In Tom Larcombe's Natural Laws Apocalypse series, the System comes to Earth, bringing a game-like interface, classes, skills, and most importantly, monsters out to kill every human they find. The first book of his series, Enter System, covers the first two weeks of the apocalypse, and the adventures of Marc Cavanaugh and his friends, young adults in suburbia who dive aggressively into their new existence.
But what about everyone else? What about a more rural environment, perhaps one where monsters have an unusually high density? And what if the hero is an elderly professor with a Strength of 2?
The Endurance series, by Robert Cruikshank, accordingly follows the adventures of Karl Hausman, who becomes a Paladin and begins to gather his neighbors, including Terry Williams, a foul-mouthed high school cheerleader who has gone Rogue—literally.
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Endurance Book 1, Live Free or Die, covers the first three grueling days as Karl, Terry and the rest power level and struggle to create a Safe Zone. They befriend the Warrior, Doug Hooper, his wife, Chenelle the Healer, and their young son, Daniel. Setting out together, they meet Michael Cook the Archer, his wife Emma, and his son, Jake the Tinker. They survive the first night at the Cook residence without a Safe Zone, keeping watch to kill any monsters that appear in the room with them.
The next day, they decide to try to get to the old mill on Twisty Brook, which they hope will have enough metal to meet the requirements for permanent Safe Zone construction. During a swarm attack of low-level monsters, Emma is killed, and Karl vows to get the rest to safety. While Terry goes off to scout, the rest meet another Rogue named Jim, clear out the Sanchez house to use as a temporary Safe Zone, and rescue Maria Sanchez. Finally, they have temporary safety for the first time since the apocalypse began.
Next, they rescue Terry's classmate Annie and the twin infants she was babysitting when the System arrived. They survive the second night, and in the morning, are approached by a party of four: Clarissa and Letisha, both Rogues of some kind; Tabitha the Pyromancer; and her Protector Jo.
Eight of them set out to gather food and look for survivors. They loot a grocery store, fight a Giant Bear and another swarm, then encounter an elite Hobgoblin who curses Karl, nearly killing him before a hint from the System enabled the healer types to figure out what was wrong. By the time the day is done, their group has swelled to twenty-eight people, with much of their inventories stuffed with food. Unable to move quickly with small children, they stop for the night, setting up Temporary Safe Zone #2 in a mansion.
Friday begins early, with notification of an attack on Safe Zone #1. Karl leads the first wave, finding Zone #1 burned down and most of the humans captured. Going in pursuit, they track the captives to a camp of creatures called Kythar. Karl devises a plan to free the people, and with a great deal of luck, they manage to defeat the monsters.
Now with eighty people to protect, they immediately create Safe Zone #3 across the street, and plan how to attack the nearby Hobgoblin Fort. In a big battle against another elite monster, Karl is lost and presumed dead. Terry avenges him, then sets out with Letisha to clear out the old mill. In a strange fight against a Hypnotic Hawk, Karl returns and together they kill the Uncommon spawn.
By the time they succeed, Karl and Terry are Seventh Level, with most of their closest allies not far behind. Everyone pools their coinage to buy the last ingots of metal required for construction of a permanent Safe Zone. After some discussion, Karl names the Zone “Endurance”.
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Endurance Book 2, E Pluribus Unum, takes place during the next ten days, as Endurance fights to grow and get supplies while the monsters continue to get tougher. Karl spends most of his time coping with his fellow humans and the logistical nightmare of feeding and housing too many people during an apocalypse. The interpersonal problems get worse in some cases, better in others.
They retrieve the other survivors from the Temporary Safe Zones, and crowd into the available housing created with the permanent Safe Zone. Jake and Letisha design the improvements everyone wants. The new Zone can be upgraded or expanded; expansion is harder and requires much more metal.
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Karl gets a small group of volunteers to help organize things. Paul Goodman has military service and is in charge of defense. Jake Cook continues to be Quartermaster. Maria Sanchez takes on the Treasury, George Ritter takes intelligence gathering, and Sarah Jackson takes jobs and housing. Karl keeps overall command of parties leaving the zone.
On Saturday, three groups head out to find more food. Karl's group fights Mutated Bears and a Mutated Wolf. When they get to the market, it has already been looted. Instead, they raid an office supply store for various useful items, including a small amount of metal. When they return, the wall of Endurance is cracked and the defensive Stone Gargoyle is gone. The Zone was attacked by a Rare monster resembling a dinosaur while most of the heavy hitters were away. Fortunately, there was only one, and Letisha used her Siren abilities to steer the creature south, away from the Zone and all the hunting parties.
Terry's group returns with a small amount of food and another dozen people, led by Kat McPhee. Karl butts heads with her at once, ostensibly to address the security concerns she raised, but also as a sort of penalty for being so difficult. He then finds out that his System auction of Earth spices sold for twenty-nine gold, a huge sum.
When Chenelle's group still hasn't returned a while later, Karl organizes a rescue team. As they head north, Christine heads them off and explains that the party is pinned down by three Rare monsters called Hill Trolls. Recognizing the danger, Karl sends George back to Endurance to bring nearly every fighter, and to spend almost all his gold on weapons and armor for everyone. Even with the preparation, they are barely able to take down two, and then the third which was busy chasing Terry. They rescued six out of eight people, and didn't lose any rescuers, though it was a near thing. Fortunately, Chenelle's group was heavily laden with food from the market.
On Sunday, they buy a System recycler to eat houses and cars and produce materials for Safe Zone expansion. They begin emptying out nearby houses of useful items and consuming them. Karl gets a briefing from George's “EIA”, the Endurance Intelligence Agency. Then Jim gets a lot of gold from auctioning his loot—a second Monster Core—and agrees to loan Endurance forty gold, which is enough to buy the needed metal. That night, they expand the Safe Zone for the first time, doubling the walled-off area and building more housing.
On Monday, the high-level people rebel and want a break. They raid their own houses for personal items and supplies. Even Karl rescues much of his personal library. Jo and Tabitha press on alone to a distant store, and return in the late afternoon with a lot of food and a lot of survivors of the destroyed Bradley Supermarket Safe Zone. Meanwhile, Terry has disappeared saying only that she would be gone a while. She doesn't come back that night.
On Tuesday, Terry returns with three people and four horses visiting from the Lazy Circle Safe Zone. They share information, including news of a Giant Owl and a possible Hobgoblin elite. Karl is very interested since the Hobgoblin might drop another Core compatible with the one he used to build Endurance, and it might enable more expansions beyond the limit of the first.
Early in the morning on Wednesday, Karl has an encounter with Ethan, a high-level Rogue inside Endurance. He lays the groundwork for a future friendship with the huge, skittish black man, an escaped convict. Karl offers him the use of his apartment in secret. Ethan accepts, getting his first shower and first safety in over a week.
Karl leads a group back to Lazy Circle for a visit, and then they go on a hunt for a Hobgoblin. Instead, they find a challenging fight with two Ogres, one of which throws rocks like cannon fire. Christine survives due to Karl's Guardian Angel spell. Tabitha is targeted, and Jo takes most of the damage, which kills the Protector instantly.
Acting quickly, Terry's father the Druid casts Cocoon, a resurrection spell with side effects. They are effectively pinned in place for three days, far from the safety of Endurance. Terry brings word to the town, and supplies back.
For three days, the group keeps watch, and they and allies hunt any monsters that might come near. While they wait, Karl and Jack from Lazy Circle find alien videos of Jo and Tabby, because they have earned points of Renown. They watch the story unfold of how the two dealt with the arrival of the System, which includes Jo busting her lover out of what appears to be a mental institution, and becoming Tabby's Protector, while Tabby becomes a Pyromancer.
On the last morning, Karl is nearly abducted by a Level Ten Rare Giant Owl. Only with a timely javelin throw from Ethan does the Owl give up and fly off to heal. They hold the vigil for most of Saturday, and finally the cocoon bursts open. Jo is alive, but changed: she is taller, with red eyes, pointed ears and skin like tree bark. Her stats are dramatically altered. She is much, much tougher, but lost five points of Intelligence. In a role reversal, Tabby is now taking care of Jo. Her love is unshaken and they vow to level up as quickly as possible to get Jo's intellect back to normal with stat increases.
Karl convinces Ethan to return with them to Endurance officially, hoping to reduce the xenophobia towards him and Jo. They have a quick dinner, and then Karl is summoned to a Town Council Meeting, where Kat, displaying her rancor against Ethan, finally reveals her prejudice. Karl fires her as Sheriff, with the backing of the rest of the Council. Ethan watches the whole thing unfold while in Stealth, then drops it and announces that he has information they should hear.
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Now in Book 3, Sic Semper Tyrannis, Karl is about to hear Ethan's story…