Amelia returned shortly after the interview to find most of the members of Shadow Fall staring grimly toward the front of the ship. She followed their gaze and noted that even though the sun was setting in a spectacular fashion, what gathered the eyes of her companions was the flashes and concussion sounds coming from the only visible landmark on the land ahead of them. It must be Blutonsi, she decided, picking out the remnant of a vast city that looked as if something huge had just stomped all over it and left it to freeze. They had made better time than expected, she supposed. It was a good thing that she had decided to jump right back into the game. An unnatural chill filled the air, and she was surprised to see her breath fogging out from her lips. She had never noticed that particular graphic before.
The Far North Continent was a frozen wasteland. Even from this distance, she had to respect the sheer size of the shoreline that was ahead of them. More alarming was the distinct lack of color. The last vestiges of light showed kilometer after kilometer of sparkling white, with only one mountain near enough to give scale to the awesome sight. The ships were gently passing gigantic floating ice sheets, dodging them nimbly simply because they were so incredibly dwarfed by comparison.
Rat spoke, pushing aside a piece of snow that had landed on her small nose. "When we were leaving the port I remember thinking… wow, we have a lot of ships." She shook her head. "Now, with all this space around us, I wonder if we really have a lot or if..."
Hunter nodded, looking left and right at the armada that surrounded them. What had once looked like an incredibly formidable force, now looked like it could spit at the land before them and the land would just glare back. There was just so much space.
Raven spoke over the party channel, having returned to her flagship apparently. "I'm going to go ashore with everyone, but my guys are going to stay in the ships and cannon the shoreline if it becomes necessary. They're kinda scaredy cats." The doubt in her voice was shared by everyone, even as they laughed because they could hear the pirates in the background of Raven's channel loudly disputing her claim that they were afraid.
When they had heard from other players that Gilduirn was winning everyone relaxed. Now that they could see the scale of the battlefield, doubt and suspicion were returning. It was silent as everyone had the same thought. There was no way this was going to be easy. Something was going to happen. Something awful.
The last hour was incredibly agonizing. It didn't seem to anyone that they were making any forward progress anymore, save for the shore inexorably creeping closer. The waiting was the worst. The tension everyone felt mounted ever increasingly, and a few people near her actually sighed in relief when they were deemed close enough by the Resident crew to start dropping longboats into the water to ferry people to the shore.
As they slid through the water ever closer Aidan spoke next to her, commenting on their first sight of the fighting that they could only glimpse at the earlier great distance. "Maybe our numbers actually exceeded the event calculations." He guessed. He was watching a large group of maybe 40 visage swarming across the ice. They were met by nearly 700 of Gilduirn's and were quickly slain on the outskirts of Blutonsi. The crushed and burned out skeleton of the city behind the force truly made his force seem small from this vantage.
Amelia heard the same doubt creep into his voice that she had heard from Raven. No one really believed that this was it. Even the under castle dungeons looked like they had been more of a challenge. Gilduirn looked to be winning handily. They were just now beginning to get to shore and already they could hear the happy cries of successful adventurers laughing and cajoling one another.
"Well, that's a relief," Abhy muttered. They were all gathered in the conference room viewing the live stream at MKC Online. So far no editing had been done to preserve the feel from Amelia's stream as they came onto the mainland. Though she had said it was a relief she was still watching the screen intently, fingers crossed as she had said earlier, hoping that everything would be wrapped up without too much heart-ache.
Elias grunted, sparking looks of curiosity at him from around the room. "I have a feeling. Split up the feeds we're sending out. Give me Hunter and Amelia and cut everyone else for the moment."
"Bad feeling?" Abhy asked, wondering. Elias was usually stupidly optimistic, but ever since the broadcast today he had been moody and irritable. Really unlike him, considering this was the sort of story that would really generate the revenue later. Sponsors were already clamoring all over him trying to make sure their commercials and advertisements would have space.
"Look at the players. Everyone there that just hit shore looks like they're going to throw up on themselves." Elias pointed, and the gazes around the room swept to the stream. "Gilduirn's group looks happy. Our group looks like they want to run away. That's some serious tension coming from our group. A group that survived that stupid bird attack, and the spider, and even that freaking fish. Whether they like it or not you can figure that most of them are raiders now. They're familiar with walking into bad situations, not unlike Gilduirn's group. So why is our group looking like they want to get out of there? They know something is off and the fact that Gilduirn is clowning around in front of them and having a good time is panicking them."
"Even though that's bad for our stream and viewer audience, isn't that good for us? We were sorta wondering what game we were going to pick up if AA died." Edward, a camera technician pointed out, half-joking but with very real concern in his eyes.
"You don't talk to Amelia much. I bother her a lot," Elias explained. "It will all work out, or it's fine, or whatever is usually her response. She was so worried about this that she babbled during the interview. It sounded like well thought out responses to you guys right?" Most people bobbed their heads in agreement. "That was practically hysterical coming from that person."
"Oh my god." Abhy had continued watching the screen while others had taken up the conversation with Elias. Her voice full of astonishment made his eyes return to the screen. They narrowed.
"What is that?"
-----------------
"Some sort of creature?" Raven asked craning her neck to look up, She had been the first one ashore really, not counting the forces already fighting. There was no stopping her anyway, she was always the first or striving to be, Amelia thought.
She followed her gaze and saw a huge massive smoke cloud that swung through the air toward Blutonsi down from the mountain that overlooked it. Atop it stood a dark figure, Mourning perhaps, was her guess. They were in big trouble if it was small fry riding something that huge. With the main figure in the middle of the moving shadow were others, all humanoid in shape but without any real distinction. They began to jump off the cloud that, the longer she looked at it, seemed to be more alive and solid than her initial impression of it being incorporeal. They hit the snow with audible thuds and stood several hundred meters from Gilduirn's defenders, seeming unaffected by the drop. They formed a ragged line, perhaps a dozen of them, wielding dark looking swords, maces, and staves. Too far to get a good look at them. They almost looked like dark knights or humanoids but the more Amelia looked at them the more wrong they looked. One of them had seemed to be a giant of a man, but the more Amelia looked at him the more she realized that while he was tall, he was incredibly flat. Other discrepancies were starting to emerge. She wanted to get a closer look but knew Aidan would stop her, so for the moment, she didn't.
The cloud reformed under its remaining occupant and slowly flew away toward the mountain, disappearing altogether near its top.
"Guess he's not fighting right away," Hunter muttered. "Wuss."
The new enemy stood silently, waiting as if in challenge. Gilduirn was shouting orders and his guild were forming ranks, waiting to see what new challenge was coming. Nothing happened though, and the waiting became tense once more.
"Head for Blutonsi." Hunter ordered her circle of Shadow Fall. "Split up in groups and take up positions. Leave the front to Gilduirn. He wanted it he can have it. Coordinate with the Residents and set up shield lines. We'll stick the craftsmen in the middle and have them make lanterns and start building walls if there's time." Her crew immediately fell away and started collecting the members of Shadow Fall from other boats.
"I'm with Hunter." Forsythe offered, earning a quick smile from her.
"I'll probably stay near Gilduirn and see if I can't watch him get killed." Aidan allowed after a moment. "Amelia?"
"I'm going to stay onshore until all the boats have arrived and start casting Aura now," Amelia said after a moment's thought. It really pained her that she wouldn't be able to see what was going on quite as well from here, but all the defenders had to land on the beach so it was the best opportunity to spread Aura.
"Elisha and I are going to head to the middle then," Raven said unexpectedly. Elisha was nodding. "We're going to protect the Residents and the craftspeople," she explained when she saw that nobody believed them.
Khiafin's party pane was slightly dim, indicating that he had already moved far away, probably to the frontline with Gilduirn's people. That, Amelia thought, should be interesting as far exchanges went. Khiafin HAD killed Gilduirn and a fair number of his guild last time they had met up.
Amelia turned, and cast, "[Aura]." Everyone thanked her and moved to where they had chosen to fight even as Amelia turned her back on the standoff on the ice and started casting her spells on the incoming boats.
"Do you recognize the monsters on the field now?" Amelia asked over the party channel, referring to the humanoids that were staring unflinchingly at the wall of defenders arrayed against them.
"No. There were necromancers and a boss, but no special cases before. I don't really remember a lot about them because they were generic bad guys." Aidan admitted. "First time I'm seeing this type."
"They have names." Offered Khiafin suddenly. "You might not be close enough, but the game has given them names. They're about 300 level-wise. One of them is named Weiss, the... something. What does that say?" He was obviously asking someone nearby before he continued. "Weiss the Devourer of Thieves. I think he's looking at me. I'm offended."
"I didn't think they'd be that high," Hunter said, sounding a bit confused and annoyed. No blaming her since everyone had literally power-leveled for a straight week with the understanding that they would be near the same level.
"The visage were about 200 up to this point." Khiafin offered again. "Just these new ones that are named and have high level. There's like, 15 of them I think."
"I think we'll miss dinner." Forsythe finally said, sounding hugely disappointed but cutting to what he viewed as important about the matter.
"Aww, everyone will just be extra hungry when they have your awesome food." Elisha consoled him.
The light banter continued, but the tension that crept upon them started to silence them one by one until no one spoke. No one knew what this new line of enemies were waiting for, or even if they were waiting really. Gilduirn had ordered his people slightly clear of the broken buildings so that they were all within sight of one another, slightly passed the outskirt of Blutonsi. He too looked like he was hesitating, trying to figure out why the enemy didn't attack. It was rare in a game for an enemy to be aware of your presence and not attack.
At first, it seemed like a blessing. Gilduirn's people had started putting lanterns out, but they were greatly aided by the new force that had joined them. Soon lanterns and pits full of oil lined the entire town, a bright beacon of light compared to the encroaching darkness. The Pirate ships that were still manned offshore had also begun lighting lanterns. They bobbed off the shore like grim and angry ghosts or fae spirits from legend.
The sun finally set however and that's when it became apparent. Most had figured they were waiting for the dark, but now it was confirmed. As one they began pounding the snow and ice at their feet. It was incredible how reverberating it was, how much noise it caused, and how it seemed to shake the very air. Amelia marveled at the feeling as it seemed to vibrate her lungs. Slowly, a new nightmare unfolded.
From under the ice and snow dark shapes rose. They shook off the ice and snow and began to form in a large group, literally crawling over one another, achieving piles ten, then twenty meters high. There were so many of the reptilian creatures that they immediately covered the special enemies from view. As far as the eye could see the landscape had turned from white to pitch black with crawling and snarling creatures. Gilduirn was immediately overwhelmed. He and his guild had pressed out to gain what had seemed like an advantage. With the open field, they would be able to cover one another easily. Now though it became apparent that they had been standing on the vanguard of sleeping visage, and cries of horror and anger erupted as the dark shapes burst from under their feet and began to savagely attack them. Gilduirn ordered them back into the town, to use the buildings as cover so they wouldn't be surrounded on all sides. Nearly a hundred of his guild fell either from the initial ambush or from turning and trying to flee to the safety of the town, pulled down individually by creatures inferior in level but outnumbering them in sheer size, quantity, and speed.
Amelia hurried toward the outskirts, trying to find Aidan. He had pushed out with Gilduirn and might have been one of those that had been overwhelmed. Instead she found him calmly at the back of the retreating force, shoulder to shoulder with Gilduirn and Khiafin as all three of them fended an enemy that rushed at them with such incredible number and speed that they crawled over each other and actually jostled and knocked one another out of the way to try and get to them.
"[Mass Electric Manipulation - Energy Field]." Fields of writhing lightning struck at the demonic creatures as they swarmed, slowing them but doing little else. They were mostly resistant to magic as a whole, was what Amelia recalled. "[Starry Knight]." Aidan called, and immediately the visage near him sprung and snarled at the illusions of people, falling over themselves and even attacking one another accidentally as his illusion spell sprang up. Khiafin actually kicked it in the back sending it confused and angry back out toward the field rather than risk trying to kill it.
The last of Ominous retreated to the relative safety of the town. Shield walls comprised of Residents and Transients ringed the inner circle, much smaller than they had originally planned. This was no time to be spread out though, there were so many enemies that to be spread out was to be immediately killed. Moreover, it wasn't just the sides that they had to worry about. Even if they killed the enemy in front of the shield wall there were always more, clambering over the bodies. Many of the Transients were looking almost straight up to fend off the Visage climbing over the wall of the dead. The Residents had given an order and retreated two meters, leaving a gap where they could reset. There was no question that it would be a push-back that would continue.
Gilduirn rushed breathlessly after Aidan and Khiafin, who stopped near Amelia. He turned to Aidan and Khiafin and said in a hurry, "I take it back, I'm really glad you came."
"Kinda makes me warm and fuzzy," Khiafin said dryly.
"Amelia. Hit Gilduirn and his people." Gilduirn looked at Aidan and was about to come unhinged when he mischievously finished, "with Aura. No time to be choosy about the idiots that help us." Aidan said, and was that a hint of displeasure she detected? Maybe more than a hint. She wondered what they had been talking about for the last half hour.
"[Aura]." Amelia dutifully cast it over the area, trying to hit everyone that hadn't already received it. She had already recast it on the main group and was resigning herself to the fact that this entire battle she would just be walking around buffing people.
"Holy crap!" Gilduirn stuttered, looking up and examining his new stats. "Marry me!"
"I get that all the time, and no," Amelia admitted, grinning.
Aidan began recasting his fields past the defenders that ringed them. Khiafin disappeared into the throng, contenting himself to pitching in wherever he felt like the line was weak. Gilduirn however, was staring passed Amelia toward the center of the group.
"Is that Idolia?" He demanded. "Why did you bring my sister here? She's going to get killed. She has no combat skills. Why the hell are you bringing craftsmen?"
"Sister?" Amelia wondered aloud, and several eyes nearby turned on him.