by Taj McCoy El
Mayah watched the red dot slowly travel straight down lane 1 and turn on row M, and then head for the gate.
Fluff: What’s it doing, Mags?
Mags: It just walked up to the door and paused like it’s about to hit it.
Fluff: If you get any damage notifications on the door, off it.
Mags: Can do.
“This isn’t so bad,” Grax said waiting for the next wave to start.
As soon as the words came out of his mouth four more dots appeared on the hud. The four shapes coalesced into vaguely lupine shapes about the size of a Great Dane and all of them made a beeline faster than anything they had seen previously in the city. Mayah threw a Surge (S) grenade just to get some time to react from the surprise of it. Grax used his spears of light and tripped up two of the mutated shadow wolves at once. Mayah stepped forward to clobber them and Grax dispatched the other two with his fast slash attack.
“You were saying?” She glared at the cat.
“Sorry.”
“Okay, those are called skaduvolk. 2 build points each. So now, go build two arrow towers each on building A1 and building B1 before more mobs show up.”
Grax was working his interface when there was the sound of drills, saws, and hammers. Mayah looked up to see the arrow towers quickly constructing themselves on the buildings above them.
“Geez we only got 10 build points out of those enemies. 1BP each for the swaars and 2BP for the volk. Ah such is life,” Grax sighed.
“It’s always slow build in tower defense. I just want all the BP like right now,” Mayah complained.
The sounds of construction stopped.
“Okay, two arrow towers on the entrance and two on building B1.
“Let’s fall back on lane 1 and see what they can do. Once we get to 30BP we build another section of wall and two more arrow towers on Building B2, okay?”
“Jawohl, Mein Flaumigkeit!!!”
"I hate you sometimes.”
“Ah, you’ll live. It’ll be sad and troubled life, but you’ll live.”
Mayah growled but said nothing. If I talk, he’ll just keep talking.
The countdown timer was at 5:00 minutes and five spots popped up on her hud. Three volk raced for the entrance where arrows pelted them, and they died before they could reach row C. The two swaar died even faster, only one of them making it to row B.
“The arrow towers targets whatever enemy is in range and closest to the temple gate. If they get bunched up, we could have issues.”
"I have a solution.”
“What?”
“Upgrades.”
“What???“
“Take a look. The towers are upgradeable.”
Mayah opened up the build tab and saw that the arrow towers could be upgraded to crossbow towers for 10BP, and then for another 20BP, they would turn into Ballista towers.
“Mwahahahahahahah!!!”
“Such a creep.”
“Shut it, cat. This looks like a basic tower defense, which I used to spank when I got bored with all my other games. It’s also where I gained mastery of the ‘long path’ defense.”
“So, your plan might actually work this time?”
“They probably added some new bits to keep it fresh. We’ll need to keep an eye out for flyers and start peppering the field with random arrow towers on each lane to keep them down.”
“So, when we get 13 more BP, build the wall and two arrow towers. Is that still the drill?” Grax asked dryly.
“Yep. Keepin’ it simple, easy, and plain. We’re gonna need walls 3 levels deep but we should start getting more BP soon. But also, don’t forget to try blocking off the whole front. That would be too epic to miss out on.”
“You got it, princess.”
At 2:30, five more spots appeared: four volk and one swaar. Right on their heels, five more mobs popped up. A wave of three volk dashed out and two swaars followed slowly.
They charged the opening the volk drawing the fire from the swaars behind them as they charged towards the goal. One volk made it past and Grax put it down.
"I tried to build the fourth wall on the front row it said it was an ‘invalid placement.’”
“Then build the wall we planned on and put an arrow tower on C3.”
“Why Building C3?”
“Because if the flyers come, it’ll do its job. I promise!”
“Okay,” Grax said shakily.
“The counter ticked down to zero, and they got a notification.”
Wave 2 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 480
Build points available: 0
Wave 3 starts in 11:00 minutes
Mags: Fluff, the swaar attacked the building, and then faded. It says it did 20DP.
Fluff: That’s fine. We just needed the damage mechanics.
Three volk formed and ran for the gate none of them survived the turn onto the row B. they were followed by four swaars which barely made it to the entrance. The third round consisted of five volk which sped through the arrow towers and one made the turn towards the gate. Mayah stood in its path and slapped it dead.
Grax built the next wall, and they waited for the next round. Three swaars formed, and then right after them four volk. Another volk had to get put down by Grax who then built the two arrow towers on Building B3.
“The next arrow tower goes on D2,” Mayah ordered.
“All the way back there?”
“I’m telling you, there’ll be a flyer soon.
Fluff: Mags, there might be flying units soon. Keep your eyes peeled if anything gets passed us.
Mags: Roger that, DC1!
Fluff: DC1?”
Mags: Death claw 1. Grax is 2 and I’m 3.
Grax: Nice job, DC3
Mags: Copy that DC2. I’m still gonna kill you.
Fluff: Not during Battles, DC3!
Mags: Roger, DC1.
The next round appeared at 1:30, a bit sooner than they expected, and caught them a little flat-footed. Mayah closed out of her chat and first came a wave of three, then five more for a total of eight volk. They ran through the storm of arrows with three surviving. Grax and Mayah each picked one off.
Fluff: One is headed your way. It’s fast.
Mags: On it.
Mayah watched as the dolls converged on the volk and it disappeared. Grax built the wall and waited for the next wave. Mayah looked over the map.
“After the next two arrow towers on building B4, we’re going to start adding ice towers to all the buildings in row A.”
Grax nodded. “Ice will slow them down and increase damage. I think I’m starting to get your drift.”
Mayah groaned. “After that, we upgrade some arrow towers to see what benefits we get. Then place a fire tower and magic missile tower and see what we’re working with. Also, horrible ice pun.”
“Sounds solid. And cool.”
Wave 3 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 480
Build points available: 17
Wave 4 starts in 11:00 minutes
Four swaars spawned and rushed the gates. The arrows had no problems taking them out. The next round of two volk and two swaars came only a minute and fifty seconds later. The last swaar from the previous round was still alive. Nothing made it to Mayah or Grax. Grax used the time wisely and placed the last two arrow towers on building B4. He placed an ice tower on building A1 and one on A3
“Why A3?” Mayah asked.
“So we can see how long the slow down is.”
Their conversation was interrupted by another round of three swaars that was obliterated. Not needing to wait long, five swaars spawned followed by a single new creature that flew straight up into the air, and then down the center lane.
The swaars were decimated easily but the new creature was about to fly over the wall when the ice tower hit it, and it looked like it was flying in slow motion for three seconds It was targeted by the arrow towers on B2 and B3, and then the towers that Mayah had placed on C3 and D2. just
as it seemed it was going to get out of reach the arrow tower on D2 landed its last hit and fell out of the sky.
Grax quickly added another ice tower to building A1.
Mags: That a flyer?”
Grax: Yeah, it's called a skythe. Worth 2BP.
Barely able to get that exchange across before the next round spawned. Five volk raced toward the entrance but the ice towers hit them before they could make it and slowed them down. Directly after they stepped off the spawn points, two skythe materialized and took to the air down lanes 2 and 4. The slowed volk were taking sustained fire as they crawled along and the skythe crossed the wall and got hit with ice blasts the arrow towers redirected from the volk prioritizing the skythe because they were closer to the gate which allowed a volk to crawl along without receiving any damage until the skythe flew out of range of the arrow towers. The arrow towers then return to the volk, and it very quickly died under the lethal amounts of arrows.
While the skythe had slowed Grax had managed to hit one with an ice pick and knock it from the sky. The one traveling down lane 2 made it past the last arrow tower on row D. Mayah waited for the conclusion but was distracted when four volk formed and directly on their heels four more formed.
With the ice towers operating it was a complete slaughter and the volk disappeared and the Skythe was downed by Margaret.
With just over a minute left on the wave timer Grax asked, “Are these spawns getting faster?”
“You’re just noticing that? Ice tower on building A4 and magic missile on B1, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Done”
Wave 4 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 480
Build points available: 1
Wave 5 starts in 11:00 minutes
Five volk formed and raced at the entrance. The ones who ran close to the wall caught blasts from the ice towers slowing them down to almost the same speed as the swaars. As soon as the first two rounded the corner simultaneously the magic missile went off and hit both of them and pounded them into nothingness. they disappeared leaving nothing but smoke. The two that followed rounded the corner but couldn’t get out of range and met a similar fate.
“Looks like magic missile does a lot of damage!”
“Looks like. But it’s on the slow side.”
Ninety-five seconds after the volks first formed, five weesps walked off the spawn points. Even when they came around the first corner, even with the magic missiles and ice towers slamming into them, one of them made it to the middle lane again before being dispatched.
“Magic missile A3.”
You sure?”
“It’ll hit ’em while they are still in the square.”
“Oh.”
The next round consisted of two weesps and three volk. Only one weesp made it inside of the gate, but only by a foot. The next round was three weesps and two volk. A skythe followed on lane 2. The magic missiles didn’t track the skythe at all and it became a problem which Margaret finished off. Then it was two rounds of five weesps each and a final round of five volk and a skythe.
Wave 5 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 480
Build points available: 75
Wave 6 starts in 11:00 minutes
Round five flew by in a blur only having eighty seconds to react between spawns. The first round sent three skythes out. That made Mayah and Grax add more arrow towers on the fly. Still, one got through and landed on the temple gate because Margaret was shooting the one in the opposite direction. They also added two arrow towers and a magic missile by the gate as well for insurance.
The second round was four weesps and the third round, four volk. Their defenses held and everything went fine until the last round when five weesps stepped off and five weesps formed directly behind them. Mayah and Grax had to put down three weesps. One weesp made it into the clear, and instead of chasing it down, they left it to their necromancer and her dolls. Margaret burned it down before it made it to the temple gate.
All in all, they had fought five swaars, ten volk, five skythes, and twenty-one weesps. Then they got the next notification.
Wave 6 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 420
Build points available: 106
Wave 7 starts in 9:00 minutes
“The waves are getting shorter, too?” Grax whined
“Well, of course if they didn’t it wouldn’t really be hard. Cover the gap. call me if you need me. I’m gonna upgrade and build some walls.
Mayah looked at the map and tapped a finger against her teeth. Okay, upgrade a bunch of these arrow towers add a magic missile and build more wall.
She started by upgrading every other arrow tower in the opening section for 10BP each then built another magic missile at building B4 for 20BP. Then she built a wall across lane 4 and 5, routing them back towards the center lane.
Grax finished the first three rounds and was having no problems with the help of the additional magic missile. The three they had placed were utterly demolishing anything that came onto the first row.
“Like a blender out there,” Grax lauded the fortifications.
“It’s not going to last. So, don’t get comfy. Every wave, they’re throwing five more enemies at us. And now after the 5th round, they drop the time limit so respawns happen more frequently. At this progression the last round is going to be a five-minute gauntlet of 120 mobs with spawns every 12-13 seconds and, of course, new mob types. It’ll be a steady stream of mobs that will spread the fire over the mobs, so they’ll be able to penetrate deeper So in theses earlier rounds we need to build as much as possible. To keep the front lines contained.
“Okay, okay.”
“So. my thinking is that once we block them off so they zig zag back and forth down row D, we can relax for a bit, upgrade towers, and watch for adds. And air defense.”
“Can we add some fire towers?” Grax said with the beg-eyes.
Mayah barely fought off the urge to give in to the cute kitty’s request and said, “Right now, it’s not economical but I’ll get you some.”
"I wanna see them burn!” Grax moaned while clutching his kitty claws into fists.
“Seek help, cat.”
“They said there was no helping me.”
“Well, I can at least believe that. If they said there was nothing wrong with you, I would have to question their sanity.”
The round finished up and had wonderful effect of adding 96BP to their bank. Because Mayah had spent some as they had battled. She was planning her next steps even as the notification popped up.
Wave 7 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 420
Build points available: 96
Wave 8 starts in 9:00 minutes
Mayah built two more walls, and then three arrow towers on the buildings that didn’t have them. Down to 41BP she decided to upgrade all four arrow towers on that row as well.
“That should catch any stragglers.”
“Nice work. I’m gonna try this strategy when I play my next open field TD.”
Mayah placed a hand on his shoulder. “Think you can hold the fort while I go check on Mags?”
“Sure.”
If you build anything, build some more ice towers in row C. After that, we’ll make row D all about the flame, okay?”
“Sweet. I got this. Go check on the noob.”
Mayah watched her screens as she made her way back to the gate. She found Margaret sitting down with her eyes closed head leaned back against Vergie who looked up, yawned, and then promptly went back to sleep.
“Hey, Fluff,” she said without looking up.
“Hey, Mags. how you holding up?”
“It’s boring without you and the other cat.”
“Well, the flip side of that is we could be inept, and you could be in a battle for your life again.” Mayah sat down next to Margaret and let her head fall back on Vergie, as well. She reached over her shoulder and scritched her furry friend, who purred in response.
; Margaret chuckled. “Yeah. I guess this is okay.” she turned her head to look at Mayah. “This is gonna get worse before it’s over, isn’t it?”
“That’s my general assumption in video games.” Mayah checked her screens to find Grax was walling off row D and adding the fire towers.
“Did you approve what he’s doing?” Margaret asked skeptically.
“Yeah we talked about it before I came for a visit.”
“You make it sound like it’s a day at the beach.”
"I wish,” Mayah moaned. “Sleeping on the warm sand sounds so amazing right now. Except for the sunburn.”
"I turn into a tomato in half an hour.”
“Ouch.”
“It’s okay nano-tech has come up with better sunscreens since I was a kid, so now I get an hour or two.”
They both sighed thinking about the beach.
Wave 8 starting:
Temple Gate Integrity: 420