After Mayon’s embarrassing encounter with the denizens of the Kalyx wilds, Maya had resolved not to underestimate enemies any longer. So when they encountered a swarm of large red-furred bat-winged wasps with diamond-like fangs as well as glistening stingers, she jumped to the front and hit the entire group with a magestrike to draw aggro, intent on doing her job as a tank to the best of her ability. Even if it killed her.

Bo started firing arrows into the swarm. Her raptor rushed the creatures and leapt up, bringing one down at once and savaging it to death in seconds. Dark vanished completely into stealth, only to reappear behind the group and take down two of the buzzing clawing creatures with a single strike. Justa sniped one out of the air with an overcharged frost bolt.

By the time the vasps closed in to range of Bethel’s sword, two-thirds of the swarm was gone. Maya threw another magestrike as soon as it came off cooldown, which finished off the whole swarm.

That was ... easy. Sure, she’d burned through almost all her energy, but no one had been injured at all.

"You seem surprised," Justa commented.

"Oh, well, I expected it to be harder."

"Been playing solo?" Justa guessed, and Maya nodded confirmation. "The game is largely designed for teams of three or four. It’s doable with two, or one if you’re really cautious. With five, we’ll blast through everything in our path."

She nodded, happy for their success, but feeling a little dissatisfied with how quickly it had gone. Fights with Sevard, even though he was overpowered for the zones they frequented, tended to be longer and more exciting. This one, she almost could have solo’d.

In fact, she probably could have solo’d it. Ever since the glitch had unlocked her own tier 5 when helping Sevard, her spells were hitting way harder. Magestrike had a 5-meter diameter now, and dealt 57 damage to anyone within its area. Insanely overpowered for these low-level zones. The vasps must have had under 114 health, because those she’d hit twice had died even without her party members chipping in.

That made her feel almost guilty. But only for a moment. She quickly began to relish the idea of being able to grind in on-level areas as a solo player without worrying about the game’s attempt at balance holding her back.

So maybe she had more than her fair share of glitches to exploit - so what? Anyone else would do the same. Domitius was even using his glitches to lord it over other players like some kind of tyrant king. At least Maya’s worst vices were killing mobs solo. And, maybe, possibly playing tricks on other players, if she got the chance. But nothing terrible.

She added ‘come up with tricks to play on other players’ to her checklist, because she suddenly realized that so far only tricksters were on her official hit list. That had to change. She wouldn’t do anything truly mean-spirited, but what was life without a little chaos? Maybe she should head to zone three, set up shop at the leypillar, and pretend to be a quest giving NPC. She could give the new players all sorts of insane instructions!

Maya chuckled aloud at the thought, and added that option to a sub-list. The problem with that would be its time-consuming nature. She’d not discard it out of hand, but if something better came to mind she’d not mind passing it up. Though if she ever found herself with days of free time and nothing better to do …

They encountered three more swarms of Vasps as they moved progressively further north and (primarily) west along the foothills of the mountains. She could see the transition haze to the north, where the mountains shifted from normal size to the gargantuan ice covered monstrosities with their rifts and chasms that made up Zone Six, the Frozen Clefts. For now, the level 50 zone was still hours distant, and their path seemed designed to take them skirting along well south of its edge.

The sun rose steadily. Smaller swarms were easily dealt with, larger groups took only moments to eliminate.

The third large swarm did manage to hit Dark, and Maya discovered that their stings were actually pretty dangerous, since it left him twitching and unsteady for five seconds - an eternity in combat. Before the swarm could capitalize on its helpless victim, Maya hit them with a magestrike to draw aggro. Distracted from the nearer target, they wasted the remainder of their short lives pursuing the agile harpy mage who could easily outrun and evade them even if they’d survived more than a few seconds longer.

After about an hour of travel, combat, and more travel, they reached the dark opening to a cave. Bo led the way confidently inside, so Maya followed with only minor trepidation.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"It’s a shortcut, and there’s a boss room just off the tunnel. If it hasn’t been taken out yet today, it’ll be good bonus experience and maybe some good loot."

"Good." Maya surprised even herself with her vehemence. "All these little swarmlings are too easy. I could go for a boss fight."

"If she’s respawned yet."

Maya smiled. "Maybe we’ll get lucky."

Three more swarms attacked them on the way, these attacking from ambush and only after the party was surrounded, so they actually suffered some minor injuries in each encounter. They paused to recover after each fight.

As they sat waiting, Maya again wondering why there weren’t healing spells or health potions or really any way to recover lost HP apart from waiting for it to regen. It seemed a rather glaring oversight in any MMO. She supposed it did make for a different sort of combat dynamic, but changing something just for the sake of changing it didn’t make it a good idea.

"The boss room is up ahead," Bo whispered. "Dark, check it out."

Dark slipped into stealth, disappearing from sight. Everyone waited in silence, then he reappeared with a grin and a thumbs up. "She’s in there."

"Alright! Who’s done the Vasp Queen before?"

Only Bo and Justa raised their hands.

"Alright, this is how it goes. She’ll do a quick cutscene, rant at us for killing her spawn or whatever, then pull a surprise attack the moment the conversation ends. Whoever she targets, you have to drop fast to evade, if she stings you you’ll be stunned for ten seconds.

"Every time she drops another 10% of her health, she’ll fly up to the ceiling and summon a swarm of her offspring to attack. Each swarm has a different specialty, and it’s randomized. Usually elemental or poison/acid. Some can spit or shoot their stingers, so we won’t be able to rely on distance to keep them from hitting us. She’ll be slowly healing during the swarms, so we need to take them out as fast as possible. Maya, keep them clumped up as much as possible and hit them with that AoE of yours. It seems to do the trick."

"Will do."

"Once she’s down to her last 10%, she’ll start moving extra fast, using her stun-sting attack every second. It’s not hard to evade, but you need to be on the lookout for it. If it catches you unawares, you’ll be done for. Her regular attacks hit for extra damage during this phase as well, but she doesn’t tend to do standard attacks unless she’s got someone stunned."

Everyone nodded agreement, and together they stepped into the cave.

The Vasp Queen was easily twice as long as Maya was tall, her underbelly sleek black carapace, her bulbous back furred with deep red. Her wings, batlike as all the other vasps had been, were pure white. She currently perched on the ceiling, doing something with the many-chambered pattern across its ceiling, but as they entered she dropped from her perch and buzzed down to hover in the center of the chamber.

Maya felt the cutscene-heaviness, the inability to move quickly or to attack, only permitting the party to talk until it ended.

"Why do you hunt me, child of balance?" her voice vibrated sharply, deep and echoing, turning every s sound into a z. "Is it not enough that you slaughter my children, when they cannot even mature fast enough to fill the growing void? Have you forsaken your oaths?"

Justa and Bo looked at each other and shrugged. "This is different," Bo whispered.

Maya nodded, unsurprised. Probably her luck had triggered a … harder and more rewarding version? That seemed to be the trend.

"We are here to end you, that is all that matters," Dark said haughtily. He loved staying in character, that one.

"Do you disdain the gift you’ve been given?" buzzed the Vasp Queen. "Do you think one act is enough to balance the world?"

Maya could have sworn the creature was staring directly at her the whole time she spoke, but pushed away the thought. It was just being dramatic.

"Is there a way to skip the cutscene?" Bethel asked. "Or speed it up somehow?"

Maya shook her head. She’d been in a few boss cutscenes in her time fighting alongside Sevard, and they couldn’t be rushed or skipped as far as either of them knew. If anyone could get around the rules, it would be a pair of tricksters; if they couldn’t, it probably couldn’t be done.

"Why do you stay silent? Is it shame? Or are you a coward, hiding behind these chaotic killers so you needn’t answer for your neglect? Did you not swear to uphold the balance of the world? To follow the Path of Life?"

Oh.

It was talking directly to Maya.

This was about her specialization. Somehow. She wasn’t sure how.

"Um, sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about," she said.

"Liar, liar, liar." The words grated, echoing off the walls. "Have you ever once considered your oath? Have you done anything for the good of the world and not for your own gain? You may have restored the springs of spirit, but that is not enough to make up for the imbalance you have allowed to thrive." She waved one thin knobby limb at the rest of the party.

"Do you have a hidden quest or something here you didn’t tell us about?" Bo asked.

"No! Well, not that I know of. If I do, I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. I had no idea this would happen."

"Look at me!" the queen shouted. "Look at me, child of balance, and see what your path requires!"

Maya frowned. She hadn’t been looking anywhere else; the giant insect-bat thing was hard to ignore.

"LOOK!"

Oh, right. Right!

She swapped around her abilities, equipped Sense Balance to her active bar, and clicked it on.

The world shifted to hues of vibrant colour. The Vasp Queen lit up bright gold - essential, necessary. Her companions glowed deep red: excessive, unneeded. The vasp corpses behind and around them glowed purple with a sickly hue: they’d been needed, and should be replaced.

Maya glanced down at herself. White, or perhaps pale yellow. Uncertain. Possible asset, possible threat.

"Stand with me against those who would throw our world into chaos. Stand with me, and fulfill your promise. Or cast aside the path and choose another."

"Does that mean what I think it does?" Maya asked quietly. "Is she threatening to strip my specialization if I don’t join her?"

"You got your specialization here?" Bo asked. "What does it do?"

"Uh, Path of Life, converts a quarter of energy and stamina to health."

"What ratio?"

"Uhhh, direct?"

Bo and Justa exchanged looks. "Can we join you?" Bo called out to the Vasp Queen. "We see the wisdom in your cause, and seek to mend the error of our ways."

Justa nodded. Bethel shrugged.

Dark drew his knives. "It’s a trap, you fools. Don’t listen to the beast, it seeks to divide us."

The three others shifted from deep red to a faint uncertain pink. Dark remained bright red.

"I think she’s considering it," Maya said. "Something changed just now. Except for Dark."

Dark made an angry sound. He began to fade, shimmering faintly. Had he slipped into stealth? Maya could still see him, but only as an outline of red.

"Put a stop to those who would destroy me," the Vasp Queen rasped, "and I will consider your petition."

"Sorry, Dark," Bo said, drawing her bow. "Specialization upgrades are nothing to turn down."

"Traitors, all of you," he hissed in reply.

Maya had PvP disabled, so she smirked and decided to play her role to the fullest. "I’ve got aggro!" she shouted, rushing to place herself between Dark and the others. "Go ahead when ready."

Dark flickered, then lunged. He stabbed her chest, but … PvP wasn’t enabled, so they simply toppled over in a heap. Maya grappled him, utilizing all her hand-to-hand wrestling skill from the year spent in the tutorial to flip him over and pin him beneath her.

"Wow, to think I imagined this might be hard."

He twisted and stabbed up at her, which did absolutely nothing. "Traitor!"

Stria ran over and began gnawing on his leg. Maya couldn’t see the damage numbers, but she assumed they must be adding up.

"You could always agree to join us, get a new specialization, protect the balance of life."

"Never. I’d sooner die."

"Easy enough to arrange." Bo’s arrow slammed into the back of his head, and he turned to glare at her, trying to twist away from Maya. But she’d spent a long time wrestling slipperier opponents than him and easily kept him restrained.

"You will regret this," Dark said. "When I rise to power, all of you will rue the day you turned on a comrade! When that day comes, you’ll wish you cou—"

But exactly what they’d wish they could do, they would not find out. The cumulative damage finally sufficed, and Dark slumped to the ground without having dealt a single point of damage to anyone.

"I feel weird about this," Bethel admitted, but before the party could discuss the matter, the Vasp Queen buzzed in approval.

"Yes, my friends. You have done well. Come, join the cycle of balance." She spun in a circle, white light flaring for a moment that overwhelmed Maya’s vision entirely, then pointed to a row of openings in the stone wall behind her. Four of them, each seemingly custom sized for one of the party members.

"Step within, and the Path of Life will be opened to you."

Maya felt vaguely uneasy. Her luck was warning her against proceeding. But she didn’t want to lose Path of Life. It was one of the major factors in her continued survival. So she walked toward the harpy-shaped opening.

She hesitated at the threshold. Her luck really did not want her to go in. She turned to look; the others had entered theirs and nothing had gone wrong yet.

"What’s the matter?" the Vasp Queen asked, buzzing nearer. "Why do you delay?"

"There’s nothing in here," Bethel said from her own alcove. Maya caught just a glimpse of her starting to turn to come back out, then the Vasp Queen lunged forward, stinger raised, and slammed into Maya.

Stunned for 10 seconds.

She felt herself thrown backwards, into the alcove. She hit the stone hard, dropping health by three.

An alert window appeared.

You have five seconds to opt out of the Cycle of Balance transformation event. This event will increase your reputation with the Balance of Life faction and unlock the Path of Life specialization. Once begun, the event cannot be canceled until its conclusion. Opt out now?

Maybe … maybe she should opt out? She wasn’t claustrophobic, but her luck was very unhappy right now. And her stomach felt weird, though that might be an aftereffect of whatever stunning venom had been on that stinger.

4...

3...

But she didn’t want to lose Path of Life.

2...

1...

Cycle of Balance event initiated.

Well, too late now. She’d have to just wait it out and see what happened.

The Vasp Queen cackled, her voice grating and buzzing, echoing through the stone as darkness covered the opening to the alcove, sealing Maya inside.

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Mask: Mage Stader Affinities: Magical Physical Level: 13 Classes: Trickster None Tier: 5 Specialization: Path of Life Augmentation: None Resistance: None Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 90 8 74 8 Momentum: 39 15 1 23 Agility: 100 8 79 13 Control: 29 8 13 8 Attunement: 63 18 40 5 Focus: 35 8 22 5 Intelligence: 41 27 4 10 Flexibility: 15 8 2 5 Luck: 30 30 - 0 Unassigned: 4 Health: 488 of 516 Will: 48 of 48 Stamina: 262 of 262 Energy: 189 of 189 Speed: 318% Switch penalty: -31%, 8.1 secs Stealth: 381% Chain bonus: +13% Awareness: 225% Cooldown: 92.5% Max abilities: 12 Abilities Abilities: [18 of 12] Wind Word

[50 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a forceful burst or damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +50 energy, +1 sec cast time, +50% force/dmg] 4 sec

45 dmg

{wind} Frost Bolt

[10 energy] Condense power into a frozen spike, then propel toward target.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +.6 sec cast time, +33% dmg] 2 sec

21 dmg

{cold} Flame Hand

[30 energy] Spread magic to cover hand, then ignite. Deals damage on contact.

Secondary: +25% resistance (fire) for the duration.

[Sustain: 2 energy every .2 sec, +2 fire dmg] 3 sec

50 dmg

{fire} Flame Word

[65 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then ignite while pushing toward the target.

Creates a concentrated blast or fiery slash.

[Overcharge: +50 energy, +1 sec cast time, +50% force/dmg] 6 sec

50 dmg

{fire} Flame Whisper

[7 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then ignite while pushing toward the target.

Creates a quick fiery gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/dmg] 2 sec

10 dmg

{fire} Wind Whisper

[9 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 1.9 sec

9 dmg

{wind} Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 0.8 sec

3 dmg

{physical} Windborne Blade

[45 energy, 5 stamina] Cast Wind Whisper in a loop up and behind, aligning with throwing arm.

Throw knife straight at target with wind as augment. 4.3 sec

33 dmg

{physical} Spark

[9 energy] Draw magic into palm and snap fingers to ignite into a spark of fire.

Can be used as a light or thrown at a target. 1.1 sec

11 dmg

{fire} Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Stone Ward

[35 energy] Compress hands together flat, spread vertically; then repeat in opposite direction.

Lasts up to 1hr.

[Quick-cast: +30 energy, -3 sec cast time] 4.5 sec

absorb 45 dmg

(physical/wind) Magestrike

[50 energy] [[Somatic requirements go here]]

Targets a 5-meter diameter circle 3 sec

57 dmg

{Magical} Heart of Magma

[95 energy +50/sec] Chill of the Depths

[80 energy] Storm Grasp

[80 energy] Frost Whisper

[8 energy] Frost Word

[50 energy] Inferno

[??????????????] Equipment Item Name Slot Stu Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Midnight Armor of Agility Body 66 Iron Plate Leggings Legs 18 Dagger of the Devout Held 1 25 Dagger of the Devout Held 2 25 Iron Plate Helm Head 18 Drile Fur Cape Shoulders 3 2 6 Drile Fur Gauntlets Hands 4 2 1 Rogue's Belt Belt 2 2 1 Drile Fur Boots Feet 4 5 Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Survivor's Bracelet Arm 2 1 1 1 Goblin Necklace Necklace 2 1 Acrobat's Ring Ring 1 2 1 1 Dancer's Ring Ring 2 1 1 Cheap Ring of Sturdiness Ring 3 1 Greater Ring of Focus Ring 4 16 Minor Mage's Token Misc 1 2 1 Athlete's Talisman Misc 2 7 7 Minor Token of Focus Misc 3 1 Trickster's Mask Special