of vampires. Trying to win back some goodwill.
“He’s a Gowenite.” Ren answered. “Some kind of space gremlin thing. He can do some pretty weird stuff with machines.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I watched him melt metal with a touch and cobble together a metal sled that defied the laws of physics.”
“You gonna let him join us?” Shaggy asked.
“That’s up to him. I don’t think he’s been down to Earth in a while. The Quinica had him imprisoned and sedated in a lone space station.”
“That’s good, right? I mean the enemy of my enemy and all that?” Slink asked.
“Not necessarily.” Vlad muttered. “For all we know, he could be just as big a headache.”
“Fair.” Shaggy nodded. “But we don’t need to alienate him just cause he MIGHT be a problem. Especially because we are still at war with the Quinica, apparently.”
“Yeah, how does that work? Ren here just nuked a space platform. If we all believe him, that is,” Levy said.
She gave the giant alien an apologetic shrug. But Ren didn’t seem to take offense. “It was only one station, and they had to call in reinforcements. So there have to be more of the damn things up there.”
“What? So we’re supposed to follow their asses to space and kill them all?” Shaggy grumped. “We beat them out of Under-Town. I say we declare it our victory.”
“We can certainly act like it. But the system stills considers us at war. So until that goes away, we need to be on the lookout for shit. I think we should focus solely on building our power base.” Slink said.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Shaggy raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what we are doing?”
“Yes, but I’ve got reports of more players making their way down to Under-Town. There have always been a few, buying and selling stuff. But now player teams are coming down and trying to replicate our success. We had two requests to meet coming from other player groups in the area.”
“What did you say?”
“I told them about this raid and said we would talk after.”
“Smart.”
Vlad slapped the steering wheel. “No! Not smart. You just gave the raid location away?”
“It’s on the forums, Vlad. It also buys us time to deal with Cog and then we can go back and deal with the players. The other groups can’t take our Legion HQ from us. They’d have to declare war and then hold our Legion terminal for three minutes. It’s fine.”
Shaggy rolled his eyes at Vlad’s paranoia. At this point, he didn’t know if the guy was playing up the vampire motif or not. But it was getting annoying. He was constantly jumping on and complaining about others. Not to mention how he treated his own Lackeys. Although Shaggy was coming to terms with that. How another player treated NPCs was on them.
They rode in silence for another fifteen minutes before a hill came into view. The house atop the hill was just the same as when Korrigan had shown it off in her realm. Except now there were hundreds of people crowded around the area. The house was a three-story gothic mansion that seemed to absorb all the surrounding light. Shaggy could make out people rushing around and through the house while others waited around the hill.
There were several clear divisions among the players surrounding Liberty Hill. Some were camped out in trucks and cars. While others were in literal camping tents. But they all seemed to stick with their own side. Some were clearly big guilds, all huddled together. While the independent players roamed freely across the hill. Then you had the Hero side and the Villain side. Which was much harder to discern.
Someone had tried to place a sign which said Hero’s should be on one side while Villains were on the other. But somebody had drawn different arrows, pointing every direction. Others had drawn expletives and pictures of dicks and random memes. Shaggy sighed as their truck pulled up the hill. They got several looks, but they weren’t the only ones. More and more people were pulling up to the hill.
Shaggy couldn’t spot the Professor in the crowd. But he didn’t doubt the lizard and his friends were here. This was turning into an Austin-wide raid. A few oblong city drones flew overhead, but they were quickly being dispatched. Bouts of fire and energy beams rose into the air. While flyers took to the sky and chased, the government assigned nuisances away.
“I’m surprised the cops aren’t here. What with all their drones being smashed up.” Shaggy said.
“Yeah, a large gathering of Supes like this has got to have crazy implications for the in-game authorities.”
Levy sighed. “Can we not worry about that right now? I think Vlad was right to hurry.”
Shaggy glanced at his wife and quirked an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
Levy pointed a finger out the front window and at the dark mansion. A group of robed individuals were crowded around the entrance to the place. A rainbow-glowing sigil was on the ground all around the property and it was pulsing.
“That is fucking primed and ready to go at any moment. I don’t know what it is, but that is a shit ton of magical energy just sitting about.”
As they all watched, one of the robed mages did something. Their hands glowed red, and they thrust them down toward the ground. There was an extremely loud boom, and then the mage was gone. Replaced by a red mist that Shaggy was sure was what remained of the player.
“Dumbasses are trying to siphon some of the power for themselves.”
“Looks like it’s unstable.” Ren said as Vlad pulled their truck to a stop.
Levy chuckled. “Hehe, well, it IS the Mad Witch’s power. It’s bound to be a bit unstable. But I doubt that’s the only reason it’s so difficult to handle.”
They all exited the truck as Slink asked. “What do you mean?”
Shaggy answered for his wife as he helped her from the back of the truck. “It’s a portal for a raid, Slink. The game is going to have some form of protection for it. Otherwise any dumbass could fuck with it and we’d all be out of a Raid.”
“But what about player choice?”
“Hey, people have a choice on whether to break into a prison. But we don’t do it. Same thing here. It’s just players are more willing to be stupid if it’ll give them more power.”
As Shaggy finished explaining, another loud boom resounded from near the house. A few more mages were wandering over and Shaggy couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Speedsters raced around the property as blasters and tanks preened about their own little spaces. Dave’s armored form blasted forth, eager to take a look around.
“So, were we waiting?” Shaggy asked.
Levy raised a glowing purple hand and held her palm flat. She moved the hand back and forth as her magic pulsed. When she was done, she turned to them all and shrugged.
“Looks like that formation is just the top layer. Anywhere on the hilltop is fine. So we just need to park it and wait. The way that sigil is pulsing with mana, we could teleport at anytime.”
Shaggy nodded and leaned against the truck. It seemed all they had to do was wait and the festivities would get underway. He hoped it would be soon, though. Some players looked like they had been waiting for a while. A few entrepreneurial players had even setup little shops where they were hocking their wares. Slink and Vlad went off to do some shopping, while Shaggy and Ren watched the truck. Levy went off to talk to the mages at the house.
“Don’t blow yourself up, hun!” Shaggy called as Levy flipped him the bird.
He and Ren sat in silence near the car, watching the other players. Most were waiting like them. While others were doing the player equivalent of networking. Chatting, showing off powers, and discussing how they liked the game. Mostly stuff they would do on the forums, but in person was always better. Easier to get a sense of a person that way.
More and more people gathered around the hilltop and Shaggy was increasingly surprised by the lack of police presence. But a wandering wizard mentioned that the area seemed to be shifting in and out of view, dimensionally speaking. Like the entire hill was going to be teleported over to Cog’s realm. Shaggy didn’t doubt the Mad Witch could do it, but he thought it would be a massive waste of power.
“That’s why she gathered an army, Shaggy.” Levy had explained when she returned. “She’s going to open a giant-ass portal. She’s going to need defenders while she gathers her power back up. At least, that’s the consensus among the magical players here.”
“So part of us will have to defend Korrigan, while the others rush Cog?”
Levy waggled a hand. “Maybe? It really depends. Also, you have to remember that Korrigan is bringing her own people. She might be well-protected, anyway.”
Shaggy nodded as a blonde man in a white t-shirt and jeans walked over. He had a wide disarming smile and Shaggy almost smiled back. But the smile didn’t quite reach the players’ eyes, and Shaggy knew enough about players to spot an asshat.
“Hey folks! Happy to see you made it out here. Can I ask if you are affiliated with a guild?”
“We’re with the Legion.” Shaggy said simply, studying the other man’s face.
The blonde man nodded. “Okay, good to know. Well, I represent the Silver Wings and we just wanna make sure that all the independent players know the game plan. The Silver Wings and Wor Boyz will be rushing Cog. So we advised the lesser guilds and independents to take on the ads. The RiffRaff have graciously agreed to defend the Mad Witch. So you folks have nothing to worry about. Just go out there, cause some mayhem, and have fun, okay?”
Before Shaggy could respond with something snarky, the blonde guy was walking away, and Ren had a hand on his shoulder.
“Smug bastard. I wonder if they really think that shit will work?”
“Of course they don’t.” Ren said. “But now they’ve issued the warning. So no one can complain when the Wings or Boyz decide that you’re in their space and gank you.”
“So just a general pre-raid ‘don’t fuck with us’ message?” Levy asked.
“Pretty much. ‘This is what the big dogs are doing. Don’t get stepped on.’” Shaggy growled.
Big guilds were always a pain to work with during raids. They had their own ideas about how everything was supposed to go. If it didn’t go that way, it was everyone else fault for being noobs or getting in the guilds way. Shaggy hadn’t dealt with the Silver Wings before, though he had heard of them. Just another group of jag-offs trying to step on other people’s fun.
“How do you think they got the RiffRaff to agree to guard Korrigan?” Shaggy asked.
Ren snorted. “Necessity probably. The RiffRaff are the biggest villain guild in Austin right now. If the Boyz or the Wings were guarding Korrigan, they’d probably turn on her and try to take her out. They are both Hero guilds, so they would get massive rewards for taking down a major in-game villain like that.”
“You don’t think she’d have protections?” Asked Levy.
“Would it matter?”
Shaggy and Levy shared a look before they both shook their heads. Players would take a run at anything they thought they could kill. The Boyz and The Wings wouldn’t be any different. If they could get away with killing Korrigan, they would.
“We are going to have to be on our toes when the raid ends,” Shaggy muttered.
Levy nodded. “True. But if we’re lucky, the realm will fall apart when Cog dies. Then the Mad Witch will port us all back.”
“That just means this hillside will become a giant battlefield. If they don’t have to guard the Korrigan, the RiffRaff will go ham on their weakened rivals. Once we get kicked out of the realm, we are going to have to make a run for it.”
All three of them nodded and looked toward the mansion. Mages still crowded the entrance and the pulsing sigil seemed to grow. Shaggy took in a calming breath and glanced around. Hundreds of players dotted the hillside. Some laughing and chatting, other grimacing darkly at one another. Some selling their wares and happily exchanging money, others playing with their weapons and staring daggers at each other.
The players were on the loose now and Shaggy wasn’t sure what would happen next.