Life After the Apocalypse

With Carnage's voice bellowing into the chaotic mix of the crowd, Wheeler kicked over a calliope of fireworks just before it discharged. Roman candle-like bursts of glowing color soared overhead, directing the vision of the crowd towards the front of the fray, hopefully. If he wanted to get these people all moving in the same direction, he needed a rallying cry, a slogan, something to unify this rabble ... ideally something that felt good to shout. That word Max chose, "Avalanche" ... yeah, there was something he could work with there.

"BURY THE DEAD ZONERS!" he called at the top of his lungs, invoking the /shout command like a shameless gold seller in the trade district. Mr. Fatts had the right strategy, and vanguard were setting the example, the crowd just needed a kick in the right direction.

Turn 3:
>>>The tide is turning but the crowd is thinning. Of the crowd of low level Adventurers that started the brawl, about 1/3 of them are already gone. Most at the hands of sloppily targeted spells or deliberate attacks by other lowbies but some are clearly facing off against each other in death matches. The Dead Zone is littered with odd bits of treasure detritus glittering in the late afternoon sun. The efforts to get the warring crowd to rally and attack the PK Crew have pushed the grand melee away from the city gates and towards the area where the 'returners' and the PK Crew are battling it out. The surge of new targets is threatening to swamp over both sides of the PK battle.

>>>Calamity lobs the satchel of gunpowder from her Powderkeg Ability at the enemy Catfolk and their Gargant Tarantella. The explosion catches all three on the heels of Arga, Isbjorn and Tina's previous magical team attack further disorienting them. VerminTude, seeing his Gargant Tarantella in bad shape, dismisses his Summon of the huge spider-crab before it gets finished off. In its place, he pulls forth a dense cloud of biting, stinging insects from his Summoning Circle. The cloud surrounds the two Catfolk, VerminTude and Tabitha, in the blinding cloud as well as Colin and Fren hiding them all from view. The swirling insect cloud rapidly drops the HP Bars of Colin and Fren by half from their incessant biting.

>>>"I can't see to cast!" the Catfolk Sorcerer called over the loudly droning swarm. She held her staff ahead of her, shielding her eyes from the buzzing swarm. "'Cept for these two..."

>>>

---

>>>"Time fer a Broadside! Yar Har!" the Pirate roared and chortled, spinning the huge and elaborate Blunderbuss around to fire it at Serena's main threat...Raquel. Grace felt the pressure wave of the gun go off so close to her; the tangy smell of black powder punctuating her struggle with the Archer. The round struck Raquel full on, ignoring the shielding effect of Maximum 's efforts due to the Pirate's Class Ability.

>>>"What the Hell are you talking about?!" Serena challenged Grace's assertions. "You die, you just re-spawn in the Cathedral!" The Archer shoved Grace enough to fire off another shot from her bow, the arrows magically tracking her intended targets. "Why are you making this SO HARD?!? Just die already!" The magic arrows rose into the air and turned to strike their intended targets, Grace and Raquel, hard! Partially shielded from the full force of the attack by Maximum, Raquel fared better but Grace took the full impact of the Archer's arrow.


>>>"You first!!" Arga called back bitterly as he fired off his magical bolt. "WE didn't start this!"
>>>Isbjorn followed Arga's lead, targeting his icy magic at the Assassin Archer and her Pirate cohort since his preferred target, the Catfolk Magic Users, were hidden beneath a swirling cloud of insects.

>>> As if to not be outdone, Piphany appears from thin air just behind Serena. "Stealth Blade Assassination!!" she yelled, slicing her oversized scythe through Serena, dropping the Archer to her knees as her HP Bar raced into the red. " Take THAT!!"

---

Mob Clock: 5/6

Party 1

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
9	Atalanta	13	90		60
14	Calamity	13	100	-4	66	20
9	Fren	13	64	-30	92	30
8	Grace	12	72	-34	72
7	Isbjorn	12	60	-20	90	40
13	Raquel	13	84	-54	78	50

---

Party 2

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
14	Brophy	10	78	-78	50		Dead*
6	Colin	10	70	-50	50	10
12	Maximum	10	80	-34	40
6	Tabby Fatts	10	50		70	40
8	Wheeler	10	60		60

---

Party 3

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
7	Arga	13	72	-20	90	20
15	BradL33	23	138	0	138	50
5	Guy	17	132	-41	84		Shaken
8	Piphany	12	72		72	40
10	Tina	17	84	0	120	50

---

PK Party

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
11	Mr.Boaty	45	??	-103	??	10
10	Serena	47	??	-234	??	-20
10	Tabitha	47	??	-68	??	-75
12	VerminTude	45	??	-68	??	-70

---

Summons

INIT	Name	LvL	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
15	Guardian Wolf	16	96	0	66
12	Gargant Tarantella	38	???	-164	???		Dismissed
6	Talon	12	48		72		[Flying]
12	Vermin Swarm	32	???		???		[Flying]

Grace stands before Serena. "Hard?! I’m not even fighting you! And I won’t!"

She spreads her arms wide.

"I’ll resurrect at the cathedral. But there will be a consequence. When you take advantage of people weaker than you, when you abuse other people, there’s always a consequence.

"Look at the anger, the aggression, all around you. Look at the hate."

Grace steps closer to her soon to be killer.

"If this is how life’s gonna be from now on—can’t walk outside the town without getting repeatedly murdered—I hope I don’t resurrect."

Clara's frustration grew with every passing moment. The crowd was moving towards their direction as she hoped, but their numbers had visibly dwindled. Meanwhile, the PK party seemed to revel even more in the chaos. She desperately wanted to charge in and protect her teammates, but they were a fair distance away. In the party channel, she could hear Grace's disappointment and her final attempt at negotiation. The bard was right, and Clara wanted to echo her sentiment.

As a last-ditch effort, she screamed in the zone chat: "Please stop fighting each other! We might be stuck here for god knows how long. Those people," she pointed at the PK party across the clearing, "will set a precedent if you let them get what they want. Is violence what you want to see every day from now on?"

Seeing Serena the archer drop low, Max decides to take try to take play from Grace's book. In the game, collision didn't affect the aiming of skills, but here it might.

The huge dwarf threw himself at the pirate, "No more help from you Matey!!

Max had lettered in high school lacrosse, which didn't allow tackling, but he'd played plenty of back yard and intermural football, but never with a body like this. He threw his full weight into the pirate, using his shield and mass to shove the other around, keep him off balance so that he couldn't aim his weapon, keeping his massive body between the pirate and the archer.

"Come on bucco, you going to take this from a nub like me..." shoving his shield in the pirate's face "I can do this all day."

Colin watches his health bars rapidly melting away to nothing and turns to Fren.

"I'm afraid I don't have much left in me, I'm going to need to trust you to take her out."

He needs to find a way to stop these biting insects or he's done for and probably the fox? besides him as well. What powers does his build even have that can stop a swarm of bees? He considers calling Talon down in hopes he can chase them away but what's he going to do, eat them one by one?

He's got some MP left, so he figures he may as well use them. Drawing on his powers he concentrates on dispersing the biting cloud, focuses his anger and fear at the pain, and releases it in a burst.

Tabby did not have that much idealism in his heart. The Griefers had set out for murder, and the crowd was riled up, with enough aggression and pent up anger that it had started eating itself alive. The least violent outcome he could fathom was if the invaders broke and ran, and the crowd exhausted itself in the pursuit. But the confusion, trying to call off the attack, would only make them falter.

"We can have peace talks when they're not trying to murder you! Push them out of the zone!" Tabby called above the din, trying to rally the remaining forces while there were still enough of them left to force a stalemate.

Turn 4:
>>> Grace's impassioned speech and gesture of surrender would've moved anyone with a conscience...or shred of decency...but PK-ers aren't known for either. The two, Grace and Serena, lock gaze for a moment in the dizzying chaos of the battle and realize neither is going to budge in their stance. Serena, in the moment could've chosen to end both Grace and Raquel with a bow-strike...but instead, she blinks.

>>> Maximum charges Mr. Boaty, as the PK Pirate does an annoyingly celebratory jig after blasting Raquel. The two oversized combatants clash in a heavy 'Clang!' as armored Guardian meets Pirate. In the moment, the plan seemed like a good idea... Rush the Pirate to keep him from firing. In the moment, Maximum had forgotten that the Pirate Class was meant to be an immovable object. An indecipherably odd choice for developers to make but one they'd stuck with. Maximum launched his considerable, armored, bulk at the laughing Pirate only to feel like a speeding car meeting a telephone pole and bouncing off the Pirate. The sound of the crash and the sight of the giant Dwarven Guardian bouncing off the Pirate gives many in the on-rushing horde of Adventurers pause, especially followed up by Mr. Boaty's fear attack! The incoming fire and ice attacks from Arga and Isbjorn against the fearsome Pirate do a bit to break the hesitancy of the crowd.

---

>>>"Grace... You're a good egg, hun." Piphany announced. "Way better'n me..." the little Goth Assassin leaps into the air and swings her scythe at Serena. "Forgive me but I can't just let this go. Some people only learn the hard way!"
>>>Piphany 's oversized weapon sliced through Serena as a purple colored blue as she landed her lethal strike. In the flurry of rainbow colored light that followed her striking Serena down, Piphany just kind of stood there. Stock still; a hint of that laughing maniac Grace had first encountered showing through.

---

Mob Clock: 5/6

Party 1

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
9	Atalanta	13	90		60
14	Calamity	13	100	-4	66	20
9	Fren	13	64	-30	92	30
8	Grace	12	72	-34	72
7	Isbjorn	12	60	-20	90	50
13	Raquel	13	84	-54	78	50

---

Party 2

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
14	Brophy	10	78	-78	50		Dead*
6	Colin	10	70	-50	50	10
12	Maximum	10	80	-34	40
6	Tabby Fatts	10	50		70	40
8	Wheeler	10	60		60

---

Party 3

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
7	Arga	13	72	-30	90	20
15	BradL33	23	138	0	138	50
5	Guy	17	132	-41	84		Shaken
8	Piphany	12	72		72	40
10	Tina	17	84	0	120	50

---

PK Party

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
11	Mr.Boaty	45	??	-103	??	10
10	Serena	47	??	-282	??	-20	DEAD
10	Tabitha	47	??	-68	??	-75
12	VerminTude	45	??	-68	??	-70

---

Summons

INIT	Name	LvL	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
15	Guardian Wolf	16	96	0	66
12	Gargant Tarantella	38	???	-164	???		Dismissed
6	Talon	12	48		72		[Flying]
12	Vermin Swarm	32	???		???		[Flying]

Grace sees the side of Piphany she had worked so hard to calm.

"You may be right about them, Piphany. I just don’t want to lose you."

She takes up her bass. She contemplates what bardic move she could pull, including El Kabonging.

Good egg… but what am I good at, really?

Her fingers instinctively pluck the strings. She shouts out to the crowd, "If you’re good with being in a game, here’s a battle tune!"

She plucks some low D’s like at the start of Scott Pilgrim Bass Battle, but the rest of the tune is all her! Grace moves her body to her music, and her music moves to the enemy attacks!

"And here’s the Level 45 Bosses!"

If a weapon swings, a spell flies, the notes and her own interpretive dance act as a means to help the crowd feel timing of attacks—which they hopefully evade. When noobs get blown to bits, her bass rages discordantly! When the mob gets closer, her riffs throb with enthusiasm! And when a PK-er goes down, the tune goes upbeat…!

"Show ’em they ain’t the boss of you!!"

Raquel finally hesitates when she sees the doubt in the elf’s eyes. She takes a step back and levels her blade at the archer. "The tide’s turning. Run while you have the chance." She whips her katana through a series of flashy maneuvers in a dazzling display.

Max crashed into the pirate, as solid a wall and bounced back like he had hit concrete, his helmet and armor ringing. "What the fu..." he stood dazed for a second. He tried to lurch forward to go after the pirate again, but he couldn't move, his big hulking body was sluggish as he put his hand to his head. "Come on Max, Shake if Off!!!", finally his feet moved and he closed again with the pirate, attacking with his pathetic crap grey tutorial sword.

As expected, the sword was unable to get through the pirates defenses...

"Stupid game, I'd do better with my lacrosse stick..."

Turn 5:
>>>Mr. Boaty's fearsome display couldn't stem the tide of low-level Adventurers swarming into the battle under Grace's melodic urging and Raquel's swordsmanship. The Pirate glared at the Guardian who challenged him, trying to decide what to do as a wall of new challengers forged up behind Maximum. Adventurers gained a lot of power as they leveled but being overrun was far harder to deal with than being outgunned. And with Serena gone, a lot of the wind had gone out of the Pirate's sails. Nevertheless, he hoisted his Blunderbuss and resigned himself to going down with the ship, so to speak, and take as many lowbies with him as he could.
>>>The relentless attack of the summoned Vermin Swarm overwhelmed Colin and Fren. They watched as their HP dropped dangerously low. Colin's wooden bird, Talon, swooped back and forth as it tried to assist its Master.
>>>The mob of lowbies overran the positions held by BradL33's Party. They bunched up and stayed together, trying to fend off the internecine battles going on amongst the pressing, warring crowd.

---

>>>An ear-splitting sound, like the unholy union of a screaming jet engine and a falling bomb, cut through the din of battle and the driving beat of Grace's battle anthem. A brilliant light cut through the afternoon light and battle haze like a second sun as an enormous, fiery bird blazed to life over the Dead Zone. Circling the battlefield with its painful brilliance and skin-prickling heat, the Phoenix bellowed twice before zooming deeper into the ruined buildings surrounding Mound City and detonating like a cruise missile. Even somewhat distant from the detonation, the pressure wave washed across the combatants like heat from a blast furnace.


>>>As if to not be outdone, the ground trembled and shook as an enormous tree sprouted whole from the broken earth and spread a shade-casting canopy around it. Under the sun-swallowing span luminous green rain began to fall; soothing, healing rain dropped in a gentle cascade.
>>>The two events occurring back to back shook the battle madness from the crowd. Awed as most were by the double spectacle, combat was forgotten in the moment. Even those still committed to dealing damage and death soon stopped as they realized the healing rains from the redwood tree far outstripped their ability to deal damage. A slow, hushed silence fell across the Dead Zone...

KNOCK IT OFF!!!
>>>The quiet was split with a thunderous admonishment that echoed across the Dead Zone. At the center of that echoing voice stood an assembly of the local Guildmasters and their retinues.
>>>Descending into the remnants of the battle area, the Guildmasters and their aides quickly sectioned off groups of lowbies and ushered them back towards the city in small groups, careful to keep hostile parties separated.

>>>The man and his retainers approached Grace, Raquel, Piphany, Mr. Boaty, Maximum, Colin, Fren, VerminTude and Tabitha. BradL33 and his Party were brought up beside them by the man's guild mates. The stern man just looked at the assemblage of Adventurers, glaring at Mr. Boaty. "I should've assumed you lot had something to do with this..."

>>>The Pirate chuckled an anxious chuckle, pushing his hat up and scratching his head, "Things just...got out of hand?" His tone rose, as if hoping the explanation was good enough.

>>>"I'm guessing Serena didn't make it?" Malbraith grumbled. "Collect up your miscreants, pick Serena up at the Cathedral and be at the Guild Building in an hour. DO NOT skip out on me." the man said with no small amount of hostility and exhaustion.
>>>"Who the hell are you guys and what in the hell started all this?" he turned to Grace, Piphany, Maximum and Raquel. "Wait. Back up." he waved his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know you and you don't know me. I'm David, um, Malbraith. GuildMaster of SilverOath Brotherhood. Wish we could've met under different circumstances..."

---

Mob Clock: 5/6

Party 1

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
9	Atalanta	13	90		60
14	Calamity	13	100	0	66	20
9	Fren	13	64	0	92	30
8	Grace	12	72	0	72
7	Isbjorn	12	60	0	90	50
13	Raquel	13	84	0	78	50

---

Party 2

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
14	Brophy	10	78	-78	50		Dead*
6	Colin	10	70	0	50	10
12	Maximum	10	80	0	40
6	Tabby Fatts	10	50		70	40
8	Wheeler	10	60		60

---

Party 3

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
7	Arga	13	72	0	90	20
15	BradL33	23	138	0	138	50
5	Guy	17	132	0	84		Shaken
8	Piphany	12	72		72	40
10	Tina	17	84	0	120	50

---

PK Party

INIT	Name	Lvl	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
11	Mr.Boaty	45	??	0	??	10
10	Serena	47	??	-282	??	-20	DEAD
10	Tabitha	47	??	0	??	-75
12	VerminTude	45	??	0	??	-70

---

Summons

INIT	Name	LvL	HP	DMG	MP	Spent	Status
15	Guardian Wolf	16	96	0	66
12	Gargant Tarantella	38	???	0	???		Dismissed
6	Talon	12	48		72		[Flying]
12	Vermin Swarm	32	???		???		[Flying]

Grace curtsies to Malbraith. "Grace O’ Bass. And what started this is an unprovoked attack. Judging by the way people from Mound City joined in, I suspect this wasn’t the first.

"And if Mr. Boaty suffers no consequence, it won’t be the last either." In order to avoid being labeled a hypocrite, Grace informs Malbraith, "I never fought back. I was trying to appeal to Serena, but… she got taken out."

Grace doesn’t rat out Piphany or anyone else—not that she thinks they did wrong to hit back. But Grace just couldn’t.

Raquel sighs and sheathes her sword. The adrenaline of the fight has drained out of her body, and she would have fallen to her knees if not for the steady healing rain. She gives Malbraith a nod.

"I'm Raquel. We were just trying to look out for those who couldn't defend themselves. We are thankful for your intervention." She offers him a hand to shake.

"Did you lose anyone?" Malbraith asked, still surveying the results of tte carnage. "In the attack, I mean? The bells in the Cathedral just kept ringing as people kept respawning. That's what tipped us off something big was going on." He ran his hand through his hair, obviously exasperated and not a little bit lost as to what to do. Now that the fighting had stopped...what comes next? "Look. I don't have a lot of answers, and neither does anyone else, but this....this can't go on like it is. We'll meet with Serena and her crew and set some expectations but I think you guys should be there too. The other side of this needs a voice too. Can you meet at the Guild Building in about a hour?" Malbraith looked over the assembled Party.

>>>Mr. Boaty collected the remainder of his crew, Tabitha and VerminTude, and regretfully headed back towards the city gates. In a pique, Tabitha jerked her arm out of VerminTude's grasp as he tried to urge her along towards the gate. The midnight colored Catfolk Sorcerer shot one last hateful glance back at Raquel, Maximum, Colin, Grace and the others as she grudgingly followed along behind the big Pirate and her Summoner twin.

---

>>>"OhMyGosh. Do you think this really over?" she asked the two nearest to her, Tabby Fatts and Wheeler.

Grace glances up at the No PvP sign.

"I’d be glad to talk to Serena… in the No-PvP zone."

She glances back at Piphany, then at Raquel. She hesitates a moment… then she finally heads toward the marker.

Tabby groaned loudly as he dangled by his arms, hanging from the edge of the rock he'd scrambled on top of. His legs kicked a little, unable to find the ground, and after a few moments he let go, falling gracelessly onto his ass. Teeth gritted as he laid for a moment on his back, contemplating, for a moment, the jab of stones into his shoulders, eyes closing as the rain unpleasantly damped his fur. That was new and unpleasant.

His momentary exhaustion was pushed aside as a voice nearby made his ear twitch, and he saw someone actually looking at him. He sat up, brushing off his tunic, making an unpleasant face as he adjusted himself to let his tail sway behind him.

"Over? It hasn't even started," he lamented. "They think they're immortal. Why would they stop?"

He dragged himself up to his feet, looking down at the staff in his hand. His body had somehow been instructed how to brandish it, but his meaty paws awkardly twisted and pushed on its ends, trying to collapse it back down to the size he could hang on his belt. He used the awkward task to avoid eye contact as he made for the zone line, suddenly wary that the sorceress might rush out of her escort for revenge in a one-catwoman zerg. Heals or not, she could probably one-shot him.

Clara watched as the crowd was broken up into smaller groups and ushered back into the city. As the sorceress catfolk threw a hostile glare at them, Clara muttered to herself, "What's her problem?" The archer and the pirate just seemed to enjoy wreaking havoc for entertainment, but that catfolk seemed to have a personal vendetta. Oh well, now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

She checked on BradL33's party nearby, making sure everyone was okay. After confirming their safety, she dashed towards the opposite side of the battlefield, where Grace, Raquel, Piphany, and Fren were standing with the helpful strangers. She introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Clara. I'm with them," gesturing at Grace and the others. "Thank you for helping us. That was quite the chaos back there. Are you perhaps Bradley's friends?" she asked, pointing in the direction of BradL33's party.

Raquel nods to the guildmaster, then moves to catch up to Grace.

"Hey. Thanks for backing me up. I know it was pretty rash to charge them like that. I let my anger get the better of me. I'm sorry for putting you in a dangerous situation," she says, her tone remorseful.