The celebrations could be heard through all of Kruxol, and their torch-flames suffused the night-time town with light and scorching heat.
As they crossed the inn, Darys shouted to increase the volume and wake up the sleepers.
Some players along the front began beating heavily on an array of drums, including a few local ones which sounded like gongs or large bells. A hoarse cry of, "You can't hide from death!" rose from the assembled throngs, struggling to be heard above the drums. Due to the number of DeathGang members involved, often screaming with little co-ordination, the words could only sometimes be heard and it occasionally sounded like a loud blare of white noise.
Crucis had heard a few interesting, off-beat chants during the raucous celebration, including, "Poison! Poison! Poison!" - a reference to complaints about DeathGang archers inflicting painful, demoralising poisoning on troops trying to journey North - and "Lock up your children!" The procession had seen a wide assortment of boasts, taunts, and light-hearted jabs, often done in time with the drums but sometimes not even in time with themselves.
Eventually, the procession began to slow down, and turned towards a large platform in the central of Kruxol which Darys was using as a podium. A decent helping of non-DeathGang players also came to watch, including a few would-be hecklers.
To the right of this platform, a large, chalky statue of a man in horseback was lit up blindingly by the torchlight, and a painting of a red, swirling dragon on a black and golden background was revealed on the faded urn which Darys kept on a stand beside him.
After straightening the collar on his suit, Darys began to speak. His voice was firm, but relaxed enough that he almost whispered into the microphone. His words almost melted into the white noise-like clamour of the torch fires.
"Welcome, one and all. To begin with, let's all observe a minute of silence for the dead."
He lowered his microphone quietly to the side.
The noise among the audience briefly died down, but in a few seconds the loud chant of, "DeathGang! DeathGang! DeathGang!" began in one corner and spread quickly until it roared across the area. Darys clapped and spurred this on, as if fanning flames.
With the hecklers and Kruxol Guild members unsure about whether to break the silence, the DeathGang chants rose up unopposed, creating a drowning wall of noise.
Darys raised the microphone and spoke again authoratatively. "Members of DeathGang, today we faced a grave threat to our Guild and way of life. Our enemies sought to destroy us! Now, it is time for our voice to be heard in the very place where they gathered in conspiracy. Our voice, yes, and nobody else's.
"Congratulations! The triumphs you have won today cannot be erased. The triumphs you have won cannot be erased, not by hecklers, scorn, or scrutiny. And I see we have a few of them. I send my regards. But, people of DeathGang, rise up and celebrate!"
He paused for a few seconds and let the crowd cheer wildly, the noise reverberating across Kruxol.
"And you're probably wondering, what next? Soon, this town will belong to us. Your small territory will expand, and someday it will encompass the whole region! And we shall range this area freely and peacefully, permitting of no opposition. Whoever wracks us now, he will be torn end to end when we invade! Whoever stirs up dissent will be killed in uprising! So be at peace, Guildmates, though there is hostility now it will be a fresh harvest in the course of seasons.
"But when we celebrate, don't look wistfully to the future, to the promise of expansion. Think of the victory today! Flags unfurled across the East, massive armies walked across the familiar green fields of our home, and in the end we have survived and prevailed. Can we look on these fields the same way again? Or, if you must think of something else... Think of our loss, that so many were sure of, that our enemies marched into battle expecting, and that has not touched us. When our enemies rack us, think of the scorn and mockery that we have not undergone! It shall echo in our enemy's bones, sealed there to never be released, louder than anything we could chant. But we can give it a run for its money.
"And most of all, don't show a hint of doubt. Forget your other concerns, that could sour the occasion.
"There is no space for doubt among our ranks. Doubt is a plague, that uses up the person who nourishes it. It is a gay-eyed monster, that revels as your self-worth falls away. If you can't enjoy this victory whole-heartedly, then how will you join our march into greater conquest? Forget any guilt, or misgivings. These are just doubts. Let them fall away, and if they want they can doubt themselves.
"Thank you, members of DeathGang, and our allies in the battle. Tonight is for you."
He paused for a while, and allowed the celebrations to hit off. A few DeathGang members jumped onto the edge of the platform, holding metallic poles with bright flares on the end, and spun these dramatically around until the flames spiralled wildly round their bodies. As the flames spun, they began to billow wildly across the air, creating clouds of fire over the makeshift stage. It seemed dangerous, but they performed confidently. The brightness made the platform almost difficult to watch, but was an impressive spectacle.
Crucis guessed that these were DeathGang members who had trained their ceremonial fighting skills, and would probably be performing some stylised re-enactments of the war after Darys' speech. While Darys had typically prohibited ceremonial fighting skills among DeathGang members, a few members had been allowed to develop the skill in order to easily train low-level Guildmates without using dangerous attacks. In the stability after the war, these players would also be a useful source of entertainment and a way to keep historical battles vividly in the memory, especially once DeathGang took Kruxol.
"Now, I'll speak to the others," Darys said, after half a minute's pause. "Perhaps some of you don't know what it's like to live in the wild, where fights can occur at any moment. And it may be that you haven't heard that the [Invasion] feature will be unlocked soon, allowing Guild leaders - like myself - to ransack towns and force the inhabitants to defend themselves. Soon, even this decrepit town will be a part of the wilderness. And then you won't find security in here, unless you leave it to fight.
"Well, you have chosen the wrong side. Who will protect you now, if you did not support us today? Your Guilds are abandoning the area, with your stronger members ignoring you to strengthen themselves. When you enter the wild, each of us can slay hundreds of you! How will you grow stronger, then? What hope will you have of repelling our invasion?
"But I know that some of you will still hold out hope. Even though the situation looks bleak, you believe that you will find a way to prevail, because you are in the right. Lions kill deer every day, regardless of virtue or innocence, yet you are deer who think that your virtue makes you a lion.
"But it's too late, you have played your hand. We had nothing to gain by allowing you to grow, except creating more obstacles to our own expansion. Still you clamour that DeathGang won't let you grow! No, we will not. Sheep are to be fattened, not armoured. So, stuck in an impasse, what did you do? You decried us, and called us evildoers, until your Guild leaders listened. Your Guilds hence sent a grand troupe of prize whales to lay down the unwritten law. They presented themselves as saints and heroes, whose victory would prove that you were in the right. But they were animals, and we have slaughtered them like animals. The war was not fought with morals and cash, but with blood and soil. You thought that this war would show that our way was wrong and yours right, but all you have seen is how little violence has to do with your morality. You have played your hand, and we have prevailed.
"We are here to teach you something that, for most of you, it's too late to learn. The wilderness is violent, and we intend to survive in it. Perhaps some of you think that it's like a fight scene in a corny film you like, where the scene has a choreography and there's a neat 'battle between good and evil' as the hero fights with honour. That's how you talk about it, isn't it? It's because you have little experience of it. That's alright. Most of your troops also had little experience of it, and what experience they had caused them to mutiny and surrender.
"But there was little choice for us, because our territory was not of this town. We had to fight constantly to establish it, because many people wouldn't cede it to us without a fight. Maybe some of you haven't been attacked, and that's why you don't understand us despite your low level. You don't know what it's like to be suddenly thrust into a series of bloody fights. Your head goes crazy, you freeze, and even if you get a good hit in the attacks will often not stop. At first, you don't have precision, and you're certainly not pulling off fancy combos like people do in the Arena. If the opponent knocks you to the ground, then you're taking a couple of hard, painful hits at best. Enough of that, and you'll be out of action for a few days, if you even survive it. You might not realise how little time it takes for someone to do serious damage to you, and to cause serious pain.
"Someone grinding peacefully next to you might be secretly calling their Guildmates, to gang up on you. When other players were still on our territory, a wrong step by one of us could easily mean a mace to the head. But, from the start, you've all decried us as being too violent and reckless! You said we weren't fighting fairly, and we were killing people when we should just disarm them. 'Disarming' people is rarely as simple as you think it is, and at close range you'll take a few stabs in the face before giving up on it. You think it's easy to just maim them enough that they can't fight, but in practice it's rarely that simple, and adrenaline will keep them going longer than you'd expect. Besides, nobody here has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of the game, and your enemy could always spring a surprise.
"Out there, 'He who slept on the roof, died on the roof. He who slept in the house, had no burial.' There was no place for honour, it was just a frenzy of people trying to make sense of violence.
"You expect us to go out there and act like socialis - ah, socialites, with our priority being the social graces and trying to follow harmonious social mores. You've not had blades flying at you for hours, and you don't realise how debilitating injuries can be. For people like you, each of our enemies is a sad victim of brutal excess. For those of us who are used to this, your saint is just another large mace or sword heading for us, and there was no question of polite half-measures and compromises.
"But you might not have experienced this. You always raged that we're cheating, we're aggressive, our etiquette was bad, even before we started killing you outright. In the wild, people will rush you with spears, strike you when you're not looking, use whatever weapons are available, set traps, and no 'honour' or social graces will hold them back. If you wish to survive here, when everything is the wild, then your complaints aren't showing it. When we ransack this town, any critic still left in it will be impaled and left on the borders as a warning."
Darys played up the hecklers slightly, preparing for the dialogue with the planted heckler. However, he also made sure to include a threat, in order to quiet other hecklers and give more attention to the plant.
"Soon, your resistance will fold. When we invade this town, most of you will be stranded here and killed en masse. This is what your beliefs have earned you. All have been against us, but we have prevailed. The many obstacles have fallen aside. We are your conquerors."
Suddenly, a loud, boorish voice rose up from the crowd, and Darys made a show of being rudely interrupted. The planted heckler had found their cue. "Stop boasting! You're just bullies! Vile ones. You're scared of a proper fight with us, so you cheated!"
Darys faced the heckler with a stony look, then replied, "No, you're very welcome to come out in the wild and have a fight. In fact, I'll fight you personally. How does that sound?"
"Don't try threatening me! You're underestimating all of us. Murderers! Don't think that you'll get off easy by cheating again next time!"
"I'm surprised -"
"We won't submit to you, don't you know everyone hates -"
"I'm surprised that someone is still running their mouth, after I just issued that warning. Well, not that surprised, since you people are physically incapable of not running your mouths. But it's the hubris of the thing."
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Some players near the heckler were beginning to pipe up, encouraged by the attention that this heckler was receiving. There were also a few cheers while he spoke. However, most of the crowd was only beginning to notice, and had only been able to make out a few snippets of the heckler's wild shouting so far. Darys had seemingly edited DicingDevil's heckler script slightly, to integrate it into the speech, and he had added a few lines which spies had lifted from Guild chats in Kruxol during and after the war.
The heckler allowed some others to scream at Darys, before speaking up again. "You don't know us! We won't give up, and I'll tell you why. You've made this place a hellhole for our small players -"
"Like yourself."
"And you've killed the people we love. We're not 'pathetic.' We're angry, and you'll never calm us down, you'll never give us back what we've lost. We'll fight on for the people who were lost, we'll fight on in their memories. Ask anyone. Even though we mourn now, it isn't over! I know how brave the people here are, and they won't surrender like you ask them to! You shouldn't even need me to tell you that, just look in everyone's eyes. Listen, you'll never conquer our hearts, no matter how much you speak. You'll never find peace with us!"
People began applauding and joining in the with the heckler, not because he was particularly eloquent, but because he gave them a channel to express their pent-up feelings and anger after the consistent demoralisation of Darys' speech. Since he had clearly managed to get the most attention, and was the first heckler to succeed in this, he became their representative and they found his every word compelling no matter how inelegant.
Most people fundamentally don't have standards, in fields like rhetoric or literature, they have cudgels. The enemy's most elegant verse is doggerel, and the ally's worst doggerel is a triumph of verse that drifts effortlessly from strength to strength. In this way, the opinions of the masses tend to even out into so much noise, which is a convenient shortcut given that they probably do not have the intellect to engage with such fields meaningfully regardless.
Celebrities and pop culture do not exist because they are liked, but they exist to show people what to like. The people welcome this, because otherwise they would be unable to colonise fields which, frankly, they do not understand.
"Will you keep resisting?" Darys said. "If Guild applications opened at this moment, do you think that we wouldn't suddenly be flooded with them? But we'd have to be prudent. After all, it would be nice to come to Kruxol and gather recruits, but there's so many of you who would just let us down. It's obvious just looking over you noisemaking louts... Ah, I see a few of you don't agree. Well, since you'll 'fight on,' can we get any volunteers to fight me and my men after this speech? It'll be a short fight, I promise you."
The sound from the hecklers died down slightly. A few people raised their hands to volunteer, but got cold feet as soon as DeathGang members walked up offering to escort them to the North of Kruxol for a fight.
This taunting was for a reason. A few DeathGang spies were trying to urge people into ill-devised schemes to attack DeathGang territory, and firing people up was likely to result in more people joining up with these and facing demoralising defeats. Wherever tempers were high, DeathGang spies were quickly trying to escalate it into a hasty attack. These could easily be made an example of.
"We're better than you savages!" the planted heckler cried. "We don't need to prove anything!"
"We'll make our families proud!" shouted a female voice beside him, caught up in the enthusiasm.
"When will you get the chance? You don't want to fight now, but we'll stand in your way any time you do," Darys said. "Maybe you'd rather not fight at all? Well, most of your comrades probably feel like that. That's why I said we'll get an influx of applications whenever Guild recruitment begins to work. It's understandable that you're carried away by emotion, but this is not the time to court our disfavour. And you're leading others to join in, putting them in harm's way when they'd be better served staying quiet. I think the more reasonable among you will agree that it's better to stay out of this ruckus."
This caused several people joining in with the hecklers to quiet down, although a few did so hesitantly. The most passionate people continued shouting, but the others were reluctant as soon as they realised that they were being scrutinised. The heckler typically seeks to enjoy a monopoly on scrutiny, since they are criticising somebody who is trying to do something and has to stand up for their work. However, if they are themselves in scrutiny, it's not as much fun.
Out of a sense of duty rather than excitement, one member of the crowd tried starting a chant of 'No more DeathGang!' However, he stopped when he noticed Darys glaring at him.
Darys resumed his speech, concluding his discourse with the hecklers. "As I said, any critic still left here will be impaled and left on the borders as a warning. Did you see anything that suggests we'd be incapable of that? I am watching, and know many of your names now. Alright, JohnNeptune? SaintSarah? Perhaps, if you wish to be safe here, then it would be wiser to pipe down."
He deliberately chose to pick on players who had normal names like 'John' or 'Sarah' in their usernames, because they probably identified more closely with these names and were more likely to get uncomfortable. It was also more evocative, and intimidated the rest of the crowd who become nervous about being targeted personally.
"However, don't think that everyone in this town has let us down. We have found several staunch allies, people who understand the lay of the land and have helped us significantly in our fights. Some of these were from allied Guilds, others were without Guilds. Either way, we thank you. I hope you enjoy the spoils of war.
Crucis clapped respectfully, and noticed a few Hashin half-hidden in a corner were also applauding. He couldn't make out their identities.
However, some in the crowd began hurling accusations towards Darys about gaining help from the Hashin, from supposed 'hackers,' or from demons. Sometimes all three. Darys turned towards them and spoke defiantly.
"But clearly some miscreants wish to impose their own meanings on what I say.
"You accuse us of needing to team up with the Hashin. Well, I can respond to that rumour quite easily. The Hashin leader did instruct his members to not attack us in the period surrounding the war, which was a public pronouncement and can be easily checked. While I esteem his good intentions, it would have been impractical for him to command his members to join our side. They have too much animosity for us, and would not respect his command. As such, we appreciate their stance, and the ten to fifteen of their archers who assisted by attacking your troops, but they did not make a co-ordinated effort to ally with us. They remained neutral on the whole. Indeed, packs of their more unruly members disregarded the spirit of their leader's command and started attacking us soon after the war, although to little avail."
Crucis was impressed by how precisely Darys' speech responded to the Hashin situation, offering a fig-leaf to the leader while remaining sensitive to the Hashin's internal conflicts and leadership struggles. It was a good diplomatic gesture, and took advantage of the Guild's natural allegiance to the Hashin as a similar Guild and enemy of their enemies.
"Given how single-mindedly you critics hate us, it's surprising that you'd need to resort to guilt by association... But I can understand why you're so offended.
"Our enemies have seen their hopes dissipate. Their large, complacent rally has failed to dislodge us. The strong players they put their hopes in have either died, or have begun to leave this town in order to seek greener pastures far away, rather than waiting for seven days until they can attempt another war. They will be far from here by then. Your leaders have left you to die. The kooks you've turned to as surrogates, primarily Massie, raised their voices to the Heavens against us. But Massie's voice is no longer heard here, or in Heaven. Soon, this town will no longer keep you, and you will perish by our hands. The preachers of hope have lied to you! Only I tell the truth. That your situation is hopeless.
"What else is there to say? Soon, this town will be ours. We shall set upon our enemies and detractors with an invincible force of destruction, like nature's. They want to force us to live according to their beliefs, and they will die in accord with our beliefs. Let the fire burn!"
The assembled DeathGang members exuberantly began raising their torches high into the air, creating a blinding wall of flame. On seeing this, Crucis followed along. Waves of brightness and heat flooded through the air, until it almost felt like being in a cross between a desert and an aurora borealis. The flames flew grandly in an air-borne sea of white and red.
"Finally, a thanks to my comrades in the war. Now, let the rest of the festivities begin. After a few days of hunger, we'll hold a feast now for all those who took our side in the war. While you're here, there will be all kinds of exciting displays: re-enactments of the war, stories from the veterans, and I will hand out medals to distinguished soldiers. Many more things as well. All excellent. First of all, though, one of our Generals will read a short summary of my speech in a few minutes, for those of you who came late. It's been a harsh few days, and I know some of you have even been eating squirrels, so you get tonight to unwind. Tomorrow, we're back to business as usual. There are still further conquests to prepare for, and you will all need to be ready for it. Make the most of this night!"
He walked off the stage, and DeathGang cheers and boasts rang through the night.
Looking around, Crucis saw a large, almost claustrophobic crowd stretching around him. As he waited for them to dissipate, so that he could make his way to the large hallway being used for the feast, he saw Danemy and walked up to talk.
"Quite a good speech," Danemy said, with a relaxed tone. "And Darys was nervous too, still pulled it off well."
"Was he?" Crucis replied. "It didn't show."
"I guess I could tell, since I was having a chat with him a few minutes ago, but to be fair it wasn't obvious."
"Oh, did you? Sounds good. What were you chatting about?"
"He heard about me from Dicing, and decided to give me an Elite role in the Guild. That basically -"
"Congrats!" Crucis patted him hard on the back.
"Yeah, thanks! I'm pretty excited, I guess. Ahem, it means that I'll have more responsibility for organising the players, and helping with their morale and such. He can't switch my role in the game's system yet, but he's noted it down and I'll be taking on the duties in advance of that. Dicing will probably be the next Vice-Leader, by the way, 'cause it turns out our last Vice-Leader was missing because he got killed in a Hashin attack."
"Dicing? He deserves it. I'll be sure to congratulate him. So, what would you bet on? Will people here stand up to resist when you invade, or will it be a rout?"
Danemy laughed. "I'd bet on the rout, honestly."
"Good bet, it'll probably amount to that in the end. That said, the people stuck in Kruxol by then will be crazy, so who knows, maybe they'll decide to play the hero."
"I guess so, you can't be a real hero without being insane. Villains aren't insane, honestly, they just look like it because they're following along."
"Precisely. Speaking of villains, did you hear about the Hashin gathering to the West? A few of them hung around in ambush while some of the stronger Fountain players were leaving Kruxol, and killed a ton of Elites and Nobles. I guess they took advantage of the fact that strong players after the war were both exhausted and impatient to leave this low-level area and try growing faster. I'm sure they'll enjoy the conflicts going on here."
"The Hashin? Yeah, those guys are really well co-ordinated. I heard they intercepted most people fleeing the draugr. They'll catch wind of any major events, and then probably start prowling around trying to intercept anyone who flees."
"A herd of injured deer could benefit both tigers and lions. Anyway, it's nice to see you guys hanging around in town. It gets really chilly out in the wild at night, doesn't it?"
"Yeah! You know, this is actually quite major for us, because living out in the wild - especially in a low-level area - is kind of dreary. It's cold and wet and you have to keep your eye out for danger through all of that. The food's a bit shit, though to be fair most players here can't afford much to eat either. But yeah, it's a pain for tons of reasons. Having more or less free access to the town, especially once we invade it, will be quite a luxury. But Darys will probably keep us in line to make sure we don't become town mice, heh."
"Yeah, he'll have to make sure that people are still wandering around, grinding, and patrolling the terrain. He's a strong leader, though, I'm sure he'll figure something out."
"Definitely. I mean, most stronger players from other Guilds are abandoning this area, so the people here are going to be stranded with no real way out. I wouldn't be surprised if a few panic and just start trying to flee to the North until they get killed by the ghosts up there."
"Yep. Have people caught on to Massie being dead yet?"
"Nope. I'd guess some cultists have noticed, but they're probably not divulging that yet. I think people are becoming dimly aware of it, though, you could hear them shivering when Darys mentioned that Massie wouldn't speak now."
"Yeah, definitely. Wonder what'll happen with the Christian scene after that."
"Good question. Probably a few sects are going to clash now. But it'll be hard for them to come up with another Massie, since in the aftermath of the defeat it's harder to build up the same enthusiasm."
"True. Maybe people will treat the pacifist Temperants as scapegoats, but I wonder if they can't flourish a bit as the town becomes more nihilistic and unwilling to fight. Honestly, might be worth using an alt for that."
"Huh, could I join in? Sounds like a lark," Danemy said. "How many alts are we allowed, by the way?"
"I think four. It was three earlier, but after the bug the fourth slot apparently works."
"Do you reckon I could name my alt Preacherman, or is that too on-the-nose?"
"Probably too on-the-nose, but I'd love to see that. It should be possible for us to level up reasonably high quite soon, maybe 15-20, at that point we won't stand out that much from the average player stuck in Kruxol. Plus, if we can get DeathGang to leave us alone, then we should be able to train respectably, until no-one suspects us."
"Well, I'm an Elite now. If anyone tries attacking me, they can look forwards to a firing squad! Ahem, yeah, I can probably get us some armbands. Honestly, this is a good time for raising alts, since we have a lot of space to ourselves for now. Tough thing, though, will be the sermonising."
"Oh, come on, it can't be that hard. If Massie's bawd could pull it off, I bet we'll sound more sacred than sacred. I'll impress everyone by my unabating dedication to piousness. Simple task, really, we make everyone miserable in the wild by hunting them down, then we make everyone miserable in here by spreading strict piety."
"Sounds like a plan. Since there's not that many obstacles to us now, it should be fairly easy to grind for the day, and Dicing said he'll take me on dungeons again. So I'm pretty much sorted, might as well use an alt."
"Definitely. Anyway, the feast is in that massive white, arched hallway, right?"
"Feast is that way, yeah," Danemy said, pointing to the large hallway, which was lighted up by candles like a dreamcatcher in bright sunlight. "But we should wait for Dicing, he'll be giving a speech first. He'll help co-ordinate everything once he's done with that."
The brilliant glow of the torch light slowly dispersed as the crowd spread across Kruxol, and from a bird's-eye view it would appear that fireflies were spreading across the town. Crucis stayed near the stage, but took a brief look through some of the streets nearby to see what was going on.