We raced for the portal back to Phase Two as I frantically scrolled through my messages and relayed details to Sage, who was asking a million questions.

Grandpa had been copied on all the messages. I could see his expression growing grimmer as we leapt through the portal. Apparently Juana had been working on changing out our defensive turrets to better match a new strategy she had learned during her time in the NPC city. Her new craft skill, creating constructs, would allow her to make autonomous fighters that could take out creep. It would give us more versatility in our defenses.

At the same time the island had flipped over from high tide to low tide. That happened every couple of days. We had been through several cycles already. This time, though, our crafters noticed the problem right away. The creep spawn rate suddenly skyrocketed, with each spawn point putting out way more than before, and they weren't following the same paths.

Frank, who was serving as a security lead protecting our crafters, had taken his team and checked it out. Turns out the two alpha node teams, Vortali and Existalis, were using a combination of abilities and equipment to increase the spawn points’ production rate, and then direct the creep toward each other's bases. They were trying to take advantage of the low tide to send a wave of creep the opposing outpost wouldn't be able to fight off.

Frank's reaction had been to say good, let them take each other out, but Juana had been more wary. She had recalled all of our crafters and ordered us all on the alert putting up as many defenses as possible.

That turned out to be a good idea when one of the new creep armies had started flooding over our base. There were enemy miners along with the creep. They were hanging back and watching, buffing the creep, directing its path. We were pretty sure they were from Vortali’s node because the miners Juana or Frank were able to lay eyes on were all space elves. Juana thought they were trying to take down our node in order to gain a conqueror's buff which would make all of their allied creep more powerful for the next day.

So now we had waves of creep breaking through our defenses. Our first ring was in shambles. The gate gone, the turrets destroyed. As Grandpa, Sage and I stumbled out of our portal, we were greeted by a scene of madness.

Rockets flew overhead, aimed at our defense turrets. Mostly the creep wave was the skeleton pirate variety but apparently the alpha node buffing them had managed to provide them some pretty scary weapons. Like RPGs. And hang gliders.

A skeletal pirate clinging to the straps of a hang glider flew overhead dropping coconut bombs into the middle of our inner ring. They didn't do a whole lot of damage, just exploded and sprayed coconut fibers and milk everywhere. Sage did a quick Eye-Spy and warned us that the coconut milk was actually highly flammable. Between that and the fibers, we were all set to go up like a candle.

I hurried over to where Juana and Frank were bent over a command table that hadn't previously been there. Sweat dripped down Juana's face as she moved little holographic icons around, enabling and disabling turrets and abilities as we had the resources.

At the same time we got a message from Smith. Welcome back. We're trying to find the source nest of this creep invasion. If we can take it down that'll buy us some time. There are enemies miners out here trying to stop us.

Watch your respawn counter Grandpa warned.

We are. We've had 12 deaths in the last hour so as long as we don't do something stupid we'll be alright, Smith replied.

“Can we get an overview of the whole archipelago?” I asked Juana. “Everything that we are connected to now that it's low tide.”

Juana changed her display, showing our island and the three that were now connected to us by low sandbars.

I saw at once why we were in trouble. The arrangement was something like a Y shape, with Vortali’s alpha node on the upper left branch and the other alpha node, which belonged to Existalis Holdings, on the bottom leg. We were right in the middle. It was hardly out of the way at all for our enemies to divert their creep to us on the way to taking out the others.

“Anything from the other alpha node? Existalis’s outfit?”

“Not that we've seen.”

“If they see how bad we’re hurting, they may try to attack us just so they get the buff instead of Vortali.”

“Good point.” Juana made a note.

“You showed good initiative pulling our crafters back but I'm gonna recall anyone who has even a little bit of fighting experience,” Grandpa said.

“Why?” Frank demanded. “They'll just get slaughtered and they can't attack the creep or the enemy team.”

Frank and his team could attack special world monsters or programmed enemies defending crafting nodes, but not spawn creep. Spawn point creep could kill Frank, or any of the rest of our farm team, and they were helpless to fight back.

“But the enemy can’t attack them, either,” Grandpa said. “That gives them good scouting value. Their deaths don't count against our respawn timer.”

“You sure of that?” Juana asked. “That's why I brought them back, I wasn’t sure if it counted or not.”

“Positive,” Grandpa said firmly. “It was in appendix C of the outpost guide.”

He sent a message right away as I studied the map, trying to think where we would be most useful.

We had to keep our node. If we lost it, our neighbors would make sure we couldn’t reclaim it. If we couldn't hold on to our node, we were out of the game.

Smith, the Mongeese, and Team Ragtag were doing a good job attacking the closest spawn points but we needed to think beyond that. We needed to make this work for humanity’s sake. All of a sudden this game was a lot bigger than just me and my family. It was even bigger than Misfits Guild.

The stakes couldn't have been higher, and they were resting on my shoulders. I wasn't sure I liked having that much responsibility.

I really shouldn't have let them promote me. "Juana, did you ever get that communications array?"

"I did but neither of the other node teams is listening," she said.

"How about the beta node? The Grignarians?”

She looked startled. “I hadn't thought to try them.”

They were all the way up at the top of the right hand branch of the Y. Nice and safe and tucked away. "Send them this," I said. “Proposing temporary alliance for the duration of this low tide period. We need to restore the status quo as fast as possible. If Vorali takes out us and Existalis, how long will it be before they come for you?”

They’d probably ignore me. We’d wrecked their opening strategy and then helped take them out during the team event, but if there was a chance we could bring in allies, even creepy tentacle-faced ones nobody else seemed to like, I’d take it.

“Sent,” Juana said, then bent back over the map of our outpost. "Damn it," she said, "lost another slowing turret. I can get them repaired but I've got to have some breathing room."

"Right," I said, looking at Sage and Grandpa. "Then let's push back the creep for a bit while we wait for our scouts to get here."

Grandpa, Sage, and I climbed the ladders to the parapets overlooking the middle ring. Our towers were still taking down hordes of skeletons but it was clearly a losing proposition as they came faster and faster.

One by one our turrets and towers were being knocked down. A whole squad of skeleton archers was standing just out of range of our last chain lightning turret in this ring and shooting it. Its health was dropping slowly but inexorably.

"Them first," I said, loading my revolver with one of the last boom rounds.

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I aimed, using Trick Shot to target the foremost skeleton, and fired. The explosion knocked at least a dozen of the creep away, outright exploding eight more. I started picking off the survivors one by one with regular bullets as Grandpa hurled a steady stream of shuriken into them.

Sage was running farther along the parapet. "I found one with a funny buff," she reported. "Eye Spy says he's increasing neighbors skills by 50%.”

“That's bad. Mark him," I said.

"I'll take him out," Grandpa said, moving towards Sage. "You won't be able to get back," I said.

He touched his new ninja headband. "I'll use the other ability on this. Tactical retreat. It allows me to target a friendly with Shadow Step." That was pretty damn awesome upgrade.

Grandpa teleported into the midst of the skeletons. They turned to attack him as he concentrated on the mark. He threw a Honorable Foe targeted ability onto that skeleton, increasing all the damage he did to it by 40%, and started laying into it with his axes. He swung with both hands, blades flashing furiously.

I searched for the next most imminent threat now that these skeleton archers were down and spotted a group of pirates carrying a battering ram on their shoulders. It looked like they had ripped the figurehead off of a ship and were carrying it toward our next gate.

I used a frag bullet to take out the first, causing the others to drop their ram. Then I yelled for Sage to drop Mucking Out the Stalls under them. She did, and Lassoed one for good measure, turning it on the others as I used my Sharpshooter ability.

Sharpshooter wasn't one I used often, since I had to be above and at least 30 feet away from an enemy in order to activate it, but it improved my accuracy and meant my shots packed a hell of a punch. My chosen enemies dropped one by one.

Sage's Tamed pirate survived to the end. She suicided him into the next batch, a group of ordinary skeletons who had been with the buffer mob. I checked and Grandpa was back up on the wall, hurling more shuriken down.

"I'm getting one of the slowing towers back online," Juana shouted over the din. The next moment, a stream of icy blue energy zapped out from a tower, arcing its way through the nearest couple of dozen pirates.

Their movement slowed. They looked comical as they marched toward our next gate at half speed. The ones behind them caught up quickly, forming a big cluster. Then they hit the edge of Sage's muck pool and their slow forward march became a total lack of progress. Grandpa shifted back toward us, hurling a never ending stream of tiny throwing stars.

A pair of hang gliding skeletons swooped down on us. I aimed and shot one. He plummeted, losing control of his hang glider, and crashed into the mass in front of our gate, spilling coconuts everywhere.

That gave me an idea. I loaded up an incendiary round and aimed at the skeleton closest to the coconuts. It went up in a chain reaction, coconuts exploding in enormous fireballs, skeletons burning away to dust.

We threw a couple quick clean up moves and then the area in front of our gate was clear. The slowing tower fired again, catching the next group of creep making their way up.

Behind us, Frank reported, "We've got our scout volunteers here but we need you to clear a path so they can get out."

"Hang on," I said, "Is Dwight there?"

“Yeah, I’m here,” our chief crafter called. “How’s it going?”

"Dwight, these skeletons don't like fire. You guys can't attack them directly but all of the rounds and grenades you and Sage made me are working perfectly fine. Think you can whip up some sort of firebombs?"

"Oh hell yes," he replied, “just give me a couple minutes.”

The creep kept coming. The waves were getting bigger, faster, harder to kill. Juana switched on as many slowing fields as she could, giving us a chance to keep ahead of the wave after wave of skeleton pirates that crept through the middle ring of our outpost defenses. With Grandpa, Sage, and me to bolster the automated defenses, we were staying ahead of the creep, just barely.

Need us to come back and give you a hand? Smith asked, sending his message from halfway across our section of island.

Nope, Grandpa replied. We need you to turn off the spigot.

Easier said than done. They’re keeping us pushed back off the spawn points. I was hoping you’d let us take a break and actually get something done.

Just keep trying, Grandpa replied.

None of our offensive team had died in the time we'd been back. If they did, they’d respawn here in the outpost, which would make defending our walls a little easier, but they'd have very little chance of getting back out there to help with the takedown of the spawn points.

"How are my weapons coming?" I bellowed back over the wall to where our crafters were hard at work.

"You'll have 'em soon!" Dwight shouted back.

"Soon ain't good enough," I said, taking careful aim at another squad of pirates carrying a battering ram as it came around the bend and into my range. The chain lightning generators zapped them, but they seemed to shake off the slowing effect.

"Sage, inspect," I snapped.

She turned and used Eye Spy on the group. "They're being protected!”

“Which of them is doing it?"

"None of these. I’ll figure out who it is." She scrambled farther down the parapet as she studied the waves of creep coming in. A minute later, she shouted excitedly, "There! There!" and pointed.

"Mark 'em," I barked.

A minute later, an icon floated over the head of one tall but peg-legged pirate skeleton. He wore a tattered captain's hat. A skeletal parrot with a few sad green feathers clinging to its delicate wing bones was perched on the pirate's shoulder. "Him!" she yelled back.

"I'll get him," Grandpa said. Just then, Dwight appeared, climbing up the ladder with a crate in hand.

"I think I've got what you need," he said.

I inspected the contents of the crate. There were half a dozen metal eggs, each about twice as big as my fist, and the system helpfully called them [Flame Eggs. Damage: 500 points of area-wide damage at epicenter, dropping off by fifty percent by meter of distance from the explosion].

The outside of the eggs were mottled copper. I picked one up as I did some quick math. This should knock out enemies within a meter and a half of the explosion radius, dropping after that. It would also damage our structures. The egg was heavy and warm to the touch. "How's it work?"

"There's a toggle on the side for your delay.” Dwight pointed it out. "You can choose between one and five seconds. I suggest throwing it as hard as you can once you've set it.”

I started to prime the first charge, then hesitated. "Sage, what's that pirate's ability read?"

She rattled it off promptly. “Allies within a 60-foot area are protected from area damage, debuffs, and any non-targeted incoming damage.”

Damn, that sounded exactly like what this egg grenade would do. I set it back down in the box gently. "We gotta take him out first. And be careful of positioning so we don’t just blow a hole in our walls.”

"I'll get the buffing mob,” Grandpa said, moving for a better position so he could Shadow Step in.

Dwight frowned back. “Let me check with Juana,” he told me.

"Hang on," I said, as a thought struck me. "I've got an idea." The pirate was a little ways back from his fellows, standing just out of range of the nearest turret. "Sage, can you Lasso him? And Tame?”

She brightened up and drew her lariat from thin air. She whirled it over her head three times, then let fly. The loop of rope sailed through the air, settling gently over the skeleton pirate's bony shoulders. His parrot squawked and lifted off, flapping away on bone wings.

I felt an aura settle over me and checked my active effects. Sure enough, Sage's Taming of the pirate meant now we were his allies. “Awesome,” I said, and picked up an egg. "Sage, whatever you do, don't stop Taming."

Stepping up to the edge of the parapet, I cast my Roped Into It ability. I swung down off the parapet like a discount Tarzan straight into the clump of skeletons. My combat boots took one of them right in the rib cage, bowling it over. The others scattered, dropping the carved wooden figurehead they were using for a battering ram.

I hit the ground in the midst of them, landing in a crouch. Aside from the six who had been carrying the battering ram, by now we had several waves of creep mounted up, at least 30 or 40 skeletons.

I cast Call ‘Em Out, just to make sure I had everyone's attention. They came for me, bony arms outstretched, tripping over each other, getting in the way, trampling each other underfoot.

I thumbed the selector switch on the flame egg, all the way down to one second. I tossed it at my feet. This was either going to be incredibly cool or I was going to wake up dead in a second feeling pretty stupid.

Boom!

The flame egg exploded outward. It cast a great gout of flame against the sides of our outpost, rocking the walls, knocking me backward. My ears rang from the thunderous noise as the flame washed over me. I closed my eyes, expecting to feel my clothes and hair burning away, but nothing happened.

I opened my eyes. The creep was gone, all except for Sage's Tamed skeleton. Even his parrot had been vaporized by the blast. Our walls were covered in black char, but otherwise undamaged.

I walked over to the last mob, shoved my snubby revolver between his ribs, and pulled the trigger. The pirate collapsed. "How are we doing?" I yelled up at Grandpa.

"We've pushed them back!" Grandpa said.

Juana sent me a message. Shad, a bunch of our systems have gone offline. I’ve been re-routing resources where I can, but I really need to take everything down and reconfigure. It’s either now, while we have a break, or it’ll be later when we’re buried in mobs.

How fast can you get them back online?

I'm going to have to cannibalize some of our supplies. We're short on repair drones. I've used all of them.

Send Veda a message. Tell her we need more repair drones, right now.

“Ok!” I called as I rejoined Grandpa and Sage. “We’ve got breathing room but we need to turn the tables. Let’s make Vortali too busy to attack us. If we can push them off the spawn point and clear it, and maybe kill some of them, it won’t be worth their time. We’re just a distraction, they really want Existalis, not us.”

“Makes sense,” Grandpa agreed.

I sent a message to Smith. We need to know if there are enemy miners between us and you. I want to make a push on the spawn point and now's our best chance.

We're sending up the drone, Smith replied.

A moment later, I got a request from Jones to view his drone's data feed. I accepted it. My vision fuzzed and was replaced with a drone's eye view of our island. The drone, which looked and flew like a bird of prey, swooped low over the jungle, revealing several hidden presences. Not creep. The creep showed up on the map as orange or purple mobs, depending on if they were buffed by another set of miners.

These dots were red. Six of them huddled in the woods not far from our encampment. Thanks, I told Jones and broke the connection.