In the previous episode...


    1.1.5 An Inscrutable Mastermind


    More players arrive in Torello, including parties whose deeds on the game’s older server have already made them famous.


    Fra Gamal: CrimsonMoon (Leader, tank), Nastya (archer, tactician), Char (melee dps), Blaze (melee dps), ChocolateTrain (melee dps), Mary-Lynn (healing and buffs)


    The Brute Squad: (the top party in The Immortals player guild)


    But it becomes clear that the Wombles have an unexpected advantage - their Vessels (the expert systems that take over control of an avatar’s actions while the player isn’t logged in) respond to being treated as valuable individuals by working increasingly effectively towards the aims of the player they share a body with, even practising skills and killing monsters to help with levelling. This (and some awesome crafting by Alderney) allows the Wombles to impress Fra Gamal (a far more experienced party, decked out with legacy skills and items) sufficiently that they agree to team up for the first major boss fight of the newly launched game.


    In an epic battle they succeed in taking down a troll more than twice their level, resulting in Kafana gaining yet another suspiciously overpowered artifact and increasing her prominence on the global reputation ranking list. More importantly, the two parties also agree to form an alliance and Wellington reveals the next phase of his plan to give the Earth’s population access to better communication - The Burrow, which has three important features:


    Firstly, it is anonymous and decentralised, so companies and governments have no single location, administrator or legal owner to target. Secondly, connections to it can be steganographically hidden in the noise of encrypted tiara recording streams, if the practice of recording your game feed becomes commonplace (because, for example, players of a popular game learn there are helpful services offered by The Burrow which require such feeds). Thirdly, by only allowing users to connect via the latest tiara technology, Wellington hopes to build up a trust network that can weed out contributions from any user making claims with an intent to deceive. He and Bulgaria hope, if The Burrow can be launched successfully, that giving ordinary communities the ability to communicate without fear of being manipulated or spied upon will allow them to form plans and take actions that might actually be effective.


    But not everyone is happy with how well the Wombles are doing. Malzeth, the leader of The Immortals, wants his clan to dominate Torello, and (unbeknownst to the Wombles) he’s decided to destroy them before they can grow strong enough to threaten his plans.


    ...now read on!


    1??????????????Soul Bound


    1.1????????????Finding her Feet


    1.1.6??????????An Innocent Profaned


    1.1.6.1????????Brute squad rules


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Your XperiSense (public discussion forum, licensed by XperiSense, moderation by LewinHodologics)


    Subject: Torello (was: How did she do that?)


    EtchiFan: Did you see their boss takedown video? Both Linnie and the blue haired singer are in Torello. I’m going to transfer there. Who else is coming?


    CassieCat: I’m there already. I got a sweet she threw down from the flying ship. *sticks tongue out at EtchiFan*


    T1ler: Fra Gamal are not the only guild to send their top team to Torello. According to sources, the Brute Squad from The Immortals are there, as are top players from Screw Reality, CraftySquId and The Path Less Travelled. Nevermere, Cute Justice and The Crew are staying on Divine Mountain for now - I’m guessing they plan to go over en bloc when it’s clear which city will suit them best. The Vipers from Cruel Vengeance are in Mezelay.


    GentleBreeze: Nevermere seek but a haven free of envy, that we might experience the rich wonders of this new world as deeply as they deserve.


    GringrisKhan: I saw the Brute Squad in action once. They were ambushing a questing party from the Ultra Bombastic Tele Fantastics. WraithLock had disguised herself as a bush using illusion and opened by stun locking their healer with her unique bow. VamaKali, Wibano and Kullervo charged into melee range of the healer, while FancyAnts and Jincan kept the rest busy with barriers and poison that turns people’s damage back upon themselves. Three seconds later, Wibano had cursed the healer to amplify all damage received, VamaKali had scored a chain of three criticals with her vampiric urumi, and Kullervo finished her off by using his bone sword to trap her spirit. The whole combat took less than 20 seconds.


    T1ler: I wonder how well they’ll do on Sacred Blood. Diabolism and all chaos magics are weak here. It’s a whole new skill balance.


    LeetL0rd: Their high powered items will still work, which will give them a massive advantage for the first few weeks, until people start doing high level raids and getting their own legendaries. Presumably The Immortals are up to something big, something time critical, if they’re willing to sacrifice their top team to gain a temporary advantage. I wonder what they’re after?


    GanTheGreenMan: Probably what they’ve always been after. Getting to deity status first. The question is, why do they think having a temporary lead in this new world is so important to achieving that?


    EtchiFan: I’d love to see a video of Fra Gamal stuffing The Immortals down a sewer, where garbage like that belongs.


    LeetL0rd: So fake one for yourself.


    EtchiFan: I’ve made tons of fake videos of Mary-Lynn, of Kafana, of Mary-Lynn and Kafana. You can get really creative with drizzled honey. But it’s just not the same as a sense recording, and they can’t be faked. :(


    CassieCat: You have no taste. I’m shipping Bungo with Wellington. Bungo is obviously a himedere senpai, and I imagine Wellington to be his younger kuudere. The authors on my fanfic group have already written 5 stories about different Womble pairings.


    T1ler: Aaaaaanyway. In a match up between Fra Gamal and the Brute Squad, I’d put my money on Fra Gamal at the moment. They’ve always been more oriented to PlayerVsEnvironment than PlayerVsPlayer, specialising in boss raids, but they’re at least a day ahead in levelling and they are heavier on combat and lighter on magic than the Brute Squad which means the change in skill balance will have thrown them off less.


    GringrisKhan: That’s in a fair fight, like under tournament rules. But outside tournaments, The Immortals never fight fair. If they don’t have an edge concealed somewhere, they don’t enter combat in the first place. If you see them at all, it probably means you’ve already lost.