[UNDEAD ARMY POINT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM: [50x Zombie Guards: 2 points per kill] [20x Grave Warriors: 3 points per kill] [15x Skull Knights: 5 points per kill] [15x Cairn Wraiths: 4 points per kill] [50x Reanimated Corpses: 1 point per kill] [3x Lesser Vampires: 10 points] [1x Lesser Lich (Mr. Bones): 400 points to kill, extra 20 points for gruesome death]]
"This point system's a bit wonky, isn't it, love," Lyghtning commented.
"What do you mean, sugah?" Liberty Belle asked.
"Lyghtning is referring to how the points do not add up," Oh!siris answered.
Team Alpha under Ath3na's command was gathered on a hastily formed fifteen-foot wooden watchtower a few yards east of Adventour's main gate. Team Bravo was waiting inside their tower a little way south from team Alpha's position.
Ath3na, who'd been silently observing the notification window in front of them, tapped a finger against her lips. "Adding up all the points for the enemy army rounds up to three-hundred-and-seventy-five points… that total is less than the points for killing the boss monster."
"Well, darn, that don't make no sense," Liberty Belle commented.
"It seems someone in Adventour does not like Mr. Bones very much… enough to put a much larger target on his head," Oh!siris surmised. "Still, it stands to reason a boss monster would be worth more than his troops."
"Meaning we should bum rush the lich then?" Bully the Kid chimed in.
"A good old blitz," Lyghtning piped in.
"Assassinations are my specialty," Bully the Kid added.
Ath3na shook her head.
"I don't believe it'll be that easy, guys," she countered. "The zombie guards and reanimated corpses might just be mobs… but these skull knights and cairn wraiths sound like a challenge."
"Not to mention the three Lesser Vampires guarding the Lich," Oh!siris supplied. "If they're anything like Masamune… then killing them might be necessary before confronting Mr. Bones."
Ath3na nodded in agreement.
"There are also the watchtowers to consider…" Ath3na wrapped her hands over her chest. "The devs have put them right in the path of the enemy' march… there must be a reason for that more than just being a simple staging area."
"How'd you figure that?" Liberty Belle asked.
For an answer, Ath3na pointed to the glowing rune floating in the air by the watchtower's eastern vantage point. She brushed her fingers against it and felt how hot it was.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, boss," Bully the Kid warned. "That's an explosion rune."
All eyes turned on Bully.
"What?" he was cutting a piece off the giant apple in one hand with the knife he held in the other. "I'm into things that go boom. So, yeah, I know what it is."
"Can you be more specific, Bully?" Ath3na pressed.
Bully ate the slice of apple he'd prepared before pointing his knife at the rune.
"That there's a cannon rune, the kind that deals long-range fire to wherever it's pointed," Bully the Kid answered.
Ath3na's face lit up with sudden understanding. To confirm her suspicions, she grabbed onto the ladder sprouting out of the square opening in the center of the wooden platform they were standing on and dropped down to the bottom of the watchtower.
Then the others watched her scurry to the watchtower's eastern entrance where she spent the time examining the wooden planks that made up its wall.
"I get it now!" Ath3na called from down below.
"Care to clue us in, love?" Lyghtning called back as she leaned over the wooden railing.
Ath3na glanced over to the other team's watchtower and saw that they were all looking at her as well.
She decided it was better not to yell out her deductions in case Argonaut's team didn't know the meaning of the watchtower either.
Ath3na climbed back up the tower, and after taking a second to catch her breath, she explained what she'd discovered to her team.
"There's another rune above the watchtower's east entrance," she said just as she turned her gaze on Liberty Belle. "It's a lure rune… the same kind that appears above the heads of Ghoul Paladins when you guys use your War Cry skill."
"That'll definitely make them want to come at us," Liberty Belle agreed. "And I assume, sugah, that it's on some kind of repeat?"
"It's pulsing every ten seconds," Ath3na answered. "That means it'll constantly direct the enemy toward the watchtowers…"
"Which means…?" Lyghtning prompted.
Ath3na smiled. "It's a tower defense game."
---
As there was no sun or moon in the sky to signify the passage of time, players found another way to tell when night had fallen. It was the cold, a seeping cold that momentarily chilled the bone at the moment when dusk arrived — almost like winter's veil was descending down on the land.
Forks of Lightning streaked across the clouds, shedding enough light on the surrounding landscape that even the smallest movements in the dirt could be seen.
Although perhaps it helped that the souls who arrive at the Abyss find themselves able to see much clearer in the dark than they would have on the mortal plane.
And so it was quite easy for those tasked with protecting Adventour to see that the eastern horizon was suddenly filled with a mass of dark shapes.
"They're here!" Bully the Kid called from his position on the platform at the top of the watchtower.
The rest of his unit hid just inside the tower's entrance.
"We know, sugah!" Liberty Belle hollered back.
Ath3na peeked her head out the door and glanced toward the south.
Several of Argonaut's team members had remained at the top of their watchtower while only Argonaut and Don Coyote waited at the bottom. It seemed they'd figured out the hidden meaning of the watchtower as well.
She ducked back in and turned to face her teammates.
"I'm not very good at speeches," Ath3na began. "But this situation seems just like the right opportunity for one."
While the others gazed back at her with some skepticism, Lyghtning was nodding her head and silently encouraging her friend to keep going.
"Look, we're rivals… all of us," Ath3na continued. "And I know you'd all you were the finalist and not me… After all, I saw how hard you guys fought to earn your place here."
"Damn straight," Bully the Kid called from above.
His head was looking down at them from the hole in the floor.
"And I know you think there's no real benefit in helping me win this battle… but that isn't the case at all," Ath3na said, her voice rising a little. "This isn't just my fight… it's ours. We're a team now. We're a raid team. And how we act today will determine our success tomorrow."
Her teammates looked more responsive to her now.
Ath3na took in a deep breath. "The odds are stacked against us… but if we put our faith not only in ourselves but in each other, we can defeat the monsters standing at our door… Together, we can accomplish greatness!"
She stretched her hand forward.
"I'm in, love!" Lyghtning said excitedly.
"So am I," Oh!siris agreed.
They each placed their hands over Ath3na's.
Ath3na glanced over to Liberty Belle next. The Ghoul Paladin had her eyebrow raised.
"Plus, if I win the Deathly Challenger's Cup, you guys will get priority on rare item drops during the raid," Ath3na added.
"Now you're talking my language, sugah," Liberty Belle laughed.
She too placed her hand over the others.
They all looked up.
"Yeah, yeah, go team. Whoopee-doo," Bully the Kid called from above. "Nerds…"
But he was smiling all the same.
"Go team Alpha on three," Ath3na said. "One, two — three!"
"Go team Alpha!" They yelled together, all except for Bully who had disappeared from view. He had his own battle cry, "Here they come!"