When I clicked the PvP sheet button, an entire menu opened that I hadn't explored before.
PvP Kills (30 Days)
1. Osgoth - Buccaneer (Rogue) - Level 60
2. Ysillith - Shadow Blade (Rogue) - Level 60
3. DarylXOXO33 - Naturalist (Druid) - Level 60
...
49. Norsebbbzerker - Berserker (Warrior) - Level 54
50. SniperGawwwwd - Quickdraw (Ranger) - Level 58
PvP Deaths (30 Days)
N/A
The full tally of my player kills were listed on the PvP sheet. There was another tab with my own personal stats, and I clicked on it.
PvP Stats (30 Days)
Total Damage Done: 47,291
Total Damage Received: 8,767
Total Enemy Players Killed: 50
Group-Kill Ratio: 0.46
Kills-Death Ratio: ∞
It was pretty funny seeing my Kill-Death ratio at infinity. I had always been a bit of a stat chaser in other PvP games, so the fact that I had an infinite K/D gave me a little dopamine rush. I flipped back to the PvP Kills sheet, since I had noticed the names were clickable.
I clicked on Ysillith, and a new page popped up, giving me a look at his PvP stats for his last 30 days.
PvP Stats (30 Days) - Ysillith - Shadow Blade (Rogue) - 60
Total Damage Done: 23,490
Total Damage Received: 7,312
Total Enemy Players Killed: 37
Group-Kill Ratio: 1.43
Kills-Death Ratio: 5.29
PvP Deaths (30 Days)
1. CutUrThroat - Mentalist (Mage) - Level 60 - (Damage Contributed: 17%)
2. BabyYoda221 - Rock God (Bard) - Level 60 - (Damage Contributed: 9%)
...
7. RayGun47 - N/A (Damsel) - Level 100 - (Damage Contributed: 93%)
I hadn’t seen or heard anything of Ysillith since our duel, and I wondered if the shame had kept him from showing his face in game. There was a possibility he had played a part in organizing today’s ambush, but the rumor mill around S&S was that he had been criticized and ostracized for losing such a public fight against a ‘Damsel’. I even heard he had been kicked from his Guild. Paradoxically, all the Necks had avoided me out of fear exactly because of that duel. It wasn’t really fair to Ysillith, but I didn’t give a shit.
Fuck Ysillith.
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My flight rolled into Bastion a few minutes later. I had sent a Guild chat requesting all the Officers to meet up at the Guildhall, and most of them had been nearby.
As soon as I landed, I charged up [Bounding Leap] to max, and launched into the sky. This was the only practical way to travel in Bastion these days. If I went anywhere on foot, I was mobbed almost immediately. Some players spotted me as I leapt across the city, but following me was pointless - I’d be in the Guildhall in moments.
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Speaking of the Guildhall, we’d outgrown the level 1 Guildhall within days. With the influx of hundreds of players post-duel with Ysillith, the Guild was now level 2, and teetering on level 3. I had purchased the level 2 Guildhall last week, and it was a bit more accommodating.
Not much, but a bit.
Of course, the prices were insane. For someone who had lived all of their adult life on minimum wage, it was shocking to blow through a year’s worth of income on a single room in our new Guildhall. But the money was flowing in fast. We had decided early on that there was a 5,000 gold application fee to combat the spam applications. In addition, there was a 20,000 gold joining fee to make sure players were serious about becoming a part of DGW. 25,000 gold times hundreds of players - you do the math.
So despite our massive outflows on the new Guildhall, outfitting the rooms, the trainers, and upgrading Harold to a level 2 Guild Manager, we were still well within the green.
And Harold wasn’t the only recent NPC addition to our team.
Within days of beating Ysillith, I had enough gold to purchase a trainer and a cook. Initially, I had decided not to purchase a cook. It had seemed extraneous, and not a cost I could justify. But once I had engaged Denise as our Guild’s spellcasting trainer, I had quickly changed my mind.
“If trustworthy actors are what you’re worried about,” Denise had said when I had first hired her on as a full-time trainer. “Then you should hire a cook, too.”
“That’s a waste of gold, isn’t it?” I had asked. “Plus, I don’t know any cook-trained actors.”
She had flashed me a mischievous smile then. I had looked on with confusion for a moment, before my brain caught up to what she was implying.
“Ryan’s a qualified cook actor?” I asked, laughing at the absurdity of being both cook and mercenary qualified. It was a bit incongruous.
“Yeah, that was his first NPC role, actually. It’s pretty easy to become cook-qualified, honestly. Almost as easy as becoming damsel-qualified,” she said with a wink.
I had laughed and immediately purchased a full-time cook for the Guild.
I was in the Player Housing district now, and reduced my leap charge so I didn’t overshoot the Guildhall. I did pass the level 2 Guildhall, though. There were dozens of Guild members coming and going from the level 2 Hall, and some of them spotted me as I bounded over them. They waved and pointed me out to the others, and I returned a greeting even as I was leaping away.
The DGW Council had agreed that the level 2 Guildhall would be for the regular members. It was big enough to fit 30 to 40 players at a time, and also had the better training rooms, and open areas for congregation.
The original level 1 Guildhall served as the Officer’s Hall, and was where we conducted most of our Council business. This allowed us to keep the Hall insular, so that only the core members of the Guild could gain access.
I timed my leap perfectly, landing directly in the front courtyard of the level 1 Guildhall.
When I entered the front door, I was greeted with the commotion of loud voices arguing in the meeting room just off the foyer.
“We can’t keep going on like this!” someone said, their voice raised. I recognized the voice as Himdall, a level 59 Bulwark, and another founding member of Ray's Angels.
“You knew what you were signing up for.” Bart’s voice cutting through the noise. “We’re going through some growing pains, yes. But thing’s will normalize in a couple weeks.”
“A couple weeks!? I would have been 60 already if we weren’t forced to babysit lowbies-”
I let the door close behind me, the sound interrupting Himdall’s complaints.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” I said as I walked into the meeting room, a smile on my face. “Carry on.” I walked over to one of the free chairs and plopped down.
Around the table were ten people, not including me. There was Bart, Bell, Tear, and Himdall from the Angels. Jeremy, Kink, and T were also here. They had all leveled up fast since the duel. Jeremy was already 42, with Kink and T at 36. They’d probably be 60 in another month or so. Representing the NPCs that I trusted were Harold, Denise, and her husband, Ryan. We were missing three more from the Angels team - they were out rescuing some lowbies that were getting camped.
Himdall was examining his fingernails, the silent tension in the room palpable. I looked around, waiting to see if anyone would cut through it.
After a few tense moments, I decided to address Himdall. “What’s up, Himie? This is an open Council. No one’s gonna jump down your throat for saying what you feel.” I glanced at Jeremy, whose expression was like a dark storm. “Well, Jer’ might, but you take the good with the bad,” I said with a chuckle.
The laughter among the room was muted, which made me realize the conversation had been a little more heated than I had thought.
Himdall looked up, sighed, then spoke. “Ray, I love what you’re turning this Guild into - I really do. It’s just-” He stopped, shaking his head as if he couldn’t find the words.
“Yeah?” I prompted.
“It’s too soon, I think,” he eventually said. “We should be focusing on recruiting level 60s, build our power base - then worry about the lower levels.” He looked at the other Angels members for support. “We’ve done zero progression in almost two weeks,” he added. “I’ve been on the cusp of 60 for days now. And at the rate we’re going, even if I do hit 60, I’ll still spend 90 percent of my time doing escort missions for ungrateful lowbies who think we owe them something because they paid an application fee!”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “I hear ya, Himie.” I looked at the other Angels members present. “How about you guys? Let’s air it all out there while we’re here.”
The four of them shared a tense look.