“If you mean that he is stronger than anyone else, then yes, he will be very difficult to beat with his army of three hundred,” agrees Halvard. “You should also know that he plans to let all his warriors battle before he steps foot out of his battalion of ranged and healers.”
“So not only do we have an army to defeat, but for every single enemy we do, he will get massively stronger. That's insane. If we defeat everyone else before him, he will be strengthened by 1,500 percent. Damn, we're outnumbered six to one and royally fucked,” Dosan exclaims, hanging his head hopelessly.
“Since he is a battle-hungry fool, he will not accept any refusal to fight. He will attack regardless, as it is his nature. He will firstly challenge you to a clan war, or rather, a clan versus guild war. Certain rewards will be agreed upon by both sides and granted to the winner. There will be a maximum number of three hundred members per side, as he has his full army, so you will be allowed the same number of guild members.
“I have been part of many inter-clan wars growing up, as there is no threat of death when participating in them. The magic of our god Gaea, the father of protection and nature, grants us immunity to death during clan wars where we agree to terms beforehand. Anyone defeated during these wars is immediately teleported to the sidelines of the battlefield, unable to cross the barrier again until one side has lost in entirety.”
“Guild wars, hmm?” ponders Ezekial quietly. “As Dosan says though, we are outnumbered and can't leave the melee alone. They will be between us and the boss. Not to mention they have their own healers and ranged.”
“This is turning into a right clusterfuck, ladies and gentlemen,” I say grimly and look around. “I like that there is a way for us to fight without the threat of death on our heads if we absolutely have to. Currently that is the only thing going for us. Does anyone have any bright ideas on how we can turn this around? Surely we are missing something?”
The entire room is gravely silent as we all think upon the situation.
“Mechanics of the fight wise, we need to find a balance between defeating certain classes like healers and ranged DPS, while leaving enough alive to make defeating Chief Branko still feasible,” states Ifalna into the silence.
Hmm. What to do.
How can our raid of fifty defeat so large an army?
Wait a second.
If we are going to be challenged as a guild, then it will be only us five against the army. Oh shit.
Eloise beats me to the punchline. “My lords, unless I am mistaken, I have only ever seen your guild consist of the five of you. Do you have guild members elsewhere you might be able to call upon for help?”
“I suppose we do have our old guild members; however, we are a whole continent apart with no way of getting closer, so that's a bust.” Kazzrak shoots his own idea down quickly.
“I am not wanting to ask the other beta members for help, but we may be forced to,” Dosan says sullenly.
“We have no idea where or even who they are. It would take too long to do so and then return. Those are only two of the many reasons that won't work,” Ezekial disagrees.
A query strikes me then.
Why not?
It should work.
Maybe?
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a preposition to propose to you all,” I say, outwardly calm, but quite nervous for some reason on the inside.
“My lord, if you wish to propose an idea, we are not in any position to gainsay you. Speak to your heart’s content,” Chief Kleemek says, and the others murmur their agreement.
“I am wondering if we are able to invite you to our guild instead of just being vassals of the Glade.” I voice my thoughts, and instantly, muttering can be heard around the room.
“We can do that?” asked Kazzrak, looking at me sharply.
“It seems a logical conclusion when you consider that they have already been accepted into the raid, where before they didn't even know about it,” Ifalna remarks, tapping her chin with her finger.
“What would be the benefits to us?” Chief Kleemek asks, silencing everyone as their gazes snap back to me.
Of course the goblin would ask something like that.
“Well, for one, it would guarantee a safer environment for everyone, as we would actively group everyone into parties that are beneficial to everyone, regardless of race. We would represent a united front more readily and easily should anyone attack us. All newcomers to the guild would be able to instantly recognise any given rank within the guild and act accordingly. I will make several hierarchies and allow you the freedom to choose who fills those spots of leadership. The people at this table will automatically gain certain ranks.
“Everyone would also benefit from being able to share all materials collected when using them for the betterment of the guild, where you wouldn't get them if you weren't a part of it. Lastly, everyone here would be able to have at least some moderate sense of safety outside the walls due to being part of a guild with us newcomers. We may discover other bonuses later on down the track, but that is all I can think of at this time.
“What say you?” I finish, gazing into each of their eyes before moving on to the next.
“I vote for the idea,” says Chief Knoxley.
“Seconded,” Elder Sylan says quickly.
“I am all for anything that could benefit us all,” Steward Han says with a small smile.
“I could see how this would be of benefit to us.” Chief Kleemek nods.
Everyone then turns to Halvard, who states, “I cannot speak for my clan, as I am not clan chief. However, I would like to join your guild, as it seems more beneficial to join than not to.”
It's like there is a red laser pointer moving around the room and everyone is following it like a cat to each speaker. Now, I can understand it from the felorians, they are cats after all, but when it happens with everyone else?
That's just funny.
Chuckling to myself, I look around the room. “I will get Ezekial to write up a short contract soon, laying out the general gist of everyone’s duties, rankings and such like that. However, in the interim, all I require is your oath that you will uphold the defence of the Glade of Everhein and to protect the guild and its property from all hostilities. When you accept the invitation I am about to send, you accept this oath. If not, then decline.”
Opening my guild tab in the menu, I select each of the leaders and send them each an invitation. Immediately, all four leaders and Halvard accept it, and they now have the guild name Venatores under their name tags next to their level.
Our guild name also appears under everyone else’s name tags as well, which is surprising. Maybe it is what happens by default because their leaders have joined. That’s a nice side effect. Means I won't be traipsing around all over the joint to invite everyone singularly.
Nice.
Congratulations! Your vassals have joined your guild. All benefits gained from vassals are transferred to the guild and are shared between all guild members.
Your guild has reached 1000 members. All experience earned when partying with guild members is increased by 5%. This will be factored in automatically.
Requirement of 200 guild members met. Guild wars are unlocked for your guild. During the setting-up phase before the battle begins and until it ends with a decided winner, the maximum size of your raid is increased to the amount the challenger wishes. The challenged must be able to meet that number of guild members though.
Assign guild ranks to better organise your guild.
“That’s awesome, like seriously awesome! Why didn’t we do this before?!” Dosan blurts out, throwing up his hands.
Whilst in the guild tab, I assign the ranks in the guild to represent the peerage and ranks associated with Old England. It starts with duke, then marquess, earl, viscount, baron and I add knight to the end as an on-a-whim thought. Not to mention making the female versions of the titles as well.
Making my friends earls in the guild, I then upgrade all
the clan leaders to viscount. All the others sitting at the table, Halvard included, I make knights. This is also the first time I have taken a proper notice of the female felorian named Lurra sitting next to the now Viscount Han Goldeneye.
She is giving me a sultry look and twirling a lock of her styled, shoulder-length auburn hair. Her beautiful, heart-shaped face looks slightly feline. Very short silky auburn fur covers her exposed skin, which there isn't much of. Strategically placed black leather straps and armour accentuate what womanly curves I can see above the table.
Dulled metal bands are riveted to the leather for added defence. Two long daggers are sheathed at her hips while two baldrics of three throwing knives are strapped to her torso under her arms.
She looks sexy and absolutely badass, to put it mildly.
There have been just too many new faces without introductions lately, but seeing as she is sitting next to Han, she must be pretty important to him.
Their ranks now settled; I figure we can sort the rest out later when we have fewer pressing matters to deal with.
Viscount Sylan bows his head before speaking. “I am honoured to be a part of your guild, Lord Sybaal. I request you use our names without any honorific as a mark of our new friendship, unless in a very formal setting, of course.”
Seeing that the other viscounts agree, I nod my head in acceptance and give Han a squinting eye. “Unless in a formal setting, I too wish the same. Sybaal will be fine. That includes you as well, Han.”
Bowing his head, Han replies, “As you wish.”
“Well, we definitely will be able to meet the three-hundred limitation now. It's almost as if we have too many to choose from,” states Ifalna.
“Are we going to return to my home and return with the rest of my warriors?” asks Kleemek, raising a green eyebrow.
Before I can answer, Han cuts in with an excited air. “Actually, Kleemek, I already have 250 battle-ready clan, err, guild members inside the fortress twiddling their claws as they are prevented from leaving. Could we not use them as a surprise attack? They probably won't suspect an attack from the walls when we haven't done so this entire time.”
Ifalna and I look at each other before meeting the eyes of the other players at the table and grinning like mad. We have already fought a battle in a similar situation against a guild who had been trying to take over a castle from one of our allied guilds in DSR1.
“Now we're talking!” Ezekial stands up abruptly before looking at Ifalna, our mastermind in the raiding field. “Will we use the same tactics?”
Thinking for a second, Ifalna has a faraway look on her face before suddenly snapping back to the present. “Yes. Oh my, this will work wonderfully. Ezekial, I think you should leave now and prepare the felorians. Everyone in this room who has stealth capabilities, go with Ezekial now.”
Han and Lurra stand up and make their way to the exit with Ezekial. Lurra is sashaying her hips probably more than necessary as her tail flicks slowly back and forth behind her. Graceful legs for days end in tough, knee-high leather boots.
She turns her head slightly and meets my eyes with a knowing smirk before disappearing out the door.
Definitely doing it on purpose. Interesting that she is of a stealthy sort of class. I wonder which one.
Han is joined by Randall, the nymph thief, and a goblin I don't know before they too exit the room.
Just after he leaves, Han pops his head back in quickly. “Oh, I'm also going to give the gift of awareness to the rest of my people.”
He disappears and I return my attention to the task at hand.
Thoughts flying through my mind at a gazillion miles an hour, I strive to remember all the different mechanics we utilised back then. This is why Ifalna is usually the raid leader on the big raids. While I can think up things on the fly that are quirky and work for small groups, she really shines when directing large-scale troops.
“Alright, everyone in this room will be coming with us,” I say, standing up. “Unfortunately, everyone else won't be a high enough level, so they will have to stay here and continue levelling their professions and such. I'm going to need everyone to carry as many potions as they can and be as geared as we can get them. Sylan, we need to get this show on the road.”
“Agreed,” says Sylan, getting up along with everyone else. “Let's head down to the crafting hall and meet with the trainers. They will be able to equip everyone with the best equipment we have. Especially since we have been making a lot of new things with the materials you brought us.”
We all make our way down to the already slightly cramped hall. There are nymphs everywhere working on various tasks, and we quickly realise this isn't going to work. Grabbing a hold of the leaders, I get them to take stock of everyone's gear.
Then I direct everyone else to wait on the main branch outside and that we will bring them everything they need.
Requisitioning the help of a few nymphs, Ifalna sends them on errands to collect various items from the trainers’ stocks. The leaders and I then also do the same for everyone's gear.
Faland and the other trainers have been busy little nymphs. They begin pulling out gear that is much better than what the raid is currently using, except for us. We still have the high-level gear from the fortress.
Faland isn't quite up to replacing that until he can start working with the higher-end metal we found. After giving us everything we need for the raid, Faland says he will send us our rewards via the mailing system. Since we have control of the fortress, it is now working.
Apparently, he has been much too busy making things for the rest of the guild, which I fully agree with. I'd much rather everyone be up to snuff or over-equipped before going out into potential danger.
We all leave then. Nothing else needs to be done, as everyone looks to be in good hands and is being productive. Picking up the rest of the raid on our way out, we take a little while to get everyone to the base of the tree.
It seems like so long ago we defeated Woody and headed to the fortress without knowing what was really going on in the Glade. Now we are returning with a very different attitude and view of the game world in general.
I've done this quite a few times in life too. Sometimes I'll return to a place I had been previously, though this time in a completely different frame of mind. It is quite mind-blowing when you stand in the same place as you did years ago, thinking how much has changed. Then ponder how much you wished you could change the past or how lucky you feel that things turned out the way they did.
The anticipation of the battle is starting to make me tingle and jittery when we all gather together before heading off. I've always been one to enjoy a massive battle, either as a participant or a viewer.
“Alright, everyone, listen up,” Ifalna says loudly, glaring at everyone equally. “I'm going to start giving everyone a position to stand in for certain formations. You had better stay in it until I give the order to change formation. All tanks and melee, make a line up front with Kazzrak in the middle, Sybaal to his left and Dosan's minions to his right. Tanks! Space yourselves evenly along the line with melee DPS between you.”
Ratatoskr appears as Woody is dismissed, and Dosan pats him affectionately. “I'm going to be up front with my big friend here.”
“That's fine,” Ifalna agrees. She stands directly behind Kazzrak in the formation. “Grace, we will have you doing aerial sweeps with your flame attacks, so just follow where I direct everyone to attack and stay hidden till the first shots are fired. All the rest of you ranged, sort yourselves out in a line to either side of me, going DPS, healer, DPS, healer and so on.”
“Okay. I will also make sure to heal and damage at the same time with my Healing Flames,” Grace acquiesces, bowing her head with respect.
While not always used in raiding, all the highest-ranking raiding guilds in DSR1 used various formations to direct the raid easily. Sometimes we just needed a good old-fashioned shield wall. Like right now, heading into a battle with 250 melee ursine th
at are six and a half feet tall or larger.
This would be a good time for a shield wall.
Watching everyone sort themselves out, I take note of everyone's position in line. I never know when I’ll have to yell at a newb to get back into formation, so I'm paying attention. To my left, the only person I know is Eloise, who is halfway down the line. On my right are Karma, Kazzrak, Dosan, Ratatoskr, the three tainted felorians, Kleemek, and Halvard. The rest on the right I don't actually know their names either.
In the rear line, on the left side of Ifalna, are Sorrel, Knax, Doise, Kendak, Gene and some others. On his right side are Jena, Lord Varim, Roghan and the rest of the people I don't know.
There are thirty-two people standing in the front line and twenty-two in the rear. I must admit, we look pretty formidable. Everyone has burnished steel and leather gear, with the tanks going heavier on the steel plating.
“This is the initial formation we will be using when we engage the ursine. We want all their attention focused on us and for them to think we will be easy to defeat. Two lines may seem weak, but it actually isn't if done correctly,” Ifalna says once everyone is in position. “Now I'll run you all through the other formations we will be using. Hopefully I can drill everyone hard enough on the way there to have it done seamlessly when we actually need it.”
We spend an hour on the different formations before Ifalna declares that we know them enough to be able to put them into semi practise on the run. So, run we do, most of the way to the fortress, I might add. There are quite a few stumbles and bumps, though everyone manages to mostly find the right positions before we reach our destination.
It's quite funny to watch, let alone be a part of, considering we have to stay in formation whilst dodging trees sixteen feet wide.
What is even funnier is when we introduce everyone to guild chat. Ifalna freaks everyone out when she starts talking to them via text. That's what we are now using to change formations and to relay information effectively.
When we finally arrive, it's a sure sight different than when we left. There used to be massive trees growing right up next to the fortress. Those ursine must have been extremely bored, seeing as how at least three hundred yards surrounding the fortress has been completely cleared, and I mean completely. Trees, roots and all.
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