The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

"There's a lot of talk about DeathGang in town right now. The Guilds are gathering, planning an offensive into DeathGang territory. Several strong players have entered Kruxol, eager to make an example of your Guild," said Crucis, with a false tone of grave sincerity, "They have already sent a few players to patrol the East, and they said that they are trying to shut down your route to Kruxol through the woods, if they can find it. From there, they will try to hem your Guild into the abandoned village, then surround it and kill everyone inside."

"I see," said [Darys], the leader of the [DeathGang] Guild, "Our intel also suggests that they are planning something. But are you sure it's not just tough talk to please the hoi polloi? A lot of the talk about protecting the players, yadda yadda, it's just idle talk." He was an Arabic player, but spoke with a slight Italian accent like a mob boss from a film. His face was slightly pale, and he looked as if he was under heavy stress. However, he wore a white, loose kurta that made him look almost relaxed.

"They have been organising patrols and trying to ward off Guilds like yours, as well as running the escorts between towns. As long as it's the rank-and-file players, and not the leadership, the Guilds are willing to make all kinds of sacrifices. Even the leaders will join in on the side, if it gains them significant prestige. But the brunt of the fighting will be done by mules, strong players who aren't in leadership positions."

Darys nodded sagely. "Defeating DeathGang would bring prestige, so can we see some of the leaders trot out?"

"Since your Guild is quite strong," said Crucis, "a few powerful Guild leaders will probably also join the expedition, they have occasionally been prowling at the East of Kruxol. However, you can use this to your advantage. These big players will probably become more reluctant to join the fray if they see that their comrades are suffering heavily. Their retreat would lower morale."

This was flattery. The actual reason that the leaders were preparing to join was that DeathGang were viewed as an easy target which would still give plenty of prestige.

"Reasonable," Darys said, smiling, "but it will be difficult if they can gather their forces already. We thought that we might have gained some time due to the draugr invasion, and could hold our ground for now. But it does look like they are growing in confidence, so they will attack soon. However, how would they attack us if they don't know this area?" He seemed relieved to be able to talk to someone who was realistic about the scale of the threat, as opposed to his bullish Guildmates.

"They have sent scouts," said Crucis, "Though several have died. You will probably have an advantage in this area, but the game is still new and the advantage will be slight. It would only be effective if you leverage it, by keeping the enemy moving."

"Yes, I've seen them. Look, this last couple of days has been hectic. I'm staying awake this whole night from the stress. How strong are the players approaching? Do you think we could stand our ground and fight them off? We have been taking some losses of late."

"I saw players of 60 above who arrived recently. Since Kruxol is barely useful for them, they are clearly here for another reason."

"Yes, yes, you have a point. Some big payers there, I've heard. We would like to hold our ground, because if we retreat then they will just keep pressing further to drive us out. I've been trying to strengthen our team, but if you see some of these big whales, there's no chance," Darys seemed slightly stressed, and was thinking out loud.

"You are Assassins, and faster than them. That gives many options. You can also hide in the trees, hills and stones around here, and target their leaders."

"We do not like to hide, good sir. We are not Hashin."

Crucis was tempted to point out that DeathGang were being attacked first because they are an easier target than the Hashin. However, he avoided doing this, and instead took the diplomatic approach of saying, "It is your choice. However, a fight here would not be like a gang war, you would be under extreme adversity and not have the chance to take the fight to the opposition."

"But is there any way to do that?"

"If you withdraw slightly away from this location, then you can choose your fights more easily, as their plan is to rush your known locations."

"Very well," said Darys, and a threatening edge entered his voice, "Let's make a deal. One of our players, [DicingDevil], will accompany you for the next three days, or less time if the war begins sooner. He is one of what we call our 'Generals,' the guys responsible for organising the war effort. You can pass on further information to him, and he will make sure that you do not inform the enemy of our plans. In exchange, DeathGang will leave you alone, and you can wear one of our wristbands that prevent team-kills. This should keep you safe in our territory, and allow you to conduct Spy sub-class quests freely. Since DicingDevil will be busy trying to sort out our approach, if an attack comes, he could use some help at the moment, so keep that in mind."

Crucis was annoyed by the tone of this offer, which was a power-play, but responded diplomatically by saying, "I understand your reasoning, you don't want me to leak information. That is fine."

"Good. Dicing is on the second floor, in a room at the end of the hall-way. Go and meet up with him to join his party, and perhaps share information. He can be trusted."

"That's good to know," said Crucis, who was slightly curious about Darys' suddenly grave tone.

"It is. Be careful not to trust everyone here, just because they are in our Guild it does not make them loyal or honest. I loaned one small chap a golden dagger, and he just left and stole it. He had two companions, I wouldn't be surprised if they killed him and stole it for themselves. And now maybe some other Guild will kill them and take it, since they aren't the most prudent guys."

"That's awful," said Crucis with a surprised expression, "I hope you find it soon."

"Thank you," said a smiling Darys, "Although you aren't in our Guild, you have not currently betrayed us, so I will leave you in peace."

Crucis got up, and went up a rickety wooden flight of stairs to reach the dimly-lit second floor. He wound up in a hallway, and heard voices coming from a few rooms nearby. He waited a few seconds and made sure there was nobody else in the hallway or its walls, then drew the [Golden Dagger of Satuor] from his inventory. Reading its description, he saw:

[One of three sacred daggers found around Kruxol, it grants the wielder multiple powerful abilities. It can be used to increase dagger EXP gains from fights by 150% for one hour each week, or half an hour per player if loaned to others, and if pointed at another player during a fight it will lower their movement speed by 15%. It increases the speed of your skill animations by 5% whenever used. Easily damaged, and requires 1M gold to fix over the course of a week. If loaned out to another player and then damaged, it will return to normal when returned to the original owner.]

He noticed that the dagger emitted a faint, ghostly glow even in this dark hallway at night. In daylight, it would probably have a brilliant, pale shine. This meant that he would have to be careful about using it for the near future, as it could easily be noticed by DeathGang. He slid it safely back into his inventory. For the moment, he would have to keep it in Storage because he couldn't use it with DicingDevil near. However, he was impatient to try it out.

He waited for a few seconds, and then walked forwards across the hallway, until he wound up in front of an old, red oak door. Pushing this door open, he heard a loud creak.

"Greetings," said an Assassin sitting at the large, round table, "Did Darys send you?"

Crucis saw that this Assassin had brown eyes that seemed to have a red tint, and looked almost crazed. The rest of his body was covered in a black shinobi shozoku. Crucis was slightly surprised that a player would wear that while brainstorming ideas around a table, but then remembered Darys' sense of distrust around this Guild, and figured that this Assassin was probably trying to hide their face so that they couldn't be easily recognised even by others in the Guild.

"Yes. Are you DicingDevil?"

"The same. Darys told me to expect you on our Guild local chat. Have a seat."

DicingDevil swept his hand out lightly to point to an empty seat across the table. Crucis was surprised at the laxity of this player's manner, but kept a blank expression as he sat in the chair. There were four other players in the room with him.

"So, Darys said that you had some information about players in Kruxol?" said one player, who was wearing a green shirt that looked almost medieval. He was level 55.

"Yes," replied Crucis, not skipping a beat, "strong players have been coming to the town, and the plan is to attack your known locations in force, to win a symbolic victory against a major ganking Guild."

"We heard of this from Darys in the chat, but it is nice to have that confirmed," said DicingDevil.

"Some of our scouts, who came back here from Kruxol, have confirmed this report," said the green-shirted player, "If we go head-to-head, then we will stand no chance. We must try an alternative approach."

"Are you sure," sneered a man with long, brown hair, named [Brulan], "that this guy isn't some kind of scheme to mislead us? Direct combat has served us well so far. Maybe he is trying to extract information?"

"Our scouts have confirmed most of his reports," said DicingDevil, "but hadn't realised the full extent of the threat. Out here, it's less obvious to us how much the townsfolk hate Guilds like ours, and would wage war just to kill us. However, we needn't worry about him relaying information, as I will be keeping watch on him. But that will be easiest if he stays in this meeting."

"But retreat is cowardly."

"Brulan, stop being an idiot. Do you want to have us all die in pain? We are Assassins, brute strength is not our primary weapon. We were meant to be a Guild of guile, until all of these newb players and cashers came and joined because they just liked the feeling of being powerful gankers without having to know how to play. Now the rest of us just get dragged into their turf wars."

"Please show me more respect, we are all Generals here," snapped Brulan, "Just because you guys formed in another game, it doesn't mean that you understand this one. That's why I was brought here."

"So how would you fight, idiot, run into a line of Mages and warriors with our lightweight Assassins?" snapped back DicingDevil, who made sure to raise his voice's volume slightly higher than Brulan's preceding statements.

The room was silent for a few seconds. Brulan did not answer, and the tension slowly dissipated.

"As Darys said, we can't retreat," said the green-shirted man, "The enemy will follow us. However, we can hide. What if we lure the enemy out, and attack from the rear?"

"They will still overpower us," replied DicingDevil, "Besides, if many of us approach them, they will have more archers and Mages, so they will still get the drop on us."

"He has the right idea," said Crucis, whose tone suggested that he was trying to be diplomatic and save face for the green-shirted man, "The disadvantage in terms of manpower must be overcome by using unexpected means. The enemy will approach based on where they expect you to be. Not that many players dare enter your territory just to look around, so they will be unfamiliar with the terrain. This makes it quite possible to try something unexpected."

"So what would you suggest?" challenged Brulan.

"I am not one of the Generals," said Crucis deferentially, "I would rather wait to hear what they have to say first."

"No, go on."

"If you insist. The enemy will try to spread out across the East of Kruxol, so that your Guild can't simply return to the town when you hear news of their army. While their overall force will be enough to hunt you down, many players were killed in the draugr hunt or are unwilling to join the fight. This means that a large detachment of your forces might be enough to kill a small group of theirs."

DicingDevil was interested, and replied, "That sounds promising, go on."

"Although the enemy might have strength, your forces are more nimble and have more familiarity with this area. The enemy's main forces will approach the places where they expect tough battles, especially near this building and the abandoned village. They will probably send dense forces, as this will minimise the pain that their strong players have to go through. However, lighter forces will spread out to the North to block the path to town. If you retreated most of your forces to the North, then you would have overwhelming force in that area. By picking off the enemy in that area, you could significantly weaken the enemy."

"You're right, about terrain," said the one General who had been silent until now, a young man in his 20s who sported a black ponytail and looked Mongolian. "We know place well, we can use scout to hide in tree and talk in Guild chat to warn us of enemy movements. Enemy cannot follow us, will just run into wild monsters or boss and get delayed."

"That's a good idea," said Crucis, "Scouts could hide in trees and such. I heard Guild chat doesn't work if they enter fights, but they should be fine if they stay hidden."

"We were planning something like that, but it would be more effective this way," said DicingDevil. "Your plan is that we can choose our battles, and fight easier ones? It doesn't sound very honourable, so I like it." He laughed.

"There is no point taking chances in battle against an enemy like this," said Crucis, "You must take on fights that you can win almost before they have begun. Leaving your expected position, then picking off smaller detachments of enemies will lead to several victories. A few smaller groups from sub-classes like Spy can disguise as minor Guards or hide around the misty areas, looking to strike at leaders and other valuable targets to discourage the enemy."

"Many of the bigger players will be whales," said DicingDevil, "but if a group could get the drop on them, they could be taken out."

"And they could die IRL," said Crucis.

"So what? We can't spare the enemy!" hissed DicingDevil.

"No, what I mean is that whales had their names restored first, so even if some players die taking one down, this will considerably reduce the enemy's morale and chances of returning. That is good."

"Ah. Nevermind, I agree with that. So the name restoration does actually lead to permadeath? We did think so."

"Yes."

"What if the townsfolk are vengeful?" said the green-shirted man.

"A few might try to play vigilante, and die," replied Crucis, "but rumours will spread and most strong players aren't going to risk IRL death and serious pain just because they were trapped in a video game for a couple of days. Besides, what is vengeance? Is it a tangible thing? If you kill someone for vengeance rather than in cold blood, then does a heavenly choir come down to show that it's different? Of course not. Regardless, you could keep an eye on Kruxol, if the stronger players stay then they might be planning to try again. But I'd guess not. Besides, even severe pain can keep players out of action for a few days, so you will get plenty of respite."

"Listen," said Brulan, "if you're giving advice, then put your money where your mouth is. Fight on our side, then we'll see if your advice was in earnest."

"Listen, Brulan," replied Crucis, "you have put too much money where your mouth is. Your name is visible. You should stay out of the action, or you will surely die. I will fight, if you agree to stay out." He shot a fierce, brief gaze at Brulan.

Brulan hesitated then replied, "I don't like your tone, but I will accept this. I will stay at the back of the lines. However, I will fight if I must, they will not scratch me."

"He won't fight," said Crucis, conclusively. "I will allow you Generals to decide where I should go."

He kept more quiet for the rest of the meeting, as the Generals laid out a map and attempted to plan out their troop placement. DicingDevil pointed to a range of hills to the North, and said that most of the Guild should retreat towards the hills. There was a small, thin passage between large mounds of rocks, which was the easiest way to reach the North. Crucis suggested that they should deploy a reasonably large force there, to ambush enemies passing through. He said that this approach would nullify the enemy's advantage from range. After this was agreed, the Generals planned the logistics of the retreat Northwards, as well as determining where the mist was thick enough to plan assassinations and rough positions for the scouts. DicongDevil suggested that they ask Darys to consult the scouts on where the most effective scouting positions would be, and this was accepted.

After this discussion was concluded, Darys asked what they should do until the war. The ponytailed General, who said that his name was [OudNasser], suggested that they should conceal their retreat.

"I agree, if you gank a couple of players in the East, then people in town will still hear that you're in the East. That's their primary source of information about you, after all, squealing players whom you killed. That should only take a few people."

"Alright," said DicingDevil, "by the way, since you are a guest, we have decided to be polite and place you in the area with the greatest mist, the marshy area to the West of here. Enemies will probably be reasonable enough to head to some of the less misty areas, but you will probably see some action. In these couple of days, most players have not explored East, because most of the early-player quests are South and West. I will accompany you, and lead the group. Does that sound reasonable?"

"I am fine with this arrangement," said Crucis.

With the meeting concluded, DicingDevil turned to Crucis and said, "I will send you a party invite. Due to my position in this Guild, I can send invites to a 'user party,' which means that, even if you switch to an alt, you are still in the party and I can still see your location. I would advise you to inform me of any alts when we reach Kruxol, and show them, since otherwise I will deem it suspicious."

Crucis nodded, and accepted the party invite that appeared after a few minutes. Checking his map, he saw a small blue dot indicating DicingDevil's position nearby. As DicingDevil offered him a [DeathGang Guild Wristband], he took it and wore it around his right hand, then turned towards the door.

"Are you doing Spy missions now?" said DicingDevil lazily, "Well, that's fine, go ahead and get the mission. I will come downstairs to run some errands soon."

Crucis quickly descended the stairs, and approached the NPC named [Arachon].