Picking up one of the PKers dropped Copper-Tier items and smirking, I sheath my sword and address the group, "Excellent work! As much as I'd like to bask in our triumph over adverse odds, we should get going before more of them arrive - we need to get ourselves into the city before we can consider relaxing. Pick up any Copper-Tier equipment they dropped and let's get going."

Angelus grimaces, "Can..we not take a break? By the time we get to the city, they'll have set up a blockade to stop us from getting through the gates."

Jade pulls a face, "I don't have any ammo left for another fight."

I stay calm as I respond, "As long as we can get to the city gates, we'll be fine. The City Guard will intervene if they try to block it or start a fight in the vicinity."

Glancing off to the distance, I roll my stiff shoulders, "Still, we should be a little circumspect in our route to avoid running into our aggressors."

The group murmurs agreement, moving to loot the battlefield.

Olrica

I have to admit, I'm impressed.

Boss had me hanging out around Liggit Mine on a hunch based off of some forum post, and I got myself front-row seats to Silver's crew busting through the entirety of Terrible Titans and Bone Troupe's rank and file. Mostly Silver, really.

I...may have helped even the odds a bit near the end, taking down the last archer hassling him when that archer girl in the cool looking armour set - that I really, really want - ran out of arrows. Let's call it the ticket price for watching the man hold off a dozen level 4s and 5s and win.

Now to find a quiet spot to log off real quick and get this footage sent over.

Northwest Fander Field

"Are we there yet?" A tired Jade mumbles.

"Almost," I respond blithely, drinking the last of my water, the city's walls and the Cathedral clear in view.

"Not to be a downer or anything, but how are we supposed to keep playing if we have a platoon of PKers following us around whenever we go out of the city?" Windy complains.

Indeed, it's something I've been thinking about myself. While we certainly have personal power enough to deal with threats on that level, it's going to get bothersome if we have to constantly deal with it. With the Terrible Titans more or less receiving confirmation by context that Miner's Nightmare is down there, we're not going to be able to hold the advantage of levels and gear forever.

The way I see it, we either need enough power that even those bozos take a hint, or a sufficiently scary backer.

In the absence of viable candidates for a backer, and frankly, my utter lack of desire to cede any form of control over my activities to someone else, the only recourse left is to get stronger, and quickly.

I can feel a headache coming on from the stress of all these urgent matters requiring my attention and...ugh.

My mind grinds to a halt, putting on the breaks so to speak in order to stop myself from spiralling into a stress-induced puddle.

"No easy answer to that, I'm afraid," I rub my temple, "We just need to stick to the current plan. Once we have a Guild started up, we can mobilise our own forces and influence to suppress them. All we have to do is endure the harassment in the meantime."

"What is the plan anyway?" Jade asks, tired.

"Get stronger, get reputation, make guild," I shoot back, "Speaking of, you interested in sticking it out for the long haul Angelus? Not to sound like I'm extorting you, but you're probably on their shit list as well now, and we could both use each other's help."

The avian thinks it over as he walks, "I don't see why not. You're pretty competent folks."

"Woo, new teammate!" Windy cheers half-heartedly, "Welcome aboard the World Domination Express. First stop: Banditville."

"World Domination..?" He echoes.

"Basically," Windy nods.

I wouldn't go that far. But it's close enough to the truth, so I save my breath.

"If anywhere deserves the name Banditville, it's Taladi's Waystation," I retort.

"Whyzzat?" Jade kicks a small rock out of her path.

"They've gone tribal, basically," Angelus informs her, "The whole area is a constant PvP clusterfuck over the mob spawns and gathering resources. I read a post that talked about how there's a human wall of guards stood around the blacksmith shop, demanding a toll from anyone who wants to repair their gear or learn the crafting subclass."

Jade whistles low, "Fucking yikes. Suddenly, this place is looking a lot friendlier."

"No kidding. I've seen some videos, and those people do not play around," Windy adds, a little spooked.

"The problem with the Waystation is there's too many players that went there after being told that it was a great place to pioneer new lands and kill dangerous monsters by their Guide. It's not a proper Town or City, so there's not much that the NPCs can really do about the metaphorical ocean of bloodthirsty lunatics that suddenly spewed out of the Shrine there," I explain, grimacing.

Steadily, we start walking around to the east side of Meteo City, with the expectation that there'll be less of a chance we get noticed before we get to the gate. However, we find ourselves being approached by a distant trio of players in spite of that. Optimistically I hope that it's not yet more PKers and instead just a group of Newborn minding their own business.

The cynic in me assumes otherwise.

"Get ready for company," Jade calls out, also spotting them a few moments after me, "I ain't dealing with it."

"How many?" Angelus sighs, feeling a little persecuted perhaps.

"Three," I reply, stuffing my last pastry down my throat with alacrity to bump up my Stamina regeneration in anticipation of another fight, "How's your Stamina and MP?"

Windy squints at her status screen, "Enough to deal with three."

"41 MP. Two heals-worth," Angelus offers.

"Unless they've a Hedge Mage in the group, use a couple shots from your wand and leave enough in the tank for an emergency heal," I instruct after a moment's consideration, "We shouldn't need it, but on the off-chance we do."

After a couple of minutes, the trio comes within shouting distance, and as my inner-cynic suspected, they're yet more Infamous.

"GAHAHAHA! Look at what we have here, brothers! Silver fuckin' Nosster!" The masked individual yells pointing his mallet at me, "Here I never thought I'd be able to run into you, just wandering up to us like an obedient li'l mutt. You'll pay for makin' me a laughing stock!"

Approaching them, I draw my zweihander with resignation, "Who are you again?"

The brute tenses up, shaking with rage, "WHO AM I? I'M THE CAPTAIN OF TERRIBLE TITANS, BLOODY SMILE YOU POINTY-EARED SHITE!"

Jade and Windy start laughing at the situation, whilst Angelus looks at him with pity, "Who?"

Roaring with impotent rage, Bloody Smile activates Rush and charges at us, mallet raised high for a heavy strike. Idly I look to our resident tank, "Windy, you called dibs if I'm remembering correctly?"

"With pleasure, boss," She salutes with her sword arm, running in to intercept the moron.

"Outta my way, slut!" He growls, bringing his weapon down in a horizontal sweep, fully intending to bat her aside like a softball. Disappointment is all that awaits, Windy easily standing her ground and blocking it head-on with her much-abused shield.

True to her word, rather than simply stab the man as he recoils from the strike, she brings her boot in an inexorable arc aimed right at his groin, adding a Swift Strike in for extra effect. I wince on reflex as the large man is instantly brought low, screaming in agony.

For the coup de grace, she raises he sword in a reverse grip, leans in to say something to the hunched over Fighter, and shoves her shortsword down into his skull twice, then toppling him with one last kick as the man's lackey's arrive too late to save their boss from a gruesome fate.

"Boss! Shit! This bitch is crazy!" Lackey #1 curses, slowly backing off.

"She took a hit from boss' hammer...no way man..." Lackey #2 stands stock still in utter disbelief.

Not one to waste an opportunity, I charge down Lackey #2 and decapitate him before he can adequately block with his subpar shield, a magical orb bursting into Lackey #1 courtesy of Angelus' wand, and slowing the retreating coward just enough for Windy to catch up and end his miserable existence.

The big baby of a leader dropped his hammer, the only thing of value he owned in all likelihood, which I happily snag. The Lackeys however, dropped nothing.

"Come on, they'll respawn in the city in less than five minutes, we have under fifteen to get to the gate before they can rally the rest of the idiot collective to welcome us," I call out, breaking into a jog.

City Gate, Meteo City

Experiencing a sense of deja vu, we arrive in front of the city's gatehouse, less than a minute's walk from entering into the city proper, quite winded from our last-ditch run.

Arrayed in front of us is an impressively high amount of players staring us down - easily over a hundred, all of them from disparate teams, but united in purpose. Their purpose being me, and to a lesser extent my party, naturally.

One Firm woman struts out from the crowd, with a cocky smile, looking for all the world like she's the cat that caught the canary, "If it isn't the famed Bronzeguy? Nice of you to finally show up, we've been waiting for you since you killed Terrible Titans at Liggit Mine, and we were starting to get bored."

Sighing, I level a completely apathetic gaze at her, "Am I supposed to know or even care who you are?"

The woman shrugs exaggeratedly, then continues to gloat, "Perhaps not, but we certainly care about who you are. You're the richest man in the city, after all, and these fine folks from the Darkest Dreamers Alliance are quite eager to partake, whether you cooperate or not."

Rolling my eyes, I cover my face with my palm, "Look, girl, you really don't want to do this, trust me."

She laughs a smug little laugh, "Mr Nosster, you had your chance to play along, and earn our trust. So yes, I rather think that we do want to do this. Of course, your friends there aren't getting away either."

I look behind her then back to the monologuing spokeswoman, "Well, if you insist, go ahead and try."

Worried, Windy nudges my arm and whispers, "Boss, you sure about this?"

"Just wait for it," I whisper back, unconcerned.

"For the Alliance, get the bastard! 5 Stone Gold to whoever kills him and provides a screenshot!" The spokeswoman yells, pointing imperiously forward, the melee combatants charging and the ranged combatants firing off arrows and spells.

Three...two...one...

The sound of a bassy horn being blown drowns out all the whooping, warcries and laughter, as a small troop of City Guards suddenly manifests between us, led by a Lieutenant, "Halt right there, degenerate criminals! In the name of The Empire of Stone, no Citizen will come to harm within the reach of the Law!"

A few poorly aimed arrows already in flight bounce off of the guardsmen, and as one the troop hold out their insignias, ""<Rule of Law>!""

The screams of over a hundred PKers being paralyzed and electrocuted fill the air, drowning out my, I admit, slightly insane cackling. One by one, then dozen by dozen, the horde of Infamous Idiots get teleported away to City Jail, my party members' mouths hanging open in disbelief.

Once the last criminal is removed from the area, the troop of guardsmen immediately march in lock-step back to the gatehouse, leaving a scattered crowd of on-lookers and ourselves behind.

"What the actual fuck was that?!" Angelus breaks the silence first, utterly at a loss even as his mouth fails to stop grinning.

Windy and Jade collapse to the grassy floor laughing, all tension draining away.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Jade exclaims, kicking her feet in the air.

"That is why you don't fuck with the City Guard outside of Wars and Quests," I inform them, still pleased with how well it turned out, "So long as you're within a certain distance of the Gatehouse, their protection is still effective."

If they ambushed us anywhere else, I'd have thrown in the towel, truly. Now, thanks to their miscalculation, a sizable chunk of the Infamous playerbase will be spending a few days in snug jail cells. Perfection.

This trick likely won't work twice, but it'll temporarily give us some breathing room at least.

IdleFancy

All I could hear in my head when writing that last scene was a bass-boosted chorus of Imperial Guardsmen yelling "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM" near-simultaneously. And I just think that's beautiful.