"What happened here?" Zen asked Sasha.
The kitchen was so badly messed up, but there were still some things functioning when Zen checked. Thank goodness for that!
Sasha sighed. "We were fighting some dude that had guns in his body. I don't know what kind of freak he was, but his family did a number on him. We fought him with guns, and I shot him in a place that created sparks, so he fled. I assume he wanted to capture this flag, but resistance is futile. AS long as those monsters within the higher ranks do not come, we can hold everyone else off with numbers."
Zen studied the people gathered in the kitchen base. Most of them were newly joined group members, and without Liu Feng or Akiko, he had the next highest authority in the guild.
"Rookies," he addressed the anxious mafia heirs and heiresses. "I am Zen, Guild Survivor's advisor. Give me a brief report on the ground situation."
Sasha stood behind Zen with her sniper rifle in her arms. The Russian assassin was not joking. Compared to the rest of the people gathered in this room, she was more than capable of taking them out with bullets to spare.
Slowly and reluctantly, the people seeking refuge under Guild Survivor's umbrella told Zen what he needed to know.
Zen plotted out the people the way Yelena taught him using cards and coins. Guild Carnage was currently divided. Party Undead's fighter was injured, but so was Controlled Berserker. In any case, the Shredder was poisoned, and Zen needed the couple to work on taking him out of the equation for the rest of this event to prevent Party Undead from feeding Johan their movements.
On the other hand, it was a little concerning how the three strongest members of Guild Carnage operated independently, each conquering a flag building. Felix's attempt to capture the laundromat building was a failure, so Liu Feng went back to finish his business with the mafia leader. Nobody knew where Johan's current location was after he armed himself with weapons. The psychopath was on the move, taking out competition in a permanent manner. He didn't care much for the points in the game, opting to kill as many as he could. Thankfully, they knew that the Amazonian was guarding the library while the latest news from Gambler came in. Party Undead was using the private dojo as their base of operations.
Zen counted the number of people present in the kitchen. He didn't need too many people here. In fact, the lesser people, the better.
"Listen up," Zen told the newly joined guild members. "There will be a promotion within the guild for those who do well. At the moment, we need to capture spawn areas. Big brother Wind is checking out the potential spawn areas, so I need all of you to spread out and farm eggs once the spawning begins. When your egg trays are full, bring them back to the kitchen. Sasha will help keep tally, and the party that brings in the most eggs will be promoted and given better in-game equipment for the dungeon raids."
His announcement motivated many of the newly joined guild members. Events were probably the easiest way to climb ranks within an organisation. Even if it was a temporary arrangement, the benefits outweighed the dangers. If they were going to face death anyway, they might as well risk it all to have one last good meal before going. If they couldn't choose how they wanted to live, the other best option was to choose how they wanted to die.
[The Godfather is slightly moved by your innocent leadership charisma. You have been awarded 100 credits.]
Confused, Zen took a glance at the random tip by his secret watcher and ignored it. The Godfather can wait. He had more important things to do as the recruits grouped together, forming temporary parties. Sasha assigned them the areas to camp at and report back to Zen once they were there.
"Only party leaders should speak in the guild chat. I don't want to receive spam notifications during the game. If you get eggs, bring them back here. We need eggs for crafting. If you collect your quota, you can turn in the rest for points and distribute them among yourselves."
The message was clear. Those who cleared their quota and contributed more to the guild will get a higher rank and benefit after the event was over. It was a dog eat dog world, and nobody could be trusted. For their survival, they banded together. However, they could only afford scrapes now if they didn't want to die immediately.
The party leaders lead their parties to the suspected spawn areas to catch eggs while Sasha remained behind with Zen, who was rummaging through the kitchen, assessing the damage. He found some usable knives, pans, pots and a chopping board that wasn't splintered or charred yet. The kitchen had some basic ingredients and condiments that Zen could use. However, the gamer wanted to find a mixing bowl. He had no idea how to craft the Rainbow Egg yet, but he thought he should prepare in advance.
"What are you doing?" Sasha asked as Zen's butt stuck out from under the badly damaged table. The boy was trying to remove something and struggled a little. Why was the only unbent fork stabbed into the table's wood? Why did this?!
"Sorry big sister Sasha... Could you help me recover this fork? I need all the functioning utensils and tools that I can get. Eggs will be coming soon. I want to find a functioning stove or oven if possible. Oh, and a kitchen scale. The proportions must be accurate for the mixing."
[Liu Feng "Seer" sends you a message. "I found some areas that do not follow the logic of structural destruction. The shooting range and dormitory buildings are immune to structural damage although I might have destroyed the games room and gyms."]
Hearing that, Zen quickly gave his order to the recruits to spread out to the newly discovered potential spawn areas. Almost any moment now, the eggs should start spawning.
As if on cue, the event updated itself, and everyone heard the same system message.
"Congratulations on capturing the flags. Every submission station is currently owned by a candidate. For everyone else who failed to capture a submission station, you may opt to kill and take over the station as a new owner or be affiliated with the station owner as a friend, party or guild member."
This was the system message that Zen failed to listen to when the flag capturing stage started. He was too disoriented back then, but now, he was ready.
The list of station owners appeared, and Zen wanted to faint when he found his name as the station master of the cafeteria. He looked at Sasha and wondered why she wasn't the station master. She was here for longer than him.
The two other stations were occupied by Guild Carnage's members. Oritha "Amazonian" Silva was the owner of the library station. "Shadow" was the private dojo's station master, much to Zen's surprise. According to intel, their party leader was "Shredder". Did the poison put him out of commission that quickly? Also, Zen thought that the laundromat would be occupied by either Liu Feng or Felix because the Seer went back to settle scores while running errands. Zen was not expecting to see Oriole's name there. What was going on?
Before zen could ask why Party Prayer was there, the system announced the beginning of the new stage.
"The new stage of the Egg Hunt will commence in three minutes. Find as many eggs as you can within an hour before the Basilisk is spawned. The boss monster will kill anyone it sees without discrimination. Be very careful not to look it in the eyes for more than ten seconds, or you will be permanently paralysed until the end of the event. Eggs can be submitted at stations for points. Fight well, future Godfathers."
It was here. The hunt has begun.