Minutes before the fall of Litchfield Park and the defeat of the Minor Manifestation…

“How are you guys keeping up?” Nandi asked the dark skinned eight foot tall Europan who ran across the desert at her side. It was the first few days of June and it seemed that summer in Arizona was upon them.

The strange fish-man turned to look at her with dark goggle-covered eyes as he jogged next to her, “Nandi Thrush, we are fine, though still adjusting to this… planet’s gravity and… atmosphere. Thank you for asking.” The last bit was said hesitantly, as if the strange man was trying out the words for the first time. Or maybe as if he had just learned their true meaning.

“Well, I sure as fuck ain’t fine! I can’t stand summer in Arizona!” Michelle muttered as she ran alongside the group several paces away.

“Aye, you all told me it was bad. And after the mountain blew up around us I didna’ think anything could be hotter than that.” Groehl barked from the back of the group, his shorter legs having a harder time of keeping the pace than the Europans who were new to land movement and the laws of gravity in general.

The Europans emerged just outside of Lake Havasu from a newly formed portal just as Nandi and her team were coming out of the monster infested foothills created by the eruption of Mount Hualapai. After they had run from the quickly changing landscape, avoiding faster than normal flows of lava, they entered the Hualapai Foothills Hunting Ground. Everything between Bullhead City and Kingman was now essentially a no-go zone for anyone below Advanced rank, and even that was pushing it.

When they found the Europans, they mistook them as recently arrived Refugees. They didn’t have time to ask as they were beset upon by a roaming patrol of some kind of oversized insect type of creatures. A cross between an ant, wasp, and tarantula. The memory of the creatures caused an involuntary shiver to run up her spine. She considered that reaction an accomplishment considering she came from Australia, where before the System went and fucked everything up her Human companions would have freaked out at the sight of the wee insects and beasties that populated her homeland.

Of course, being the upright, outstanding, Good Samaritans that they were, they joined the battle in aid of the Europans. At the time they didn’t know they were from Jupiter's moon, they just saw fellow sapients that looked thoroughly confused about where the portal had deposited them, as well as rather drunk. Apparently drunkenness and learning how to walk under the effects of gravity are quite similar. And if it was one thing Nandi definitely knew about before the System, it was attempting to walk while being drunk out of her mind. Keep in mind, she will absolutely deny the stories if any of her mates are still around to tell them.

Once they dispatched the small horde that had come down on the stumbly Europans like a falling skyscraper, everyone in her party except for Groehl was surprised to find that there was other sapient life within the Sol System. Groehl muttered something about there being several dozen sapient beings spread across several planetary bodies in his former solar system. The normally cheery, chatty Dwarf went silent and brooding after that. She supposed the loss of their home was still fresh in the Dwarf’s memory, so everyone, even the Europans, gave him his space.

She was fascinated to find that the System had modified the Europans extensively, preparing them to function properly on Earth as they increased their levels. Including the four to six long tentacles sprouting from their backs, each Europan also now had two legs and two arms. Apparently they had always had arms, though from her conversations with Broonil and his mate Korass, they now sported much greater dexterity and strength.Their fingers concealed a webbing that could be extended to aid in swimming, as did their entire lower legs.

She had watched them swim when they made it to Lake Havasu and was thoroughly impressed with their ability and speed. They moved like cruise missiles and seemed to be able to change directions so fast she was certain they were actually under a significant amount of G-forces when they did so. After a few days of imposing on the generosity of the people of Bullhead, which were equally as fascinated by the Europans as the Humans on her team were, they had become sufficiently accustomed to moving on solid ground within the effect of Earth’s gravity. They did naturally spend as much time as they could exploring the depths of Lake Havasu, though would return in the evening to chat with their new Human friends.

The people of Bullhead were surprisingly congenial. From the stories of the people they talked to, the entire community had taken to the adventuring life quite well. Their first order of business had been securing the lake, as a tribe of violent Naga-like creatures had taken up residence within and begun pouring out at the onset of Initialization Day. Before the people had come to grips with what was happening, everything within a mile of the lake had been killed, taken, or destroyed. The current leader rallied the rest of the community to retake the lake and secure it.

She was also delighted to discover that they had contracted with a Refugee group that consisted of tiny magical fairies. The largest she’d seen stood no taller than the length of her hand, though after a demonstration of the powerful magics they wielded, she didn’t doubt that they were a great asset to the people of Bullhead. Especially since they were also accomplished enchanters. Groehl commented that the Dwarves would definitely be interested in hiring out their services when things settled down.

Then the cannibal raids came. At first they thought people were dying in the surrounding dungeons when they never returned. When a city patrol stumbled across a party of cannibals slowly roasting a man alive tied to a spit, the grim truth was revealed. They had been considering launching an all-out offensive to wipe out Kingman when the Mana Saturation event occurred and cut off their travel in that direction. Which essentially halted the cannibals of Kingman from crossing their borders.

They spent a week in Bullhead, resting, chatting, and restocking their supplies and equipment. Somehow her group had formed a bond in that time with Broonil and his pack, or tribe; she still wasn’t clear with how they organized themselves. It was clear that Broonil was the leader that the rest followed. When it came time to leave she was surprised that the Europans wanted to join her.

She’d explained that they were likely going into a battle the likes of which these people had never experienced before. All the big man had said was something to the effect of , “We have never not swum dark waters, Nandi Thrush.”

Nandi sought assistance from Bullhead, of course, but they were hesitant to commit without first meeting the infamous Warlord. She considered that fair and left assured that while they wouldn’t be much help right now, they also weren’t an immediate threat to her group or Winslow. Which was ultimately what Eli had sent her out to determine.

Now her party along with the dozen Europans were making a mad dash across the desert to attempt to close off the route that Eli, alongside Allison, had determined the Cartel would use to transport its slaves. She feared that the rising plumes of smoke coming from the direction of Phoenix suggested they were significantly late to the party. She just hoped they weren’t too late to intercept the supposed final convoy of slaves they suspected the Cartel would take while leaving the slavers of Litchfield Park to fend for themselves.

What little intelligence Eli was able to pass on indicated that the Cartel had managed to clear a path through the Picacho Peak High Level Hunting Ground which started on the other side of the Estrella Mountain headed south in parallel to the I-10 corridor to Tucson. Armed with that intelligence they angled their travel as fast as they could, running cross country in an attempt to catch them somewhere around Buckeye.

As they crested a low, rocky hill, her first clear sight of Phoenix caused her to sharply inhale in shock. The scene in the valley below was pure chaos. A line of fire and smoke cut a jagged path through the middle of the city, while four large plumes of dirt and smoke rose of what was presumably the remains of four of the five Litchfield fortifications.

What drew everyone up short was the violent lightshow in the center. Dozens of large rocky platforms floated and tumbled lazily over a gaping pit at least a mile in diameter. Below, stark flashes of light flickered up through the gap, highlighting the pair of warriors locked in a battle to the death. She instantly recognized Karl’s oversized form, somehow swinging his axes in a graceful blur. His opponent could only be the self proclaimed King James. She knew below them over a hundred men and women fought a creature the likes of which she couldn’t even imagine.

“I… taste… sweat and fear to the southwest.” Korass, Broonil’s mate, said between flicks of her tongue. Nandi looked in the direction she indicated and could make out several trails of dust kicked into the air from what was probably the vehicles the Cartel was using to transport their slaves. Despite having far better eyesight than she could ever dream of, the movement was far enough away that she still needed to use a pair of binoculars to identify the three tractor trailers being flanked by a dozen offroad vehicles ala Mad Max.

“Yeah, I think that’s it.” Michelle commented as she lowered her own binoculars.

Nandi tipped her bow towards the chaos that was steadily erupting from where Karl fought, “That is all Karl’s problem.” Then she nodded to the quickly escaping trucks, “And that is ours. Broonil, since you’re people are mostly close in fighters, I need you to secure the trucks without destroying them while myself and the magic users will hit their escorts at range, hopefully drawing them away. And, no offense, but don’t let anyone out of the trucks until we either defeat or run off these Cartel arseholes. I want the first face these people see to be a Human one, I’m sure they haven’t heard of your arrival yet and may mistake you for monsters.”

“We understand, Nandi Thrush, let us begin this hunt.”

Michelle and Groehl fell in with the bulk of the Europans intercepting the tractor trailers while the rest followed hot on their heels to a position where they could hit the escorts from range and support the frontline attackers. One thing Nandi marveled at was how it was possible for her System enhanced body to run all out at nearly sixty miles per hour. It put a massive drain on her stamina regen, but she could maintain the ground-eating pace long enough to catch up to the Cartel convoy.

She guided the support group around the backside of a short mountain, careful to keep out of sight of the convoy as they ran. While at this point they were firmly within the boundaries of the high level hunting ground, nothing stirred as they traversed the craggy landscape to begin their ambush. It was as if the System knew it didn’t need to contribute anything to the death that was about to be unleashed.

As they crested the mountain, she took stock of the numbers before them, well over three dozen cartel men with rifles and machetes. The cartel was moving at a rather leisurely 30 mph pace, having absconded with their living cargo they had no further business in Phoenix. Owning the only corridor through the High Level Hunting Ground meant they had no worry of being followed, or so they thought. The convoy escorts traveled in a combination of beat-up trucks, SUV’s, and the rare military Hummer; all of which were armed with heavy machine guns to include the lead vehicle with a mounted mini-gun.

When Nandi received the signal that Broonil and his people were in position to ambush the errant convoy she nodded to the small group gathered with her on the hillside while drawing her bow and activating one of her first abilities, “[Fire Rate], [Explosive Arrows]”. She activated [Explosive Arrows] five more times in rapid succession, letting loose a stream of enchanted arrows at individual targets at the rear of the convoy. Several balls of fire conjured by her team mage, arced into the sky from behind her as well, plummeting lazily towards the still unaware convoy.

Just as her first arrow was about to strike it’s target a cartel man behind the machinegun of another truck happened to look behind them to see the dozen various fiery projectiles tearing through the air to deliver death. Before he could raise the alarm across the convoy her first arrow struck the rear of an old beat-up Toyota, the explosion tearing the rear half of the truck from the front, sending it tumbling roughly away.

The sudden unexpected assault caught the rear of the convoy by complete surprise, a fireball falling on the only man to notice and engulfing his truck in flames. He didn’t even get the chance to warn the driver before he was tumbling from the vehicle screaming and flailing his arms as the magical flames devoured the skin from his body. The rest of her team's projectiles landed in quick succession, taking out seven more of the several dozen vehicles.

The rear of the formation was all but decimated in the opening volley, the right flank automatically spread out to make it harder to get easy group kills and began firing blindly into the hillside around them. They hadn’t seen exactly where her group was, but they knew the general direction so they spammed heavy gunfire all across her hill and several others attempting to prevent more attacks.

With all of their attention on the right flank, the convoy didn’t notice the dozen blue skinned Europans rocketing out from behind a low hill on their left. Michelle and Groehl were also in that group, charging directly for one of the military Humvee’s. They joined the fight by shoulder checking the vehicle so hard that it was flipped off its wheels to tumble across the desert and nearly impacting one of the tractor trailers full of slaves. Now, fully alert, the cartel returned fire as the Europans wrecked their left flank.

The Humvee in the lead, the one with the mini-gun, turned it’s fire on Michelle and Groehl. They dove behind the vehicle they had previously collided with, now on its side. The men inside, whether alive or not, were turned to swiss cheese as the minigunner concentrated his fire on the vehicle. The man knew that he essentially worked a 3,000 round a minute drill and that he would quickly cut through the vehicle’s armor and components. Humvee’s, unless uparmored, were not known for being particularly bulletproof.

Nandi assessed the situation, “Alright, let’s get down there and not get shot.”