Town Builder - 86 - Civil Guild War

Chapter 86: Civil Guild War

I was gone for fourteen game days, and the was Duchy being assaulted. “What is happening? Where is Mad Dog?” I said, worried but not angry.

“Five guilds are fighting over the rights to Phoenix’s Rest Dungeon. Mad Dog moved most of Malcum’s forces to defend it,” Grinder said seriously. Why wasn’t Grinder out at the town defending it?

I looked around, and the Malcum NPCs and players looked to be doing their business as usual. I immediately opened a voice chat with Mad Dog, “What the hell is going on?”

Mad Dog tried to calm me, “Calm down, mate. This was an inevitability. I managed to get the situation under control. Five guilds are fighting it out for the right to half the delve slots of the Crypt of the Phoenix King. We will retain the other half and choose which time slots to give them.”

“Half the slots?” I asked, exasperated.

Mad Dog sighed, “It is the best deal we could hope for. The contract requires they defend Phoenix’s Rest with no less than five hundred players, and if we lose control of Phoenix’s Rest for any reason, they owe us half a million gold.”

I calmed down and thought it out. “Do you think half a million gold will stop them?” I asked skeptically, knowing how the powerful guilds spend gold in the auction house.

“Maybe not in a year, but for now, it will. Your NPCs are too strong and require leaving behind too many players to guard it with Malcum and your other towns so close. Come out to Phoenix’s Rest, and we can talk in person. You will want to sign the agreement with the winning Guild.” I didn’t know how to feel about this development.

I was soon on Titan and racing toward the dungeon town. A massive tent field was set in the dessert, and players were in a massive conflict with spells flying and melee players clashing. My anxiety decreased when I saw the town’s sprawl look untouched.

The town had about twenty buildings now, somewhat behind schedule if I had been gone for fourteen game days. I didn’t have time to examine the management tabs. I was also getting more and more annoyed by the slightly reduced resolution. It felt like I needed glasses. I dismounted when I found Mad Dog talking with Titus and Tanguin.

“How did this happen?” I said a little accusingly.

Mad Dog remained calm. “I didn’t want you to worry while you were being transported. It was the vampire, Grey Weasel, mate. He brought in his guild, Eternal Legacy, first, and other guilds responded to the gathering of players. Four days later,” he waved his hand out at the field of combat.

“Tallis, you need to understand that this is completely normal in these games. We are the mouse at the feet of elephants. Yes, sometimes the mouse scares the elephant, but most times, it gets crushed. I negotiated a good deal for all parties. Plus, the guilds are expending resources and losing levels fighting each other while we wait for the victor.”

I processed what he said and slowly nodded. “Okay, so what guilds are out there?”

Mad Dog, seeing I had calmed, continued, “Welcome back, mate. The five remaining guilds are Eternal Legacy, Divine Deviants, Disciples of the Horde, Knights of Middling Loyalty, Greed and Gluttony, and Czar's Army. We just need to stand back and let them duke it out.”

“I will have to trust your judgment. Who is going to win?” I asked.

Mag Dog patted me on the back in consultation, “Disciples of the Horde is the strongest guild here, but they are made up of independent players. They claimed the kill on the wandering world boss not far from Malcum. But having 500 players available to defend Phoenix’s Rest is not feasible for them unless they are recruiting outer members—which is not something they do. They are most likely here to just be a pain in the ass for other guilds and for a good fight. One of their vice leaders may ask for one of our slots to test out the dungeon, and I suggest you let them for goodwill.”

“Knight’s of Middling Loyalty is a guild from France. They also lack the players, with only about five thousand in the guild. Most are career gamers, though. They frequently butt heads with the Horde. My guess is they will ally with another guild in return for a few delve slots.”

“Greed and Gluttony is a guild of mostly Polish and Italian gamers. They are playing for the prize and only care about profiting from their time in the game. They have over a hundred thousand players in a huge range of abilities. They have been recruiting crafters worldwide and are starting to become noticed as a threat to the larger guilds.”

He hadn’t mentioned the last two yet, so I guessed he was saving the best for last. “So it will come down to Eternal Legacy and Divine Deviants?” I deduced.

Mad Dog nodded, “Most likely, mate. You see, this dungeon is just one asset the larger guilds are currently fighting over. Wars are being fought everywhere. They cannot divert heavy resources here, and the rules they decided on prevent hardwired players and NPCs from participating.”

I interrupted, pointing to the combat in the sands, “They established the rules? What is to stop them from breaking them?”

“Yes, their leaders met and expelled the smaller guilds poking around and decided on the rules. They are using game contracts to enforce them. I had to sign in your stead, but you will put your mark on the final contract with the winner now that you are back. Divine Deviant’s leadership wrote the contract and the penalties are steep for failing to abide. The entire guild would be level-locked for ten days, with no experience and no skill advancement. It is almost a death sentence. Thousands of players would abandon their guild,” Mad Dog explained.

“Ten days? That doesn’t sound so bad,” I said from experience.

“Ten real-world days, Tallis. That is forty game days, mate,” he corrected himself with seriousness.

That was a severe penalty. This game was essentially a race for power and control by outleveling others. “So, do we just wait then?”

“That and prepare. The loser might seek revenge by attacking Malcum or Goatyah. Don’t worry, mate, I have scouts out and plans to reinforce them if needed,” Mad Dog calmed me.

“How long and what should I do in the interim?” I asked.

“Level or build,” Mad Dog advised. “My guess is another day or two. And, no, I have no idea who is winning. I made you a vice-leader of The Silver Linings Playbook, so you should have a new tab in your interface.”

“Just what I need, more tabs,” I grunted. I watched the fighting a little longer before checking on my interfaces. One of my low-skill NPC crafters had been killed in my absence, and Mad Dog banned twenty-nine players from the Duchy. The player population in the Duchy had doubled again, up to over ten thousand. We were getting swarmed, but when I checked the forums, nearly one hundred thousand new players were joining Open World every day, so our growth was not unexpected.

I looked at the guild tab in my interface. Mad Dog was listed as Leadership with Grinder and Black Beauty. I was considered a Vice-Leader with the ten other original members. From there, we had twenty-nine inner members and one hundred sixty-six outer members. I quickly found a description of the guild hierarchy.

Leadership was allowed to promote, demote, and expel members. Vice-leaders could approve player applicants for a probationary period. Once they passed the trial period, they became outer members and had access to the guild warehouse. You got guild points by doing guild missions and quests, which could be used to purchase things in the warehouse. You could donate items to the warehouse for guild points as well.

To move from an outer member to an inner member, you needed to be sponsored by five leaders of vice-leaders. Inner members had much greater benefits and access to some of the planning of leadership as they led teams.

“Mad Dog, you added a lot of people to the guild since I was gone,” I said to the air. Mad Dog had moved to the other side of Phoenix’s Rest, so I repeated my question when I got close to him.

“Aye, pain in the arse keeping track of so many. We expelled nearly a dozen spies already. Have almost two thousand applicants as well. It only takes one fleck of rot to destroy a guild, mate. I am doing my best, as we need numbers, but the pickings are not great,” he admitted.

I checked the levels, and he was right; very few applicants were at the top of the level curve. “I trust you, Mad Dog. You are doing a fantastic job,” I patted him on the back.

“It has been profitable. We have three of the top 1,000 channels. Mostly because we have someone doing a fantastic job editing for us. We don’t have the time to do it ourselves. We all share in the revenue and have secured a few sponsors. For now, the game has treated us very well regarding revenue.” Mad Dog tapped on his screen and sent me some files showing royalties from their streaming channels.

Grinder was at the top, and his pursuit of Mira placed him at #665 among channels. He had many female fans who aimed to keep his rank around #666 to signify his demonkin courtship. Black Beauty was ranked #909 since she rejoined the game. Ghostly Mermaid was at the top in the guild at #629. She had an incredible voice and enjoyed singing, so she had a mini-pop star stream going. She was also very flirtatious and dressed somewhat provocatively, in my opinion.

It was an incredible achievement, considering how many streamers they were competing against. After reviewing the accounting, I said, “I don’t see you, Mad Dog. “

“I don't have time, mate. A lot of our fans from past games were funneled to Black Beauty and Mermaid. I stopped streaming after I agreed to help you. My stream would be looking at screens half the time and the other half grinding hard for some levels,” he sighed. “It's all good, mate; don’t worry about me. We all get a share of streaming revenue, even you.” He smiled, gave me another pat, and headed out to grind. I was very touched by the gesture and found that I was getting an equal share of the streaming revenue. Some members got additional shares if their channel was popular, but it all looked pretty fair.

I turned my attention to helping complete some of the buildings in Phoenix’s Rest until the guild war was resolved. The NPC population was growing steadily but had a long way to go before reaching 500 to become a town.

I got some messages as I worked. A lot of congratulations from Danny and other members of the guild. I sifted through my backlog of messages, and I wasn’t surprised to find a number of messages from the Korean player, Deific Savior.

Deific Savior: It keeps saying you are offline. I thought you were a hard-wired player, Master Architect. I hope all is well, and I will see you online again soon.

There were over fifteen messages from him, all polite and inquiries. I decided to reply back to him as I assumed he was fighting out on the sandy battlefield.

Tallis: I just logged back on. Is there something I can assist your guild with? Need some plans?

He didn’t take long to reply and open a voice chat. “There you are, Master Architect! I'm glad you didn’t head to the afterlife. I assume you are responsible for sealing the scaling dungeon?”

I suppose the dungeon gatehouse did effectively seal away the dungeon. “Yes, those are my plans. You provided me with the essences to build it. How is the battle going?"

“I already died, so I’m just an observer now. The victory is most likely going to Eternal Legacy unless some of us band together.” His voice had a note of irritation and threat in it. His guild, Divine Deviants, was essentially in direct conflict with Eternal Legacy. At the game launch, Eternal Legacy was purchased by Frost Siren, the daughter of a multi-billionaire food magnate. She was a bit heavy-handed from the one time I observed her in Malcum.

“So, there is nothing you need?” I pressed. The Divine Deviants always paid well and treated me fairly. They were nurturing their own architects, so I didn’t think they needed me any longer.

“Maybe if you were around a few days ago. You could have trusted me, and Devine Deviants would have helped protect your dungeon. But what’s done is done. I will be in touch to renew our friendship.” He ended the call. Had I made a mistake not seeking his guild’s help?

Most of the other messages were not worth responding to at the moment. I also had not greeted Jaesmin or Joy since I returned. I worked for half a day on buildings and was considering heading back to Malcum to do just that when Mad Dog sent me a message. The guild war was over; the Disciples of the Horde had won, but Knights of Middling Loyalty had allied with them.

I watched as the tents vanished and the players dispersed across the sandy field. According to Mad Dog, it was a mixed blessing. Disciples of the Horde were generally true to their word, but it was the Knights of Middling Loyalty who would be responsible for defending Phoenix’s Rest with 500 players. That meant the powerful members of the Horde were not obligated to come to our aid in the event of an attack.

I met with the victors, flanked by my Mad Dog and Tanguin, while the contract was being finalized. The players present for the Horde were Infinite Tempest and Reckless Silence. The players for the Knights were Endless Ocean and Violet Sun. The Horde players were level 15 and 17, at the peak of current players, while the Knights were both level 13.

When the contract was signed, I thought the Disciples of the Horde would test the dungeon, but they just left. Mad Dog explained, “We have the right to clear first, but we only have ten days to do so.”

There were initially clear bonuses for floors, but the first level of the dungeon contained level 20 monsters. “So does that mean we're going to delve together?” I asked. Mad Dog was level 11, matching my level.

“Seems that way, mate,” he replied, grinning. “Meet you here in the morning. I will summon the team.”

I took the few hours to ride back to Malcum and reacquaint myself with Jaesmin and Joy. Joy was already an adolescent, and she had a childlike energy. Of course, that energy was directed toward learning magic and adventure, but that was fine. When she was able to level, we could start progressing her skills.

Danny intercepted me as I was leaving my Lord’s Manor in the morning. “Tallis, why haven’t you visited Goatyah? Mermaid and I have something to show you,” she said, bouncing excitedly.

“I will probably be developing a dungeon with Mad Dog for the next few days. Is it important?” I asked patiently.

She looked a bit unsure before saying, “Yes, but it can wait.” She leaned in and said, “We started building the first steam-powered airship!”

“Already?” I asked, shocked.

“It will take about five weeks if we can keep the engineers and shipwrights supplied with materials, but it’s just a small transport, something easy for our first ship,” she said excitedly. I returned her smile. “Well, if we can’t get the first clear of the Crypt of the Phoenix King, you can do a dungeon run to claim the first clear bonuses. But I suspect Mad Dog has his heart set on trying. As for the skyship, don’t take its first flight without me!” I was then on Titan, racing to the Crypt of the Phoenix King.

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