“The scale of battles in New Era of Man Online outstripped any other virtual reality title. Players were not used to thousands of allies and opponents on the same field at the same time. The elderly dusted off the legends of places like B-R, M2- and FWST-8 when speaking of the scale of engagement.”
Excerpt from “Empires of NEMO” by Andy Green
Year 1, Month 1, Day 9, 06:30
The eastern gate of Miller’s Crossing teemed with throngs of players milling about. An army, over 6,000 strong, had gathered to venture out and engage the incoming hordes of monsters. The players filtered into three groups on arrival. The Red Hat Raiders alone brought over 1,200 players and they formed the core of the largest contingent. The more bloodthirsty and less disciplined guilds flocked to their banner, eager for the fighting and potential loot. A smaller knot had formed around the banners of Risk of Injury. The crafters and less combat dedicated forces, along with small guilds known for teamwork, cooperation and honorable conduct clustered around Torgon and his crew. Between them all a milling mass of independent players, most of them inexperienced, waited to find out how they would be deployed.
Sir Kelvin arrived with a contingent of nearly fifty soldiers of the kingdom, several of them knights. “The guilds already have their assignments. We’re forming two primary forces. To my left, under the leadership of Ron Don Morgan, will be our primary striking force. I will accompany them with most of my knights. On my right, under the leadership of Torgon, is our vanguard, screening elements and the forces that will make sure we aren’t taken by surprise by the monsters. Both forces are equally vital to this operation.” He addressed the independent players directly. “If action and simplicity is your preference. Join the group centered around the Red Hat Raiders. If you are disciplined and willing to handle tasks that might have less glory, join the group centered around Risk of Injury. Choose quickly, we must leave and travel a great distance to our planned campsites.”
Most of the independent players flocked to the van of the army, swelling its numbers to more than 4,000. Torgon’s group took the rest. While the groups were organizing Ron Don Morgan walked to Sir Kelvin and got his attention. “Sir Knight, we have more than enough people with the men I have gathered. They’re eager for a fight. Surely, we don’t need to bring the rest of the rabble with us. I must confess, there is bad blood between my guild and Risk of Injury. I think our presence in the field with two separate forces would lead to fighting and hinder our prospects.”
The knight considered this and came to a decision. “I can see the merits of your argument Guild Leader Morgan. Sir Malik, attend me.” After a brief discussion Sir Kelvin spoke again. “Those players with Risk of Injury will be staying here. Sir Malik will assign you tasks around the city to prepare for sieges. It will be hard work, but it is necessary work. We shall return within 3 days. Sir Kelvin took two thirds of his soldiers and led the large force out the gates, deploying scouts in front while his remaining soldiers joined Torgon.
The lead knight joined Torgon and his group to discuss their new tasks. “Greetings, I am Sir Malik. If all goes as planned, Sir Kelvin and his force should reach their staging area in about eight hours. I would ask all of you to give me the same eight hours a day to cover the needs of Miller’s Crossing. Each of my men will have a list of small quests that can be undertaken to strengthen the city.”
Torgon clasped the knight’s arm and looked at the men accompanying him. “If I may ask Sir Malik, how many of your group are knights? I’m unfamiliar with your organizational structure.”
Sir Malik eyes twinkled as he answered, “Four of us are knights. We group ourselves into lances of four soldiers each. One knight along with a squire and two supports that are responsible for various tasks. The knight fulfills the role of primary damage and tanking, and the squire is secondary damage and off tanking. One support focuses on ranged damage, and the other is focused on healing. There’s a mix of magical and physical damage usually with the healer having more magic.”
“Thank you, I was curious how it related to our own formations and how knights often worked in our homeland.” Torgon schooled his expression into a thoughtful one, “Does Sir Kelvin not trust us? Is that why he decided to leave us behind in the city for the construction and fortification?”
Sir Malik’s eyes sharpened before he replied. “No Sir Torgon. If he didn’t trust you, he would be here. I am certain that he doesn’t trust the forces he’s leading but has no alternatives. I pray that it doesn’t lead him to mischief. Now, down to business.”
“Guild Quest Updated! Uncommon Guild Quest: Meeting Engagement 2 has become Uncommon Guild Quest: Siege Preparations. Requirements: Have at least 20% of your guild membership complete at least one Siege Preparation related quest. This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused, only failed. Rewards: Every guild member will receive 500 Free Experience, 50 Guild Contribution Points and 25 reputation with Miller’s Crossing. Every participating guild member will receive 1,000 Free Experience, 100 Guild Contribution and 50 reputation with Miller’s Crossing. Failure Penalty: Loss of 50 reputation with Miller’s Crossing for every guild member.”
“There are repeatable quests related to digging trenches around the city and building outworks to push the siege back. If you have skilled miners, they can earn experience and work quickly to dig the ditches. I have a few skillbooks to distribute to the guilds participating. Basic Digging and Basic Field Works will be available for free with the requirement to complete a minimum number of quests afterwards. The digging skill stacks with mining and the field works skill is a building type craft skill that makes trenches, palisades and rough wooden walls easier to make. Complete at least 20 of the quests and you can earn a Basic Fortification skill that ties into the others nicely.”
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Sir Malik looked at the eager expressions of the players around him. “We want to get the most out of your abilities and make sure that you want to keep helping us. Our kingdom is in a dangerous position. There are beasts and other foes all around. You can make a difference for everyone living here.”
Dozens of the children from Risk of Injury lined up to get started on the tasks at hand. Digger and a few others that focused on mining and quarrying were bouncing up and down in anticipation of the complementary skills. Allestor leaned over to Torgon, “I guess the children really do yearn for the mines.”
Torgon laughed merrily and watched as more people from the crafting guilds showed up to begin tasks. Woodcutting crews moved to the edge of the forests and began the arduous work of pushing them back, creating more open ground surrounding Miller’s Crossing. Thousands of players rushed like ants, working hard and working happy. Who knew that tangible progress towards a common goal with actual rewards made for productive and satisfied people.
Quest rewards started flowing in. People earned experience and standing, added to their guild contribution points and even had fresh coins rolling in. The guild treasury, which earned a small bonus in coins for each quest completed, looked much healthier in short order. Torgon rubbed his hands together anticipating how useful the extra funding would be at the auction in three days. Ovarrix and Allestor organized patrols around the work areas in case of monster attacks while Torgon, Hyperia and Dusty scurried around, reassigning people to tasks that were falling behind.
Meanwhile, the large force headed to the encampment was not happy. Marching might have earned them some experience, but it was boring, and discipline was lax. Several scouts went missing on the long march and one smaller guild who had wandered away from the main force was ambushed by goblins. The army quickly defeated them but not before more than twenty players were sent to respawn. Morgan constantly harangued the other guild forces, berating them for not sticking closely to the plan. None of them dared voice the fact that the plan was barely more than “follow me and do what I say.”
Sir Kelvin grew increasingly frustrated and irritable. These players weren’t anywhere close to the disciplined soldiers he was used to. His expectations were low, but they still let him down. At least the reports from Sir Malik cheered him. His hopes that the glory-seeking tendency of his force would be tempered in combat were fading. Now he just wanted them to bloody the enemy and respawn back in town to man the defenses with a bit more humility.
Morale, never high to begin with, flagged on the journey. The grumbling across the force was constant. They set up their tents, arranged their guards and most players logged out for the night. Sir Kelvin and his men arranged their own watch, not trusting the players to do anything right. Ron Don Morgan met with a handful of the shadier guild leaders, offering enticements to join him and his men in their run to a neighboring starter zone. The plan was set, and the camp grew still for the night.
Back in Miller’s Crossing, work proceeded at a rapid pace. Energized players ran through their quests in shifts. The Baron declared city wide discounts for any player undertaking quests for the city defense. The discount started at 1% for the first quest and capped at 10%. Players needed an active quest in their log to take advantage of the discount. Restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues did brisk business. The mood of the city was mostly sunny with the storm of the impending siege lurking in the background.
Sir Malik arranged for players with light spells to watch over players continuing the construction of fortifications at night. The opportunities of the city led the population to swell with players staying inside the walls to complete quests. Members of Risk of Injury divided themselves into teams working on the requirements for enduring a siege. Chef Bridges managed a team of more than a dozen people to assist her in preparing food. The meals provided faster regeneration for the players that manned the walls or patrolled the streets. Stabitha and her budding group of little alchemists brewed potion after potion. Mark performed his labor of love, creating engines of war, small though they might be. Others in the guild gathered and stored the raw resources needed while the people with the blueprints for crafting useful weapons did their best to meet the growing demand.
Torgon focused on making swords once more. He knew they needed trade goods for the auction in Deep Harbor and basic items would hold no value at such a venue. He planned to dump all his coins and all the guild’s coins into anything that held the shred of a possibility to provide an edge and let them survive this siege. The guild pulled together, and the players funneled money into the auction preparations. The guild treasury held more than 60 gold coins in the coffers and with each quest or sale in the market it rose.
The guild intended to gamble everything on making it through this siege, pushing every available asset into the middle of the table to cover the bet. Their foundation lacked depth and many of them inexperienced. They were learning and training at a frightening rate, the pull of their success leading the guild to grow. Torgon mused that leading a guild at the start of a game was like riding a tiger. You had to keep going at full speed because if you fell off you would get chewed up digested and dumped along the way.
His focus carried him through the night, hammering away at metal to create swords that would hopefully bring a decent amount of coin to boost the guild’s prospects even more. A noise near his workstation caused him to raise his head and see grim looking Ashford standing nearby.
“Torg, I’ve got some news from the town. Last night, two granaries and a supply depot burned down. Nobody saw anything and the defenders haven’t respawned yet.” Ashford wrung his hands, sharing the dark tidings.
Torgon swore softly under his breath, “How long ago did it happen? Do we have any information yet?”
“The fires were seen less than an hour before dawn. The guard scrambled to put them out, but they couldn’t save most of the supplies. There hasn’t been an investigation yet, so we have no idea if it was infiltrators or traitors inside the city.” Ashford paused, then continued, “There’s more. One of the city guards was slain, one of the high-level guards, a level 50.”
Torgon rubbed his head and frowned, “Either they have very high-level assistance which seems strange for the zone, or they have a way to render the guards helpless. That fits better with the upcoming siege, but we must plan for the worst. I’ll grab our people, and you take the scouts and alert the other guild leaders. Send the children’s scout team out to explore the city, looking for anything at all that might be a problem. Kids have a natural talent at getting into places they aren’t supposed to. I’ll arrange a meeting with the Baron and Sir Malik. We will do everything in our power to keep the city safe for the citizens and players alike.”
