Chapter 383

Skirmish Will Begin in 5 minutes- Players have loaded into their portion of the Fields of Battle. Players can now utilize essence. Timers will begin ticking in 5 minutes, with passive Essence Gain starting at that time as well. At the 5-minute mark, players will be able to leave their spawn zone. Good Luck.

The message flashed across James’s screen, and suddenly, 1000 players appeared in the spawn zone below him. At the same time, Vinnie, his Cybear warmonger, appeared at the Warmonger Tent. Behind him, the summoning totem lit up, signaling it was now online. Less obvious, but still visible from James’s viewpoint high above the players, was the shimmering dome that indicated the starting zone. It stopped just before the ocean James had created, meaning players couldn’t quite start loading up their ships, if of course, they could spawn them.

“Hey look, its Vinnie.” Rue laughed as she pointed down towards the massive bear. Already he was flocked by players, who it seemed were eager to take a look at the totem and what exactly they could utilize their essence for. James, was just as curious, and was already drifting himself towards it. Since they had five minutes before the safety dome dropped down, he figured it would be a good time to check out the summoning costs.

Additionally, he now had the extra information that they each started with five essence. Meaning, an adventurer that stayed alive the whole time would actually be able to gain a total of 197 essence passively, instead of the 192 he’d previously mathed out. Furthermore, it meant the players combined starting essence was a total of 5,000. What that would allow them to create, he was about to find out.

“Remember folks.” Vinnie was calling out. “Get the Bear-necessities before the battle starts.”

James groaned. He was still at it with the bear jokes. He looked over the Warmonger as he neared the totem though, doing his best to tune out his deep voice…and Rue’s immediate wooing over that very deep, husky voice. He still had a cosmetic upgrade to apply to Vinnie. Currently, the Cybear looked like a cybernetic polar bear cross. His cosmetic upgrade would allow him to either change the type of bear he looked like, or he could adjust the metal components on Vinnie, giving them a rather impressive variety of different appearances.

Currently he was torn on changing Vinnie to look like a certain yellow skinned bear from pop culture or adjusting the cybernetic components of him to glow an icy blue and give off a radiant, electrical visible discharge around him, making him seem like a stormy bear. It was hard…trying to choose between badass, and poor humor.

But, that was neither here nor there. James wasn’t about to change Vinnie’s appearance mid Skirmish, and he’d had other important reasons for floating over here. Without another moment of distraction, knowing he was on a time crunch, he activated the totem, and skimmed its details.

Mob Summon

Dicken- 1

Sacrificial Lamb – 2

Swiner - 3

Scape Goat- 4

Mad Cow- 5

….

Boss Summon

Old Man Jenkins- 250

B.L.U.- 500

Terminus- 1000

Grandma Jenkins- 1500

Z-Kraken - 2500

Davy Jones – 2500

Sergeant Jenkins- 3500

World Boss

Charles the Dicken - 1500

M.I.N.E. Craft *limited*- 3000

Patches the Stitcher- 4500

E.I.C. Armada*- 6000

Avatar Summon

Core - 3000

Fairy - 3000

Warmonger- 3000

*World Boss Skill limited- abilities modified to fit dungeon war parameters on FoB*

Just like before, the totem seemed to give players the option to summon basic mobs for their normal mob point costs. Meaning a dicken was a single essence point, all the way up to a good ol Darth-Whal at 25 mob points. James was excited to see these higher leveled mobs put into action and had ensured his mountain ranges that he’d summoned on either side of his ocean expanse had been snow covered, to give these mobs their preferred terrain.

Additionally, James figured these higher leveled mobs could offer good defensive deterrents against those of the Dragon Dungeon, whom they were definitely facing in this scrimmage. The vote, hadn’t even been close by the time it ended, and a notification had shown their challenge had been accepted automatically. Apparently, the Dragon Dungeon players had voted to take on James’s dungeon as well, so the challenge was auto accepted, since they’d both challenged each other. It was an interesting matchmaking feature that James figured would give players the ability to have grudge matches. Conversely, if one side ignored the challenge, they could be tossed into a random que, and face something completely unexpected. That, he figured, could have its own perks, but also dangers.

As it was, the Dragon Dungeon hadn’t quite hit Tier 5 yet. James was still the top dungeon, sitting at Tier 5 Rank 6. It was…slow going getting ranks now, and he’d been looking forward to the skirmish for that reason as well. His experience gain was slowing, and he figured a lot of other dungeons were facing similar issues. As such, the Dragon Dungeon they were fighting, was still Tier 4, but Rank 9. That would give James’s players an edge he figured, though not much. After all, even if they summoned Sergeant Jenkins, the boss was level 80. Formidable, but against 1,000 players, all of whom at this point would have some sort of piercing attack…he’d fall pretty quickly.

Another reason why James figured he’d rely most on his players, and not necessarily the things they summoned from the totem. Quality was key. And the 1,000 joined in, for the most part, were of the highest caliber in his dungeon.

Even better, as his players milled about and visited with Vinnie, he could tell they’d been planning something. Judging from the fact that both Z’s group, as well as the Boss Slayers were in the skirmish, it was no surprise they’d been organized. These players were known by all of James’s players, and they’d previously organized raid parties and such. They were trusted, they were respected, and they’d come up with a plan. Even as some players summoned the occasional mob here and there, James could tell they’d had a plan on what to do when the skirmish started.

At least, that was what he was telling himself, as a notification appeared that caused him to silently curse the players as well.

Avatar Summoning- Fairy- Avatar will be summoned in 20 seconds.

“You bastards.” James grumbled to no one in particular, as Rue shot him what could only be a look of triumph and pleasure. He’d been certain they would summon him. After all, the Mad Mage brough so much to the battlefield. So much more than the beast of chaos. And yet…they were getting the God Slaying Kratos instead of the literal army summoning Mad Mage. James had been betrayed.

“Don’t worry James.” Rue said with a wicked grin. “I’m sure you’ll get your chance eventually. I’ll make sure I leave something alive for you to kill.” She laughed as her form continued to glow, fading away from his side, even as a massive, glowing figure began to appear on the ground below. The adventurers had utilized 3000 of their joint 5000 essence, to bring Rue to the battlefield. Not the most strategic option, but not a super terrible one either.

“Come mighty White Beast of Chaos,” a voice cried out as Rue’s form materialized in all its fearsome glory. “It’s time for you to settle your score.” The Knights, and the other players of the scrimmage, had done what Rue had been hoping. They’d summoned her first, to give her a chance at revenge. After all, a certain group of cultists had signed their doom, when they’d made an example of her in the coliseum. And, while James was sad he’d not gotten summoned first, he knew Rue was going to have a blast destroying them. After all, if there was one thing Rue did best…it was cause chaos and destruction.